PITTSBURGH — It was a series between a team with a payroll of $350,000,000 against a team whose payroll is well short of touching nine figures. It was a battle between one of the biggest markets in sports against one of the smallest.
The Los Angeles Dodgers traveled to Pittsburgh for a three-game series against the Pirates at PNC Park. Although it’s cliche to say, it was a true battle between David and Goliath.
And just as the story goes, the underdog came out on top – all three games.
It was a terrific three-game showing for the Pirates and a well-deserved series filled with enjoyment for a fanbase that’s grown more frustrated this season than ever before. It showed that anyone is capable of beating anyone on any given day. It’s part of what makes Major League Baseball so enjoyable for so many.
But it again served as a reminder of the disparity between the two teams and the biggest obstacle the Pirates and other small market teams have to deal with in order to thrive.
The Dodgers are well on their 12th straight postseason appearance – a streak that began in 2013, the same year the Pirates ended a 20-year losing drought – while looking to defend their World Series crown.
Last year’s Fall Classic featured the Dodgers and New York Yankees – the two biggest brands in Major League Baseball and two of the largest payrolls – with the National League pennant winners clinching their second World Series title in a five-year span.
The Dodgers lineup features three MVP winners, whose combined salaries equal roughly what the Pirates spend on their entire payroll.
Two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani is the face of baseball and is perhaps the best player to ever play. The Dodgers signed the Japanese star in free agency before last season to a then-record 10-year, $700 million contract.
After Ohtani in the batting order is Mookie Betts, who provides the Dodgers with Gold Glove-caliber defense anywhere you put him and is no slouch at the plate despite an uncharacteristically pedestrian season. An illness that caused him to lose almost 20 pounds in March is the likely culprit.
The Dodgers acquired Betts from the Boston Red Sox ahead of the 2020 season and signed him to a $325 million contract extension, a well-deserved sum.
Then there’s Freddie Freeman, who the Dodgers surprisingly signed in free agency to a six-year, $162 million deal a couple years ago. Freeman has been one of the most consistent first basemen in baseball since his first full season with the Braves in 2011.
In the opening game of the series on Tuesday night, the nine players who comprised the Dodgers’ lineup had a combined 156 home runs and 490 RBI. The Pirates starting nine combined for 55 home runs and 238 RBI.
To the Dodgers’ credit, while they have spent significant money in free agency and with extensions, there is some homegrown talent in the lineup too, an area the Pirates desperately need to improve in order to get better.
It’s how the Pirates will get back to the postseason, and yes, it can be done. Just look at the Milwaukee Brewers, Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays as small-market teams who seem to find their way into the playoff picture more often than not.
No, the Pirates will never sign an Ohtani or Freeman in free agency or acquire a player like Betts and extend him for three-times their largest contract in franchise history.
The Pirates’ track record for over 30 years now is inexcusable, but there’s no denying that teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, New York Mets, etc. have a distinct advantage thanks to their ability to spend.
Should Nutting spend more? Try telling a Pirates’ fan no. Try telling the commissioner’s office it’s not an issue. (It is, as our John Perrotto wrote earlier in the season).
But there are much larger issues at hand. There’s a reason why a league-wide lockout looks inevitable following the end of the 2026 season.
Series like the ones between the Pirates and Dodgers this week are enjoyable to watch. Everyone loves an underdog. Most casual baseball fans who don’t have allegiance to the Dodgers were probably hoping to see the team in black and gold prevail.
But in the grand scheme of things a sweep at this point of the season doesn’t mean much to a team closing in on their 29th losing season in the last 33 years.
The Pirates need to be better. At winning, at drafting, at developing, at spending more money, and doing so wisely when opportunities present themselves. But those issues are magnified when they start behind the 8-ball, even if they got the better of a team with seemingly unlimited resources three days in a row.