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Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are MLB’s latest dynasty, but not everybody is happy about it. Most of the team’s best players have been big-ticket free agent signings instead of homegrown talent.
There’s a perception that the Dodgers are simply paying to win. However, there are other teams with huge payrolls that aren’t winning World Series titles. Parity has been very strong in the 2000s for baseball, but sometimes, it’s good for a dominant team to go on a run.
Legendary Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw has been there for the highs and the lows of the franchise. He defended what Los Angeles is doing and believes that it’s actually good for the health of MLB.
“I think that was the way the Yankees were. When I was growing up, the Yankees were the best team in the World Series and winning all those,” Kershaw said on the “Literally! with Rob Lowe” podcast. “But I think that’s good for baseball. I really do. Having a team that you either love, because that’s your team, or you hate because they keep winning, that’s good for baseball. You don’t want to be indifferent. I think it’s good to have that. That’s what viewership is. I think this postseason, obviously, with our Japan fanbase, and being in Canada, it was the highest-watched postseason in a long time. So I think it’s all good for baseball.”
Can Dodgers Three-Peat?
The Dodgers were the first team of the 2000s to win back-to-back World Series titles, and they’ll be looking to also be the first to three-peat. The Oakland Athletics are the only non-Yankees team to ever three-peat, and there has never been an NL team to three-peat.
Winning three championships in a row is very difficult for any sport, but the Dodgers could have what it takes. The team hasn’t lost any major players from the 2025 squad and added star closer Edwin Diaz.
The Dodgers could also continue to add star players, as well. The team three-peating would definitely upset many teams and fan bases around MLB, but this is what happens when a franchise invests a lot of money back into the roster.
Dodgers Earn ‘A’ Grade for Offseason
The Dodgers still have a number of moves they can make this offseason, but have already done enough to consider it a success. ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle gave the Dodgers an “A” grade for their offseason so far.
“You have to wonder how many teams could have landed Diaz on a three-year deal,” Doolittle wrote. “Surely some were willing to go to four years at least, perhaps at a lower AAV but with more overall value. But this is what the Dodgers have become — a destination. And their uniforms — not to mention the super-swag championship rings that go with them — are becoming status symbols among baseball’s elite in the way that super-yachts have become the darlings of the mega-wealthy.
“The Dodgers, already a definitive favorite to win a third straight World Series, have solidified that status by a few more percentage points. And all it cost them was money, a resource that for them has become all but irrelevant. That is increasingly what puts the Dodgers on the hilltop, and makes the climb for everyone else that much more difficult to complete.”
Austin Boyd has covered the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Lakers for Heavy.com since 2019. A Los Angeles native now based in Las Vegas, his featured work at Heavy includes interviews with NFL stars Darren Waller and Joe Montana, and a behind-the-scenes look at “The Shop.” More about Austin Boyd
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