Just In: Conversations have started about @ShamsCharania’s future, and discussing whether the ESPN Senior NBA Insider’s best fit is staying on Giannis’ All-Star Celebrity team or elsewhere.
The Dodgers have handed out over $2.2 billion in contracts in just the last three offseasons. That number alone is more than the total value of half of MLB franchises, including the team they just beat in the World Series.
Their projected 2026 luxury tax bill is around $165 million. Not payroll — just the tax. That would rank near the middle of the league in total payroll by itself. That’s insane.
Most teams simply cannot operate this way, no matter how smart their front office is or how well they draft. The Dodgers have a massive TV deal, ownership willing to eat historic tax penalties, and the flexibility to treat the luxury tax as a business expense instead of a deterrent.
For a lot of franchises, one bad contract sets them back years.
For the Dodgers, there’s always another move.
MLB doesn’t have a salary cap, and at this point it barely has meaningful guardrails. When one organization can spend more in penalties than some teams spend on entire rosters, the idea of competitive balance starts to fall apart.
You can respect what they’re doing and still admit the system is broken.
Because this isn’t parity.
It isn’t sustainable. At least not for almost every other team.
And it’s not healthy for the sport long term.
It's making the game boring and more predictable.