Fun fact: The Will Smith draft pick in 2016 was in response from the D-backs signing Zack Greinke in the 2015 offseason. While it sucked to lose Zack since he and Kershaw were LA's 1-2 punch, getting Will Smith turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

The Pirates Angels and Rockies are ruining baseball

andrew friedman deserves a statue

The Dodgers are literally the perfect franchise every sports fan dreams of having. Spend a lot of money but are smart (with spending/trades) and actually develop players.

That staff graphic is literally mind blowing

Of all the things you've mentioned, I think the last one was the most important for Ohtani, Yamamoto, and Sasaki. Why did Shohei Ohtani request an opt out clause in his contract when/if Andrew Freidman and ownership structure changed? Ohtani chose Friedman and strongly recommended Yamamoto, and then proposed to defer most of his salary, which allowed the Dodgers to sign Yamamoto, Glasnow, etc. While other teams were focused on total compensation, Ohtani was thinking about front office strategy and stability.

As a dodgers fan, im gonna remember 2020s dodgers baseball forever😭❤️

I was at Dodgers spring training a couple years ago in Glendale, AZ. I was walking the main concourse when I crossed paths with a man descending some stairs. I immediately knew who it was, but didn’t want to make a scene, especially since he had his head down as I’m sure he knew people would recognize him.  Calmly, I extended my hand to say “Friedman, what’s up, man?” He was kind enough to shake my hand and said “All right, bud.” Such a surreal experience, and it was my way of saying thank you for giving this Dodgers fan some of the best baseball memories of this era.

In regards to your comments on Japan (which is all very true), you actually sold the Dodgers a bit short. They were investing in Japan back in the early 90s, which is why they got Hideo Nomo. And Nomo is a very important figure in the current trajectory of the MLB. He was the first player to basically defect from the Japanese leagues and come here. Nomo opened the door for Ichiro, Ohtani, Yamamoto, and all the other Japanese players.

Billionaires pissed off a billionaire actually tries to win instead of sitting on their ass and doing nothing it seems. So when the lockout?

On one end of the spectrum, there are those...to your point...are saying the Dodgers are ruining baseball (overspending on player acquisition).
On the other end of the spectrum, others are saying most MLB owners simply aren't playing a high enough percentage of the payroll on players.
Either of the above is an over simplification. This is a deeper dive on what it takes to be at least a playoff contender. Awesome analysis...thank you.

6:00 Pirate's and A's being at the bottom and not paying for staff or players is what's ruining baseball. Not the Dodgers.

Jason kelce saying that while being on a team that was controversial for the touch push is kind of funny. In the sense that he was on THE team that everyone hated.

One thing, it’s hard to factor Ohtani into any equation because he’s a unicorn.

Another, Dodgers make signings with strictly the playoffs in mind, as evidenced by Teo, Kiké, and Edman.  They may not put up WAR in the regular season, but they pull their weight in the postseason.

Third, Dodgers Discount got them bargain bin signings like Muncy and Will Smith.

On top of everything else, since they’re so set on position players, they can invest every marginal dollar heavily into pitching so that they can have an overloaded staff come playoff time.

Ofc, a lot of stars had to be aligned for them to get to this point - the Mookie trade, followed by the Freeman signing, set them up perfectly for Ohtani and Yamamoto.

It's a shame Vin Scully didn't get to be around this group of players. Imagine how he would call Shohei and his MVP seasons. He'd love this whole group but Vin wouldve got Shohei to be a different interview, more open and at length conversations.

The $/WAR stat is even more impressive when you factor in diminishing returns.

I like what Ned Colletti said about Friedman.  “He always asked about the right players in trade talks”

The Ray's having the second largest front office behind the Dodgers is interesting considering it was Andrew Friedman's previous team.

As a Giants fan, this run by the Dodgers has been a long extended baseball nightmare. Still, all I can do is tip my cap and say "well done." A baseball team is an entertainment product: gotta spend money to make money.

Been waiting for you to cover this topic because you do such a good job at covering all the intricacies of baseball. In my opinion, the dodgers and how they go about putting together their team are good for baseball, and thats coming from a tigers fan. I hope they continue to be good so that other teams will want to be like them and make baseball better as a whole. Good video!