Over in Los Angeles, there are 11-year-old fans who have never been alive in a year the Dodgers missed the playoffs. It’s remarkable — it’s a run like the Lakers would have, not a baseball team, even with the additional wild card spots. And come to think of it, only once have the Dodgers even needed the wild card to get in.
Eleven straight postseasons, 10 as the division champ. And entering Saturday’s game at Busch Stadium, L.A.
was in first place, yet again, looking ahead at a Dodger dozen. The Cardinals used to be a franchise like this. From 2000-2015, St.
Louis made the playoffs in 12 out of 16 seasons (winning two World Series). Nowadays, they miss the playoffs as often as they make them (four out of past eight from 2016-2023). Is it fair to compare the two franchises? Obviously, the Dodgers have an exorbitant amount of money to spend on, well, everything — from players to draft picks to managers to instructors to, perhaps most importantly, the luxury tax.
But it’s not like this is, say, Missouri and Missouri State. These are still both well-drawing, big city clubs — with a sterling history and a strong reputation — who are competing to win the National League. But here we are, Dodgers vs.
Cardinals, and, in some regards, it doesn’t even feel like they’re in the same league. Part of this is the Cardinals’ own slippage: a weakened minor league system, aging big-league stars who are highly paid, a pitching rotation losing steam, regrettable trades and misidentified prospects. We could complain about not spending enough money, but the reality is, folks, that the Cardinals have spent rather consistently during the good years and the bad years.
From 2011-2024, per Spotrac, the Cardinals’ payroll has averaged a ranking of 10.8 in Major League Baseball (for most of the years, they were ranked somewhere between ninth and 12th, and that includes two NL champion teams). The Dodgers were 10th in payroll in 2011 and ninth in 2012 — and then they were sold.
Under new ownership, starting with its first offseason heading into 2013, the Dodgers payroll has averaged a ranking of 2.1. In eight of the years, L.
A. has had the highest payroll. And they’re unafraid to pay tax upon tax for surpassing thresholds.
And, of course, the Dodgers dodged a potential money issue when Shohei Ohtani, baseball’s unicorn, offered to defer dollars in his contact this past offseason. “At the end of the day, you just have to have good players — and good players cost money,” said the Cooperstown-bound Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers’ starting pitcher for Sunday in St. Louis.
“And Andrew (Friedman, the president of baseball operations) has found the guys that are really good, but also have maintained their success and consistency. ..
. And he goes and gets guys every trade deadline, but doesn’t sell the farm to do it. It’s just been a good balance.
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“(Overall), I think everybody that’s come in here has performed the way that they’re supposed to, for the most part. And ultimately, it starts with Andrew on down. He created a great minor league system, and then our ownership has given him the money to go get good free agents.
” When you look at the Dodgers, they’ve dominated not just due to their dollars, but also their development. “You’ve got to have a farm system, too — you’ve got to have (young) guys that don’t make a lot of money (on the MLB team), to balance it out,” Kershaw said. Indeed, the Dodgers are often among the top farm systems, per MLB.
com rankings. In 2022, they were as high as No. 2.
Right now, they’re No. 5. The Cardinals are No.
19 . “Certainly, you don’t win without good players,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think Billy Gasparino in our scouting department does a fantastic job finding talent, vetting the people and getting good baseball people.
I think player development is also a big part of it. “At the major league level, I think we do a good job of having a culture of getting the best out of guys and making guys feel comfortable — while playing to win. And you know, this day and age, guys are playing for themselves a lot — in some cases, understandably so.
But I think we do as good a job as anyone for playing for the Dodgers.” But here’s the thing. Even the Dodgers have holes.
For all the money, for the ex-MVPs as their Nos. 1-2-3 hitters, for all the young budding players, L.A.
is still fighting to win its division. And fighting to even hold together a pitching staff. On Saturday, they had to call up pitcher Bobby Miller — a great prospect having a down year and was sent down to the minors — due to “circumstance,” Roberts said.
Other injuries — from Tyler Glasnow to Kershaw to Yoshinobu Yamamoto — have hindered the rotation. All-encompassing, it’s fair to argue that the Dodgers’ dollars aren’t good for baseball. That the money creates imbalance.
But there’s so much that goes into team-building. Nothing is guaranteed. Because even with their payroll and stars, the Dodgers entered Saturday just three games ahead of both Arizona and San Diego.
That said, they’re likely playoff-bound for the 12th straight season. And the Cards are on pace to miss the playoffs for the fifth time in nine seasons. “I think success is based on what you control from top to bottom — wins and losses come with that,” said Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly, who pitched for the pennant-winning Cardinals in 2013.
“But I think (the Dodgers) put in the time and effort to the things that they know will make a player better. As an organization, we’re not afraid to go out and if there’s, let’s say, some random pitching guru out there who’s not affiliated with anyone, they’re not afraid to go out and pick their brain. .
.. “And I’d be willing to say that we spend the most money on our farm system — paying coaches more than most other franchises.
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Obviously you put time and effort into that, to develop the young guys. And that’s why most of them are ready to come up here and contribute right away.”.
