Fans complain as Shohei Ohtani delivers historic performance with 10 strikeouts and three home runs in NLCS victory
The Los Angeles Dodgers are back in the World Series for the second straight season.
They advanced past the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS on Friday night, thanks almost entirely to the exploits of Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani turned in arguably the single greatest performance in the history of Major League Baseball, thanks to some incredible exploits on the mound and at the plate. As the starting pitcher, he went six shutout innings, allowing just two hits with 10 strikeouts.
As a hitter? Three home runs, including one that was hit out of Dodger Stadium.
RELATED: Shohei Ohtani Has The Greatest Postseason Performance Ever To Send Dodgers Back To The World Series
Still, despite the excitement of Dodger fans, the celebrations, and consternation of opposing fans, LA has not yet won the World Series. And regardless of whether the Dodgers play the Seattle Mariners or Toronto Blue Jays, there’s a 40 percent to 45 percent chance that they don’t win. That hasn’t stopped some fans from losing their collective minds. Many have openly hoped for a lockout to stop the 2027 season in hopes of getting a salary cap. Some have repeated empty threats from before the season to never watch baseball again.
Others have purposefully ignored that the small market Brewers had the best record in baseball, and that a single bad series doesn’t change their overall team quality. Or that the Blue Jays and Mariners don’t exactly come from New York, Dallas, Houston, Boston, San Francisco, Atlanta, or Chicago. But that’s just the start of the absurdist issues with blaming the Dodgers for being good.
LOS ANGELES – Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates during the third inning against the Milwaukee Brewers in game four of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium on October 17, 2025. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Opposing Teams Happy To Blame Los Angeles Dodgers For Ruining Baseball
One question that never seems to be asked of the “ruining baseball” crowd is; what happens if the Dodgers lose the World Series? Will they still have ruined the sport? Or will they return to being the chokers that those same opposing fans labeled them for the vast majority of the last decade?
- 2013 – Dodgers lose in NLCS to the Cardinals, labeled chokers
- 2014 – Dodgers lose in the NLDS to the Cardinals, labeled chokers
- 2015 – Dodgers lose in the NLDS to the Mets, labeled chokers
- 2016 – Dodgers lose in the NLCS to the Cubs, labeled chokers
- 2017 – Dodgers lose in the World Series to the Astros, who were cheating, still labeled chokers
- 2018 – Dodgers lose in the World Series to the Red Sox, labeled chokers
- 2019 – Dodgers lose in the NLDS to the Nationals, labeled chokers
- 2020 – Dodgers win the World Series, inaccurately labeled a “Mickey Mouse ring” by opposing fans
- 2021 – Dodgers lose in the NLCS to the Braves, labeled chokers
- 2022 – Dodgers win 111 regular season games, lose 3-1 in the NLDS to the Padres, labeled mega chokers with a Mickey Mouse ring
- 2023 – Dodgers get swept 3-0 in the NLDS by the Arizona Diamondbacks, labeled chokers
- 2024 – Dodgers win the World Series, immediately labeled as ruining baseball
That’s the level of nonsense making its way through baseball fandom. When the Dodgers lose, they’re chokers who can’t get the job done. When they get the job done, or even get close to getting the job done, they’re ruining the sport.
Conveniently forgotten, too, is the New York Yankees’ run from 1996-2003. The Yankees made the World Series six times in eight seasons. They made it four years in a row, from 1998-2001. They won it four times in five years. Is baseball dead? Did everyone stop watching? Were fans openly rooting for there to be no season at the next CBA negotiation? Because in the real world, ratings and attendance have skyrocketed in 2025.
You know what was missing back then? Social media, and the echo chambers it creates.
The Yankees wildly outspent small market teams back then too. In 1998, they had a $66 million payroll. The Pirates spent $13.7 million. Montreal spent $8.3 million. That’s a significantly larger gap, percentage wise, than between the Dodgers and the lowest-spending team in 2025, the Marlins. In 1999, the Yankees spent $88.1 million on payroll. The Marlins spent $15.1 million. Baseball is still here.
Much of the criticism of LA is that they’ve “bought” their team, as if players on opposing teams play for free. But Fangraphs has thankfully created a roster breakdown to track exactly this. And it turns out that the Humble Average Joe Midwestern Farmer Brewers had eight homegrown players on their roster. The Ruining Baseball Dodgers? They had eight homegrown players on their roster.
Oh, and the Brewers have already made noise, less than 24 hours after the end of their season, that they’re willing to trade starter Freddy Peralta to save his $8 million salary. Because they are pathetically cheap and know they can sell tickets and bring in TV revenue regardless. All while enjoying the protection of fans who inexplicably celebrate this behavior.
The Blue Jays have just six homegrown players. They have the same number of players acquired in free agency, nine, as the Dodgers. The Giants and Mets have 10 players acquired via free agency. The Padres and Rangers have eight players acquired via free agency. The Rangers even won the World Series in 2023. They receive zero criticism. Because it’s not actually about reality. Or spending. It’s about frustration that one organization has been better than the others at things that matter. Targeting the right free agents, instead of wasting money like, say, the Angels. Building quality depth around them. Taking advantage of a consistently top-5 farm system by using it to trade for other key players.
None of this will stop fans from complaining, because it’s easier to blame teams trying to win than it is to blame teams that put profits first and the roster second.
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