{"id":568110,"date":"2026-02-12T12:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T12:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/568110\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T12:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T12:38:14","slug":"they-are-the-900-pound-gorilla-how-an-opponent-views-the-dodgers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/568110\/","title":{"rendered":"‘They are the 900-pound gorilla.’ How an opponent views the Dodgers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PALM BEACH, Fla.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0In 2012, an attorney for Major League Baseball told a bankruptcy court judge that the league might soon find itself divided into \u201cthe Dodgers and the other 29 teams.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n

That time might be now, at least according to fans outside Los Angeles. The Dodgers<\/a> are the first back-to-back World Series champions<\/a> in 25 years, they are guaranteed hundreds of millions of dollars in local television revenue<\/a> every year at a time some teams are guaranteed nothing, and they are the only team with a roster headlined<\/a> by a pitcher\/designated hitter\/tourist attraction\/marketing icon\/cash machine.<\/p>\n

For Dodgers fans, nothing could be better than a team that makes lots of money, spends lots of money, and wins unapologetically.<\/p>\n

For other fans, not so much.<\/p>\n

This time last year, Commissioner Rob Manfred talked about how his email reflected concern from fans across America about how their teams could not compete<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As major league owners meet here this week to consider a probable push for a salary cap, I asked one of those owners \u2014 one with a team that competes against the Dodgers in the National League West \u2014 what he hears from fans on that score.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think all of us recognize that fans are not happy when they see their team not being able to be as competitive as they would like,\u201d Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick said. \u201cThat is a widely known situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is widely known in, say, Kansas City and Miami and Pittsburgh. It is more urgent in Arizona, where the Diamondbacks last won a division championship in 2011, the year before Mark Walter and Guggenheim Baseball bought the Dodgers.<\/p>\n

To Arizona fans, the enemy is not the system, even if Kendrick says the Dodgers have mastered the system rather than skirted it. To Arizona fans, the enemy is the Dodgers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are the 900-pound gorilla,\u201d Kendrick said. \u201cI think it\u2019s obviously widely seen that way by everybody who has any interest in our sport. They are seen as that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t mean that in a disrespectful way at all. They are playing by the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

If competitive balance is the concern, the Diamondbacks could try to get away from the Dodgers and get out of the NL West. Kendrick did not think much of that idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to beat everybody to win it all,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter. There is a legitimate opportunity. The last time I looked seriously at it, I think my club beat them to go to the World Series.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are beatable.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2023, the Dodgers won the NL West by 16 games. In the postseason, the Diamondbacks eliminated the Dodgers in a three-game sweep<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a competitive business,\u201d Kendrick said. \u201cI\u2019m OK with competition. It\u2019s all the better when you beat somebody who is more highly rated than you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Diamondbacks qualified for the playoffs that year with 84 victories, taking advantage of an expanded playoff system intended to enhance competitive balance<\/a>. They did not need to spend at Dodgers levels, and they did not need to win the division. They got hot in October, and they got to the World Series.<\/p>\n

So is Kendrick saying the Diamondbacks can compete against the Dodgers, or they cannot?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have competed against them,\u201d he said. \u201cI think, on a regular-season basis \u2014 and I\u2019m trying to be honest about the competitive atmosphere \u2014 they are a more competitive team than we are.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean we can\u2019t end up playing for the championship, because we just did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here is something the Dodgers just did: They signed outfielder Kyle Tucker for $60 million per year<\/a>, for four years, to support Ohtani and Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman and Will Smith in their lineup.<\/p>\n

The Diamondbacks try, which is not true of all teams. They signed ace Corbin Burnes last winter for $35 million per year, for six years. He made 11 starts and then underwent Tommy John surgery.<\/p>\n

To say other owners should spend more, yes. To say other owners can sign Tucker for that kind of money to accent their starting lineup, well, no.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they made a solid business decision, based on the rules that we have,\u201d Kendrick said. \u201cThey have deferred a ton of that money down the road, so the economics are not as they might appear in the moment. It\u2019s a very, very significant investment. He\u2019s obviously earned his money.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is going to help the Diamondbacks earn money, too.<\/p>\n

Of the Diamondbacks\u2019 seven largest crowds last season, five came against the Dodgers. The average crowd in Arizona for games involving the Dodgers: 43,441; for games against every other team: 27,865.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is L.A. It\u2019s fairly close,\u201d Kendrick said. \u201cWe get a lot of L.A. people coming to our ballpark.\u201d<\/p>\n

And a lot more fans from Arizona too, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re an L.A. guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers led MLB in road attendance last season. People come out to see Ohtani and the Traveling All-Stars.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course,\u201d Kendrick conceded. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a sports fan, you want to see the very best players.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they have many of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kendrick and his fellow owners are here to discuss some way \u2014 a salary cap or otherwise \u2014 to stop the Dodgers from having so many of the very best players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PALM BEACH, Fla.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0In 2012, an attorney for Major League Baseball told a bankruptcy court judge that the league…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[146,5,10051,38,39,12621,2138,14,74845,53099,1165,4332,4333,774,57,1593,3224,4331,12043,4,6332,17273,235,1319],"class_list":["post-568110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-arizona","tag-baseball","tag-concern","tag-diamondbacks","tag-dodgers","tag-enemy","tag-fan","tag-game","tag-gorilla","tag-kendrick","tag-la","tag-la-dodgers","tag-ladodgers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesdodgers","tag-lot","tag-mlb","tag-money","tag-owner","tag-team","tag-year"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116057703099531514","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}