Why Magic Johnson believes Dodgers’ World Series title helps baseball

TORONTO — The lawn was decorated with confetti under his feet. Behind him, video boards congratulated his team. at his last championship.

Dodgers The owner, who lives and breathes championships, smiled broadly. Magic Johnson always like that, of course. This time there was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

“They said we ruined baseball,” Johnson said. – Well, I guess we didn't.

If you're not in Los Angeles, you might be screaming in frustration. The team that has all the gold makes the rules and the new rule is that the Dodgers win every year and now their most famous owner is making fun of you?

This is wrong.

But he offers a subtle warning to all baseball owners: Don't let your desperation over the salary cap ruin a growing sport, thanks in no small part to the Dodgers.

45 years ago, the NBA was little more than a minor league. It's crazy now, but the NBA Finals aired on late night television, most often at 11:30 p.m. The NBA's audience was so small that advertisers did not pay prime time rates for these commercials, so the games were not broadcast in prime time.

Johnson helped change that. The rivalry between his Lakers and Larry Bird's Celtics revived the NBA, and then Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls became global sports icons.

In 1980-88 either Lakers or the Celtics won the NBA title every year but one. From 1991 to 1998, the Bulls won six titles.

The Celtics, Lakers and Bulls didn't destroy the NBA.

“What the Celtics and the Lakers and Michael Jordan's Bulls were able to do was bring in new fans—fans who said, 'Oh, I don't know about the NBA,'” Johnson said, “but the game was so good and the Celtics and the Lakers and the Bulls were so dominant that people said, 'Oh, I want to watch them.'

“The same thing happens here.”

NBA management couldn't believe their luck. Baseball executives seem intent on burning their luck.

“My phone was full of people who hadn’t watched baseball in a while,” Johnson said. “They watched this series.

“It was good for baseball around the world.”

The World Baseball Classic is four months away. World Series Most Valuable Player Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgersfrom Japan.

Yes and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgersthe closest thing baseball has ever had to Jordan. The Dodgers rescued him from purgatory in Anaheim and surrounded him with a star-studded roster, and now he makes more money selling groceries than pitching baseballs. For the Dodgers, he is both an All-Star and an ATM.

The league—and all the owners complaining about the Dodgers and their spending—has happily capitalized on this traveling road show. The Dodgers receive the same share of international merchandise and broadcast revenue as all other teams.

The Dodgers once again led the major leagues in traffic. The league sent the Dodgers to Seoul last spring and Tokyo this spring, meaning that for two years in a row they were one of the first two teams to report to spring training and one of the last two to play at the end of the season. The league's television partners rushed to book the Dodgers, even for games that were sometimes inconvenient for the team.

“MLB put us in every tough situation you can think of,” infielder Miguel Rojas said. “We never complained. We were trying to help the fans, baseball, and everyone needs to understand what we're doing.”

With the Blue Jays in the World Series, Canadian World Series rankings increased tenfold. The Dodgers didn't destroy the Jays. They survived them, and even then with difficulty.

The Dodgers didn't spoil the competition despite all the attention.

“They have a great team,” Toronto infielder Ernie Clement said. “There's no denying it. They're one of the best teams ever fielded and we've played seven games against them, so that must say something about us.”

Toronto manager John Schneider said his team, which has won more games than the Dodgers this season, has a chance to win the World Series.

“People called it David versus Goliath,” Schneider said, shaking his head from side to side. “It's not even… close.”

The Dodgers make a lot of money, pour it back into the team, and win. They give people what they want.

“People want better,” said co-owner Todd Boehly.

Of course, not every team can spend like the Dodgers. Most can't, and baseball should be able to find ways to share the wealth without risking its slight but growing popularity by locking out players in pursuit of the salary cap.

After all, isn't an attractive product featuring domestic and foreign stars good for baseball?

“Maybe”, controlling owner Mark Walter said. “I think they think so too.”

It's time to go. With 36 hours until the parade, Johnson had to rest his throat.

“I'm hoarse,” he said. “I never get hoarse.”

So we'll leave you with one piece of sports trivia in response to the misconception that a salary cap provides competitive balance: During the years of Magic, Bird and Jordan, the ones that elevated the NBA into popular culture, did the NBA have a salary cap?

Then it happened. This is happening now. In search of three peat bogs.