With the 2025 MLB season rapidly approaching, the Los Angeles Dodgers have consistently been under the gun from fans of pretty much every other team due to their massive $392 million payroll.

They’ve been called the evil empire, the villains of the MLB, and, worst of all, a team that has ruined the integrity of the game, which, to some, is much worse than simply playing the heels in national conversations.

Is baseball worse off because the Dodgers have more star players than anyone else? No, not really, as any team could theoretically match their payroll if they want to. And yet, in the opinion of ESPN MLB Insider Jeff Passan, there is a very real victim in this situation, as the fans around the league are the real party being harmed by LA’s “Super Team.”

“The problem is, number one, we don’t know that a salary cap would solve this. There are other capped leagues in sports, and those capped leagues, some of them do not have the parity that Major League Baseball does,” Passan explained.

“But it’s really the feeling of not being able to compete that is harming these teams and harming fanbases more than anything, and it’s something that over the next couple years, as the next collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2026 season, we’re gonna have to keep an eye on, because the future of baseball, Kevin, is gonna depend on how they figure this out.”

Is Passan on the money? Are fans of, say, the Miami Marlins worse off because the Dodgers have a $300 million-plus team when their own franchise would likely hem and haw about having to reach a cap floor if such a system was introduced? Or is it the mere fact that when a big name becomes available for one reason or another, be they an established ace like Blake Snell or a once-in-a-decade entry-level rookie like Roki Sasaki who chose the organization not because of money but because of their glowing reputation?

Will the MLB eventually take these complaints to heart and introduce a salary cap in one form or another? Do you know what? While it may ultimately come back to bite them in the behind, yes, they probably will, but even if that happens, the truth is this: the Dodgers get so many good players because they have built a certified machine in a natural paradise where players and their families want to make a life outside of the field. Until the Marlins, the Chicago White Sox, the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Pittsburgh Pirates can put together a winning organization where players want to land, they will inevitably still lose out on top players to organizations like the Dodgers and New York Yankees.