Copyright outkick
The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series with a thrilling extra-innings Game 7 victory on Saturday night over the Toronto Blue Jays. The win represented their second consecutive world championship after winning it all in 2024. But how legitimate is the title? Sure, the Dodgers had injuries throughout the season. However, this was a team that many believed could be one of the greatest MLB teams of all-time. That didn't happen, due in large part to the aforementioned injuries, but it wasn't for lack of spending money. According to Spotrac, the Dodgers had a 2025 payroll of just over $350 million. To put that in perspective, the owner of the Cincinnati Reds, Bob Castellini, is worth an estimated $400 million. So, the Dodgers' 2025 team payroll nearly equals the entire net worth of an MLB owner. That seems… unfair. Of course, MLB doesn't have a salary cap. It is the only major North American professional sports league that doesn't have one. This creates a scenario where rich owners can simply buy contenders every year. No team takes this more seriously than the Dodgers. The lowest payroll in MLB belongs to the Miami Marlins at just under $68 million. The Dodgers' top three pitchers – Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Shohei Ohtani – combined to earn just over $89 million. Not only is that more than the entire Marlins' payroll, but it's more than the payroll of five MLB teams (Marlins, Athletics, White Sox, Rays and Pirates). No, the Dodgers weren't the only team doing this. The New York Mets spent $341 million in 2025 just to miss the playoffs. But just because the Dodgers are better at spending boatloads of cash than the Mets doesn't make it impressive that they won the World Series. The Blue Jays spend money, too. They ranked fifth in 2025 payroll at $255 million, trailing only the Dodgers, Mets, New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets were the only team in the top five in payroll that didn't at least reach the Divisional Series of the MLB playoffs this season. Luck Plays a Major Role in Baseball Among the popular American sports, baseball is arguably the most random. There's a round ball, a round bat and human umpires making calls on every pitch and every play. So, a team that doesn't spend a ton of money can randomly pop for a season and make a run. Consider that the Dodgers' NLCS opponent, the Milwaukee Brewers, had a payroll of around $120 million. They spent just over one-third what the Dodgers spent, and both teams ended up in the League Championship Series. Of course, the Dodgers steamrolled the Brewers to a 4-0 series victory. From Sept. 24 to Oct. 23 (the day before the World Series started), the Dodgers went 14-1. Their only loss came in the NLDS against the Phillies. Los Angeles won five-straight regular season games to end the season before rattling off four-straight postseason wins. Following the single loss to Philadelphia, they won their next five games (including a sweep of the Brewers in the NLCS). While the Blue Jays spent $255 million, that nearly $100 million gap between themselves and the Dodgers showed itself in the World Series. "But, Dan, the World Series went seven games and the Blue Jays led 1-0 and 3-2 before losing!" Yes, that's true. However, it took an extreme amount of luck to make that happen. As OutKick writer Ian Miller – a noted Dodgers homer – pointed out several times via our OutKick group chat, the Blue Jays had a batting average on balls in play (BABIP) well above the Major League average in the World Series. He also noted that Ernie Clement, a career minor leaguer, set the MLB record with most hits in a single postseason. Baseball has many stats that attempt to quantify luck, and the Blue Jays had high numbers in all of them. Conversely, the Dodgers posted incredibly unlucky stats all season. So, the Dodgers were the unluckiest team in baseball and the Blue Jays were the luckiest. And Los Angeles still managed to win the World Series because their talent was superior to everyone else's talent. Yes, the Dodgers are World Series champions. But let's not pretend that they earned it. They bought it.
