You knew – you had to know – that this was coming.
A team with a generational talent on its pitching staff enters the final Sunday of July 2½ games out of a wild card spot. Granted, it’s a mad scramble with 10 teams in contention for three spots. But it’s a chance, right?
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But … rather than roll the dice behind that generational talent a couple of months removed from his free agency, they cut their losses and trade him. The consensus from the outside is that they could and maybe should have gotten more, but the trade was considered the smart move regardless of what it says (“We give up,” maybe?) to their fan base.
As for that that generational talent, Tarik Skubal? Yes, you can see where I’m going with this.
The Dodgers, baseball’s villains – and, not incidentally, a team attempting to become the first National League club ever to achieve a World Series three-peat – acquired Skubal from the Detroit Tigers two days before the deadline (and the chances are good they’ll re-sign him once the season ends).
And in the court of public opinion, or at least that bastion of learned discourse known as social media, they’re castigated for not only ruining baseball, again, but also as the sole reason that there will be a work stoppage in 2027. Really?
This is akin to looking in a funhouse mirror. Everything’s skewed. The team that listens to its fans, that makes no bones about trying to win in a sport where so many teams seem content to just open the gates, is the reigning Evil Empire. The team whose management (or more likely ownership) that decided that a 2½-game deficit with eight weeks to play is insurmountable, and thus traded not only Skubal but starting pitcher Casey Mize to San Diego, gets a pass.
(Another potential factor: Maybe the Tigers just don’t want to deal with Scott Boras, Skubal’s agent.)
Hate? Jealousy? Who cares. If you’re a Dodgers fan – whether based here in SoCal or one of the many folks who show up in other ballparks from coast to coast wearing Dodgers gear – savor it. Consider it payback for the Frank McCourt era, or the close-but-no-rings early years of the current ownership.
And let’s pay attention to Andrew Friedman’s words uttered Sunday, one day after the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations completed that deal with Detroit counterpart Scott Harris to add a two-time Cy Young Award winner to his pitching staff:
“… (This) is about the partnership that we have with our fans who come out 50,000 large and the passion that they have for this team, (and) the guys in that clubhouse who are doing everything they can to put us in position to win a World Series.”
As we’ve said before, Dodgers ownership wants to win as badly as the fans do. How many other owners can legitimately say that? How many even try to fake it?
Consider: Marian Ilitch, widow of Mike Ilitch and thus matriarch of the family that owns not only the Tigers but Little Caesars Pizza and the NHL’s Red Wings, is worth $7.6 billion as of Monday, the 519th richest person in the world according to Forbes magazine. Her son, Chris Ilitch, is the CEO of Ilitch Holdings, the umbrella company for those businesses.
So don’t tell me that the Tigers – whose projected end-of-season 40-man roster payroll figure is $201.4 million, 10th in baseball according to Cot’s Contracts – couldn’t have afforded to keep Skubal and re-sign him this winter, if they had wished.
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It’s also worth noting that in the previous 33 seasons of Ilitch ownership, the Tigers are 397 games under .500 all told and have reached the postseason seven times. They have reached an American League Division Series the past two seasons but lost both. (Skubal won Cy Young Awards in those seasons. Coincidence? I think not.)
The salary cap that management is pushing in this winter’s collective bargaining, a device which the Players Association has never agreed to and shows no inclination to this time, almost certainly will lead to a lockout in early December. Some unidentified owners are talking big about shutting down the entire 2027 season in order to get their way.
The owners insist it’s necessary for competitive balance, and they’re making that point in ads designed to swing public sentiment in their favor. But a look at the current standings shreds that argument.
Going into Monday’s games, 24 of baseball’s 30 teams, including 10 of the bottom 15 on the payroll list – basically everyone below the Angels – were either in a playoff spot or within 5½ games with eight weeks left in the regular season. The No. 30 team on the payroll list, Cleveland ($70.7 million), went into Monday holding down the No. 3 wild card spot in the American League. Eight of the bottom 10 teams in the payroll list have a chance, and that includes two division leaders, Tampa Bay ($91.2 million) and the Chicago White Sox ($98.5 million).
The baseball operations staffs in those cities certainly want to win. How many of their owners are willing to do what’s necessary?
Then again, Steve Cohen seems willing enough, but his New York Mets have the game’s largest payroll ($351.8 million) and the game’s 26th-best record (47-66, 12½ games back in the NL wild card race).
But the salary cap push isn’t about competitive balance. It’s about franchise valuations, as we’ve discussed here before. Baseball’s owners see the valuations of franchises in salary cap leagues and are envious.
A side note, for all of those who show up at Angel Stadium these days to chant “Sell the team”: Forbes’ annual MLB team valuation list for 2026 listed the Angels at $2.8 billion, 11th among the 30 teams and just under the industry average of $2.9 billion. Remember, Arte Moreno made noise about selling a few years ago but pulled back, and that well could have been because he didn’t get an offer he considered sufficient. (Although the Padres were 10th on the current list at $3.1 billion and sold this spring for $3.9 billion.)
The Angels’ teardown and rebuild is underway, by the way, and give interim baseball boss John Mozeliak credit for being willing to start over. José Soriano, Jo Adell, Logan O’Hoppe, Chase Silseth, Ryan Zeferjahn, Brent Suter, Kirby Yates … all gone, and the Perry Minasian era might as well have not existed. In other words, six seasons (and counting?) wasted in Anaheim.
Oh, by the way: The top teams on that valuation list? The Yankees at $8.5 billion and the Dodgers at $7.8 billion. Yes, feel free to talk about big markets and lots of resources, but remember: Winning, and more importantly consistently trying to win, does make a difference.
And if you’re a Dodger fan, here’s how you end (and win) the argument: Even with a salary cap, their organization would still be better than anyone else’s.
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