Two-way superstar’s financial impact allows Los Angeles to sign Edwin Diaz, Kyle Tucker and other top free agents while critics call for salary cap.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have become the main topic of conversation in Major League Baseball over the past two winters, and for good reason. After years of regular season dominance, the Dodgers have won back-to-back World Series titles, temporarily ending the “choker” label that opposing fans associated with LA.
But far from resting on their laurels, happy with the success they’ve achieved, the Dodgers’ ownership group and front office are continuing to spend to improve the roster. To the great chagrin of those same opposing fans who called them “chokers” roughly 16 months ago. Even after winning the World Series, the Dodgers have arguably “won” the last few offseasons as well.
In 2023-2024, they brought in Shohei Ohtani. In 2024-2025 they signed Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, Roki Sasaki, and brought back Teoscar Hernandez. In 2025-2026, they added superstar closer Edwin Diaz and the top free agent hitter available, Kyle Tucker. These signings have, obviously, cost the Dodgers a lot of money. A LOT of money.
Yet some new estimates, released this week, show how and why the Dodgers are spending so much. They’re making an unbelievable amount of money each year, and choosing to invest it back into the team.
Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers. (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Dodgers Revenues Dwarf Other Teams, For One Specific Reason
Most fans have focused their anger towards the Dodgers on their television deal, suggesting that some secret, special arrangement with Major League Baseball allows them to keep more of their income than they should. While the Dodgers do have a very lucrative deal, thanks to the size of the market they play in and their enormous, passionate fanbase, that’s not the reason LA’s ownership group has signed off on massive new spending.
After all, the Dodgers in 2018 and 2019 didn’t pay the luxury tax at all. They developed a superstar, MVP-caliber player in Corey Seager, then watched him walk away and sign with the Texas Rangers in the 2021-2022 offseason. Even under new ownership and with their television contract already signed, they frequently did not compete at the top end of the free agency market. As recently as 2023, their “big” acquisitions were J.D. Martinez and Noah Syndergaard. They didn’t sign a player for more than $100 million between 2014 and 2020, and both were extensions for Clayton Kershaw and Mookie Betts.
So, what’s changed? What’s allowed them to become this financial behemoth? Shohei Ohtani. That’s what.
Sportico estimated in October that LA made $200 million more in revenue after Ohtani joined the team, becoming the first organization in baseball to pass $1 billion in revenue. And according to a new report from the California Post, the Dodgers’ “sponsorship business alone is now believed to make as much money as roughly half of the league’s other 30 teams do overall.”
That is a gigantic advantage, and it’s one that comes as a result of signing one specific player. Ohtani alone attracts hundreds of millions of dollars in sponsorship revenue from businesses looking to reach both Japanese baseball fans and international audiences.
Opposing fans will again argue that the Dodgers need to be punished with a salary cap for taking advantage of this situation. But it’s simply the result of one extreme outlier fundamentally changing the direction of an organization. And it’s not something that can be fixed with a salary cap.
Ohtani is one of one, both in his abilities and the sponsorship revenue he brings to an organization. The Dodgers didn’t sign him because they had the most money, he chose them because they had a track record of winning, and they committed to using his financial might to win more. The Giants and Blue Jays both accepted the same contract offer Ohtani sent to LA. He chose the Dodgers anyway. A salary cap wouldn’t change that, it would simply limit the amount of money that Ohtani could be paid.
That’s the fundamental problem with acting as though limiting player salaries would “fix” baseball. If contract offers are similar, they’ll still choose the Dodgers. Because it gives them a better chance of winning, and they can maximize their off-field earnings. And to ownership’s credit, they didn’t simply take the extra revenue Ohtani brings in and pocket it, they invested it in making the team better. That’s what every team’s fans want ownership to do.
LA’s biggest advantage isn’t even their market, it’s Ohtani. And they’re taking advantage of it to try and win while they can.
Read the full article here
