A The Unicorn led off the game with a single and then ran to the mound to hit the first hit. Another pitcher won games 2, 6 and 7. World Seriesthrowing 17.2 innings along the way. The catcher set a record with 74 frames at the plate in the Fall Classic and ultimately ended the series with his final home run.
How everyone was afraid or mocked, Los Angeles Dodgers are champions. Again. The sinister strategy of using the best baseball player on the planet along with a large number of his near-peers proved effective in what some predicted as a harbinger of doom. It's not fair in the coming months, some people will talk about how the team many thought was the best ended up winning it all.
But for now, there's terrible news for those who claim the Dodgers are bad for baseball: The 2025 World Series has been held in 2025. fantastic. Game 7 of 11 innings instantly catapulted into the highest echelons of sporting events of all time. Near 18-inning Game 3. AND Otani game from the Champion Series. Epic October. That's why we watch baseball. That's why we love baseball. Ten years from now, there will be dedicated fans who will say that this fall they became hooked on the sport.
The feeling of trepidation would have been the same if the Blue Jays had won instead, providing half the drama and half the highlights. The series ultimately emerged as a credible champion, not only because the Dodgers were favored for months, but because, in the end, they had to fight their way to the top with difficulty and difficulty. Just because their victory was planned does not mean it was easy or predictable. Lots of jaw-dropping moments where it felt like the entire series depended on one swing, a glove swipe, or just a few centimeters (both because it was so close and because it was in Canada): don't tell me what you saw those coming.
If this is what a broken sport looks like, don't fix it.
To be a little less sanctimonious and a lot less poetic: People are upset with the Dodgers because of their payroll. Including penalties for exceeding various tax thresholds, The Dodgers paid over half a billion dollars. for their rings this season. Small market owners will tell you the Dodgers should be cheaper. If the Dodgers weren't trying so hard to build their roster, it would be easier to keep up. Is this how competition works?
The Dodgers won the World Series because they the most expensive team. And since they good spend money, which, as the New York Mets demonstrated this season, not always a given. Even fans and defenders will agree with this. It's impossible to separate the strength of the club – an all-star team filled with nine-figure free agents – from success. Getting to the top of the sport comes at a price. Pay Mookie Betts what the Red Sox wouldn't. To pay Freddie Freeman what the Braves wouldn't. Paying virtually the entire list of Cy Young contenders means it's not that big of a deal if some of them have to spend most of the regular season on the injured list.
And then there's Otani. For six seasons, the second coming of Babe Ruth languished on another Los Angeles team. Even with the modest greatness of Mike Trout, the Angels' Ohtani never made it to the national postseason stage. This is a baseball problem; It takes more than one or two elite players to build a winning club.
Baseball fans loved Ohtani when he was an angel. But now they love him And they'll see him start Game 7 of the World Series. Since he joined the Dodgers, he has played until the final day of the last series of the season every season. Isn't that better for baseball? Last year he could only hit, but he still became a real revelation. This year, fans watched as his abilities reached new heights with the October Stakes. Perhaps over time it will become boring, but for now this is not the case.
Same offseason as the Dodgers agreed to pay Ohtani $700 millionthey also made Yoshinobu Yamamoto the highest paid pitcher of all time. Truly an embarrassment of riches. Ohtani's contract is known to be deferred, so his current value is significantly lower than the eye-popping figure associated with him. He made this concession for an obvious reason: to give the Dodgers enough financial flexibility to spend on other talented players. That's what championship-winning teams do with financial flexibility: they change it.
Some believed that Yamamoto, who came to Los Angeles from Japan, chose the Dodgers because his countryman Ohtani was there. At his inaugural press conference Yamamoto clarified: He wanted to win. And the Dodgers seemed like the best place to do it.
But of course, that perception and eventual reality is relentless due to their willingness to sign Ohtani and Yamamoto within just a few weeks of each other. Billion dollar baseball talents, one of whom started Game 7 and the other finished it. Yamamoto thought he could win with the Dodgers. It turns out the Dodgers won because of his heroics. Is it a flaw in the system that a guy capable of winning three games in a seven-game series ended up not only on the team that was willing to pay him the most to do so, but on a team that also had enough other expensive players to end up in that situation? Is it a crisis that the Dodgers were willing to outbid everyone else to ensure that Yamamoto would be on the biggest stage rather than sitting at home getting slightly smaller checks from another club?
Baseball players will spend the offseason and the next 18 months discussing very non-rhetorical issues. The Dodgers' trophy will shed light on a wage gap that has proven significant, if not predictable. Retribution awaits, no matter how tedious it may be.
So here are two more questions worth answering this winter: Is it fair that the team that tried its best to gather the most talent ultimately won? I think so. And was it fun? Oh, absolutely.
