Whether you like them or not, you must watch the Dodgers.
What your club has done with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto is what every fan wants their team to do to win, if you are a Dodgers fan—and this is an incredibly happy day to be a Dodgers fan.
It can refer to everything and anything.
The amount of money a club must spend to have the best probability of winning is irrelevant to the fans. They don’t own the money. One of the greatest sports columnists in history, Red Smith, famously remarked that he had never seen a baseball team owner needing to commute by bicycle. Fans are just aware of their passion and desire to win. Their only request is that the individuals
in command of their group to demonstrate how much they care.
Now that the Dodgers have seen yet another 100-win season end in the postseason, they have spent over $1 billion on Ohtani, who is already the most legendary two-way player since Babe Ruth more than a century ago, and Yamamoto, a 25-year-old pitcher that the Dodgers firmly believe is the most gifted Japanese pitcher to have ever arrived in this country.
Morosi on the Dodgers’ Yamamoto trade December 22, 2023
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Morosi on Yamamoto’s Dodgers deal
And as was the case with Ohtani, the Dodgers apparently had to prevail in a bidding war including the Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Red Sox, and Giants in order to acquire Yamamoto.
and the Blue Jays. In the process, and even though the Dodgers may not be finished yet, they have managed to put together what could be the most glitzy baseball club in history without going over budget.
previous MVP Mookie Betts, previous MVP Freddie Freeman, and two-time MVP Ohtani now lead Dave Roberts’ batting order. Walker Buehler, who is back, Tyler Glasnow, who was just acquired, and Yamamoto, who is not even sure where Clayton Kershaw, another former MVP, will pitch in 2024, make up the top of Roberts’ rotation. This is a star-driven squad in Hollywood, or rather Los Angeles, where stars appear to be ingrained in the fabric of the city at times.
It seems as though, in a few of weeks Dodgers chairman and owner Mark Walter, together with head of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, have been attempting to recreate the Showtime Lakers in baseball during free agency.
By the way, is there anyone out there shaking their head in disapproval of the Dodgers’ lavish spending to sign these players? Baseball happens to benefit greatly from this. Not just Dodgers supporters. Baseball. Because regardless of your stance on the Dodgers—whether you love them or detest them—one thing is certain: You will want to watch them.
I once questioned the renowned screenwriter William Goldman, who was honored with Oscars for both “All the President’s Men” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”
in addition to penning “The Princess Bride,” the reasons behind a certain film’s success.
That’s simple, Mr. Goldman remarked. “People were eager to view it.”
Who will want to see the Dodgers play in your city, on TV, at Dodgers Stadium, or anyplace else next season? That is also simple. When Ohtani’s right elbow heals and he is slated to resume pitching in 2025, everyone will want to see him continue hitting home runs. They will also find Yamamoto fascinating because, at this point in time, he is the best pitcher this nation has seen—aside from scouts and baseball executives—and he is deserving of all the attention and financial support.
“We anticipate that [Yamamoto] will be a highly successful Yankees general manager Brian Cashman spoke highly of Yamamoto’s scouting work before stating, “Pitcher wherever he pitches on the planet.” To be exact, Cashman traveled to Japan to see Yamamoto pitch a no-hitter firsthand.
The Dodgers had paired the pitcher with Ohtani, and the Yankees believed they were in an excellent position to sign Yamamoto and couple him with Soto. According to reports, the Mets made Yamamoto an offer for the same long-term money as the Dodgers did. Steve Cohen is the wealthiest owner in sports. Ultimately, Yamamoto, who was already a major star in Japan, decided to try his luck at becoming a star in Los Angeles, much as Ohtani had recently done in Anaheim.
Does the Dodgers’ first World Series appearance now seem inevitable
what would be their second since 1988 and since 2020? Fans of baseball are wiser than that. When the Yankees acquired Alex Rodriguez on President’s Day weekend twenty years ago, they had only participated in six of the previous eight World Series, and the plan was to just keep winning the Fall Classic every year. Since then, they have visited one. You may go ahead and research it. In baseball, high payrolls and great players don’t usually translate into victory.
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However, the Dodgers pursue It now involves these two free agents, to the greatest extent baseball has ever witnessed, and they genuinely demonstrate their willingness to stop at nothing to succeed. It’s truly everything a fan could wish for. Vin Scully Ave. had an early Christmas. Pull up a chair, as the great Scully used to say.
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