NL West Rival Owner Calls Out Dodgers for Unfair Spending

Oct 31, 2024; New York, New York, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman (5) celebrates with the Commissioner’s Trophy after the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in game four to win the 2024 MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers hear new statements about the league's discontent with their spending seemingly every other day.

As a reminder, there is nothing that L.A. is doing against the rules of MLB as they are simply doing what they can to get the best possible group of players onto the field every game.

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Owner of the rival Arizona Diamondbacks Ken Kendrick was the latest to speak on the Dodgers' spending habits via AZ Central's Nick Piecoro.

“Are their baseball people and their owners smarter than all the others? I don’t think so,” Kendrick said. “Our game, by virtue of how playoffs work, evens the playing field by some degree in the playoffs. But the regular season is not a necessarily even playing field and I think it should be — more even than it is.

“I believe in those who are brighter than the next guy being more successful than the next guy. But when you see one team with a payroll that is 5x their competitor, the chances over time of that team at 5x over the less financially supported team, they’re going to win.”

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As for Kendrick's regular season fairness comment — fans of the Dodgers know this all too well — there is no correlation between regular season and postseason success.

L.A. has won the division Kendrick's team plays in 11 times out of the last 12 seasons. To the owner's point, the Dodgers did so with the third highest payroll in MLB in 2024.

Another misconception about the Dodgers is that they outspend their opponents. Since 2013, the start of the Dodgers' divisional dominance, they have led the league in payroll for only five seasons.

Only one of those five seasons, 2020, resulted in a World Series title.

Per Baseball America's Kyle Glaser, Kendrick is also correct in his assessment that team's have to spend money to be a contender in today's game, but it's not as guaranteed he insinuated.

Since 2014, the World Series winner has been outside of the top-5 Opening Day payroll spending list seven times. Four of those times has been No. 10 or lower.

As for Arizona, they have yet to see a season where they are inside the top 10 in payroll, but in 2024 and now 2025, they are ranked No. 10 on the list.

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For more Dodgers news, head over to Dodgers on SI.