The Dodgers have spent years collecting stars and hearing the same accusation from frustrated rivals and fans: They\u2019re ruining baseball.<\/p>\n
Quentin Lake thinks the Rams are beginning to inspire the same reaction<\/a> around the NFL.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first thing that goes through your mind is, \u2018Teams probably hate us,\u2019\u201d Lake told The Athletic. \u201cAll of these other teams probably hate us. We\u2019re like the new Dodgers.\u201d<\/p>\n Quentin Lake of the Los Angeles Rams runs downfield during an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, on Sunday, January 14, 2024. Getty Images<\/p>\n For the Rams, that might be a compliment worth embracing.<\/p>\n The Dodgers have become baseball\u2019s ultimate villain by repeatedly acquiring elite talent, spending aggressively and taking advantage of every roster-building mechanism available. The complaints are familiar. The important part is that they\u2019re operating within the same rules available to everybody else.<\/p>\n The Rams are doing much the same thing \u2014 only with an NFL salary cap making the margin for error considerably smaller.<\/p>\n Los Angeles traded for Myles Garrett<\/a> and All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie, added Jaylen Watson to the secondary and then convinced Aaron Donald to come out of retirement<\/a>.<\/p>\n The reaction from rivals suggests Lake isn\u2019t imagining the resentment.<\/p>\n When the Rams landed Garrett, 49ers tackle Trent Williams summed up the reaction outside Los Angeles succinctly: \u201cIt sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n A detailed view of a Los Angeles Dodgers hat and glove on the bench against the Atlanta Braves in the eighth inning on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n Former Rams star Cooper Kupp, now with Seattle, jokingly texted Donald amid comeback speculation and told him, \u201cDon\u2019t even think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n After the return became official, 49ers general manager John Lynch conceded: \u201cThey got better, certainly, with him deciding to come out of retirement. \u2026 We better get ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n But the Rams aren\u2019t simply collecting recognizable names.<\/p>\n Los Angeles Rams defensive end Aaron Donald (99) participates in practice at the Rams Practice Facility on Sunday, August 30, 2026, in Woodland Hills, California. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n They already had a 12-win team, the reigning MVP in Matthew Stafford and a defense capable of contending. Their offseason moves targeted specific weaknesses at precisely the moment their championship window opened widest.<\/p>\n McDuffie and Watson strengthened a secondary that faltered late last season. Garrett transformed an already dangerous pass rush. Donald became the ultimate luxury addition to a front that led the NFL in four-man pressure rate without either superstar last year.<\/p>\n Los Angeles Rams defensive end Myles Garrett gestures to fans during the NFL football team\u2019s training camp on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, in Los Angeles. AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill<\/p>\n That has long been the Rams\u2019 approach: recognize when the roster is close, then strike before the window closes.<\/p>\n The Dodgers receive plenty of criticism for doing essentially the same thing in baseball.<\/p>\n So, if NFL fans want to hate the Rams for it, Lake\u2019s message might as well be: Bring it on.<\/p>\n In Los Angeles, all the hate is starting to sound less like an insult and more like proof that the plan is working.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dodgers have spent years collecting stars and hearing the same accusation from frustrated rivals and fans: They\u2019re…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[95207,5,2178,39,1165,4332,4333,774,57,16072,3224,4331,4,58761,1082,185],"class_list":["post-795168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-aaron-donald","tag-baseball","tag-california","tag-dodgers","tag-la","tag-la-dodgers","tag-ladodgers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesdodgers","tag-mlb","tag-myles-garrett","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117203817154822038","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795168","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=795168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}