Is success of Dodgers, other powerhouse teams good for baseball?

It’s become clear that having a large payroll is a good strategy to win baseball games. 

Yankees and Dodgers fans can't complain, as year after year, those teams continue to be in the upper echelon of clubs that have the resources to compete for championships. Still, this imbalance in MLB is something fans of any team can’t ignore — it’s changing the landscape of baseball as we know it.

True Blue LA's Eric Stephen estimated the Dodgers to have a new league-record $388.6M luxury-tax payroll, which would incur a competitive-balance tax of $137.8M. Plus, their roster seems to be stacked from top to bottom.

Ahead of Opening Day, ESPN Bet had the Dodgers as the favorite for the World Series at a +275 chance of winning it all, the highest since the 2002 Yankees. They’ve built a juggernaut through strong development, sharp management and consistent success that extends beyond just having deep pockets, though deep pockets definitely help.

There is a growing divide in MLB. On one hand, ESPN Bet set the Dodgers at 105.5 wins, 12 wins greater than any other MLB club. The White Sox have a projection of 53.5, while the Marlins are at 63.5 and the Rockies sit at 59.5. All three teams are deemed to have literally no shot of playing in the postseason.

This shows a troubling trend. The disparity between the top teams, like the Dodgers, and the lowly clubs, like the White Sox, could lead to a league where only a handful of teams have any real shot at contention. This raises the question: What’s left for the rest of the league?

The rise of teams like the Dodgers and their dominance in both financial power and competitive success has created a different atmosphere in MLB. While teams like the Yankees will always be part of the conversation for a championship, it’s also sobering to see how lopsided the competition can get. 

The White Sox, Marlins and Rockies might be the poster kids for everything wrong with MLB right now — teams that have fallen behind due to an inability to compete financially and make the moves necessary to stay relevant. It doesn’t sit right to see the gap between teams grow to such extremes.

The idea of “any given year” feels like it’s being replaced by “only a few teams have a shot.”