Yankees Owner Concerned Dodgers' Dominance Won't Stop Anytime Soon

The Los Angeles Dodgers secured their second straight World Series victory and their third championship in six years, establishing a true baseball dynasty.

The Dodgers have effectively used their resources, creating a well-functioning team with a steady flow of young talent and a core group of veterans who establish a winning culture in the clubhouse.

The results, at this point, have become undeniable for anyone who follows the sport of baseball, including followers and figures of other teams.

New York Yankees team owner Hal Steinbrenner is chief among those who are well aware of the Dodgers' dominance and remain wary of having to compete with them.

“Of course it’s a concern,” Steinbrenner said in a recent video conference, per Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. “The (Dodgers) have tremendous resources, and they’ve gotten the job done. That’s the big thing. They’ve played to their potential when they needed to. They have overcome a lot of injuries this year.

"Again, they got healthy at the right time. I don’t know what next year is going to bring. But of course it’s always a concern any time I feel that one team is pulling away from the other 29, (or) selfishly, pulling away from me.”

Much of the Dodgers' recent success is credited to spending more money than other teams and "ruining baseball" by having the league's largest payroll.

While some may see it that way, Steinbrenner believes the run of success is much more nuanced than simply being a matter of spending.

“If there’s a correlation between spending the most money and winning a championship, I still think it’s a weak correlation, sample size of data,” Steinbrenner added.

“But (the Dodgers) earned every bit of it. … They really played up to their potential, especially those last two games. That has to happen. Your players have to play up to their potential when you’re playing a team as good as the Blue Jays, and you’re playing under that kind of pressure in the World Series. Hats off to them. It’s not easy to do twice, and they did it in dramatic fashion this time.

“But, again, we’ll see what they do next year, and we’ll see how it pans out. There was nothing low about my payroll and the Mets’ payroll. Look where we ended up.”

Steinbrenner's point holds strong when considering how often small-market teams succeed. The Milwaukee Brewers finished with the best record in baseball despite boasting a small payroll.

The Dodgers beat them in a four-game series in the NLCS, though it wasn't expected to be an easy victory for Los Angeles.

The Mets, who boasted a similarly large payroll, failed to make the playoffs this past season.

Having a bigger budget certainly helps, but it’s more about how the money is used and who a team chooses to invest in that makes the difference — not just outspending the competition.

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