LOS ANGELES—It obviously didn’t happen this year by design, but the three teams in Major League Baseball that spent the most on players are still alive in the playoffs.

The New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees spent just over $1 billion combined on their 40-man rosters, as per Spotrac, and are now a step away from the World Series. That dream Dodgers-Yankees matchup of Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani remains very much alive.

The high-spending Dodgers got there Friday night by defeating the lower spending San Diego Padres, 2-0, in Game 5 of their National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium.

The Mets at $350.3 million will face the Dodgers at $340 million in LA on Sunday as the best-of-seven NL Championship Series begins.

The Yankees at $314.7 million will play the Cleveland Guardians in their AL Division Series to start the American League Championship Series Monday at Yankee Stadium.

The Guardians and Detroit Tigers, who lost the ALDS in five games, are low spenders, Cleveland ranking 21st of the 30 teams at $140.3 million and Detroit 28th at $106 million. The two teams combined spent $68.4 million less than the Yankees.

They are the exceptions. The rule is that the ability to spend on high-power players makes a big difference.

“I can’t say enough about Mark Walter and the entire Dodger ownership group,” LA manager Dave Roberts said after his team survived the NLDS for the first time since 2021. “You’re in a big market. And they’re just as competitive as we are. So, to give ourselves a chance every year to win a championship, that’s all we can ask for. Then it’s up to us to go out there and perform. I’m very grateful to be in this position.”

On Friday night, the Dodgers put a starter on the mound they paid $325 million over 12 years. And indeed, Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave them five strong innings despite a rookie season filled with lackluster performances and a 60-day stint on the injured list with a right shoulder injury.

“He set the tone for us,” Roberts said about Yamamoto’s outing. “Yoshi’s had a lot of success in his professional career. I said it before, he’s pitched in big ball games. And I believed in him. I knew he was going to rise to the occasion.”

The Mets also benefited from owner Steve Cohen’s willingness to spend. They defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 at Citi Field when Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam. Lindor’s ninth inning, two-run homer at Atlanta in the first game of a makeup doubleheader on the last day of the regular season put them in the playoffs. His price tag: 10 years, $341 million.

“I keep saying you could write a book,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said about Lindor’s contributions. “You could make a movie.”

The Padres, who sliced $62.5 million off their third-highest 2023 payroll of $291.2 million, didn’t have the wherewithal to close out the series. After scoring six runs in the second inning to win Game 3 at San Diego and take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series, they never scored another run. A bevy of Dodger pitcher held them scoreless for the final 24 innings.

There was little explanation.

“We competed with what we have and what we had is really good,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “And we have a good foundation moving forward. I don’t expect this to be a one-off. I firmly expect this group to come back and be ready to go for the consecutive playoff run for two, three, four years. That will be historic in San Diego baseball history.”

The Padres have made the playoffs two years in a row only once: 2005-06, so making it again next year would be historic. They’ve never won the World Series, losing in 1984 and 1998.

They have $190 million worth of contracts committed for next season–fourth in MLB–so Shildt’s assessment of this not being a one-off could be correct. Of course, the Dodgers at $236.34 million are already ahead of them and under the current ownership of Walter and Guggenheim Baseball will always be ahead of them. They run a $500 billion hedge fund, so the pockets are quite deep.

The Dodgers have won the NL West 11 times in the past 12 seasons. This is the seventh time they will be playing in the NLCS since Guggenheim bought the team for $2.15 billion in 2012. According to Sportico’s valuations, the Dodgers are worth $6.3 billion, second behind the Yankees at $7.93 billion. Three times since the purchase they have gone to the World Series: losses to Houston in 2017, Boston in 2018 and a victory over Tampa Bay after the 2020 pandemic-shortened season.

The Dodgers haven’t won a World Series after a full season since 1988. They were victorious in this series with Ohtani, their highest paid star at 10 years, $700 million and biggest bat, having a lackluster series in his first shot at the postseason. After his second inning, three-run homer helped win Game 1, he was 3-for-18 with one RBI, 10 strikeouts, batted .200 and had a .623 OPS.

Teoscar and Kiki Hernandez hit the homers that won the series Friday night. The Dodgers have 10 players, all pitchers, on the injured list costing them $37.5 million, including Tyler Glasnow ($17.5 million, shoulder) and Clayton Kershaw ($7.5 million, toe).

That’s how deep the Dodgers are. Beating them is a huge task for the Padres and all the other NL West clubs.

“No, it’s probably not going to change,” Shildt agreed. “But I give zero energy or thought toward that. Blessed to work with the club we’ve got. And we’ll get the most out of what we have. And what we have is plenty. And I’m confident in our ownership and general manager A.J. Preller will only complement what we’re doing now.”

(An earlier version had the incorrect year listed for the last time the Dodgers won the World Series after a full season.)