Season opens with Dodgers cashing in

By David Mullen

Are the Los Angeles Dodgers the best team money can buy? 

The Dodgers are the reigning World Champions. They spent wads of money in the offseason to get even better, amassing an estimated $321 million payroll, which is $56 million more than LA spent last season. And now they get to go on a vacation paid by MLB.

With Opening Day on Tuesday, March 18, let’s begin the two-part baseball preview with the National League. The Dodgers open the 2025 season with a series against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo. “Buy me some peanuts and Kaki no tane,” just doesn’t seem appropriate for America’s pastime.

The NL West crown has already been bestowed to Los Angeles. Vegas oddsmakers have the Dodgers winning 105 to 106 games this season. Next in the division, the Arizona Diamondbacks are forecast to win 86 games. “Great season, ‘Zona. You finished in second, 20 games out of first place. Here’s your participation trophy.” 

The Dodgers spent millions on starters Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Japanese star Roki Sasaki. The Dodgers are so deep, a collapse seems impossible. They have 20 players on the roster making at least $5 million annually. The Miami Marlins have one player making more than $5 million on their $41 million roster, which is $280 million less than LA’s current squad.

MLB continues to skirt the issue of a salary cap. The Dodgers aren’t breaking the rules, they are just breaking the bank.  

Los Angeles has MVPs Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts, who is moving to shortstop this season. But it’s the unsung players like Teoscar Hernández, Max Muncy, Will Smith, Tommy Edman and James Outman that seem to be the difference makers. 

The D-Backs have some nice hitters like Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and swapped longtime first baseman Christian Walker for Josh Naylor. Walker signed with Houston. But the starting pitching is what keeps Arizona hot, with Corbin Burnes slithering to the top of the Diamondbacks rotation, joining Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly and Eduardo Rodriguez.

The Padres did very little in this offseason. They still have star players like Luis Arraez, Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and young  Jackson Merrill. But their rotation — Dylan Cease, Michael King and Yu Darvish — is fourth in the division. Joe Musgrove will miss the 2025 season due to Tommy John surgery.  

The San Francisco Giants muscled up while improving their defense by signing SS Willy Adames and expecting an injury-free season from CF Jung Hoo Lee. They added Justin Verlander to join Logan Webb and Robbie Ray for a solid core of starters. The Colorado Rockies continue to rebuild and will lose more than 100 games again in 2025.

The Milwaukee Brewers won the AL Central by 10 games last year due to a late season surge. The Brewers lost a key player in Adames to San Francisco, and don’t pack the wallop of previous teams. The St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates are regressing. The Cards can’t hit and rank below average defensively, and the Pirates brass just won’t spend any money to support a young nucleus of talent. Even though the Cubs are loved by many and watching a game at Wrigley Field is the equivalent to front row seats at a Bruce Springsteen concert, the “Glory Days” seem a few years away in Chicago. Keep an eye on the youngsters Pete Crow-Armstrong and Matt Shaw. It turns hot in Cincinnati about the time the Reds turn cold, and Cincy doesn’t have enough pitching to win a very winnable division.

In the NL East, the New York Mets are tired of playing second fiddle to the Yankees in New York and spent money in the offseason like a drunken Dodger. The Mets signed Juan Soto for 15 years and $765 million. I’m sure a plumber in Queens trying to take his family to Citi Field can relate. The Mets retained their fan favorite Pete Alonso at first base. 

Atlanta was bitten by the injury bug last season, but a healthy Braves team could give the Dodgers a run in the National League. As 2023 MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. remains sidelined recovering from a knee injury, Atlanta will look to Matt Olson, Marcell Ozuna, Ozzie Albies and human highlight reel Michael Harris II to pick up the slack.

This might be the last stand for the Philadelphia Phillies. The team seemed to get old all at once. But with veterans Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm, Kyle Schwarber, Nick Castellanos and J.T. Realmuto, there still may be life in Philly. The team is full of angst.

The Washington Nationals don’t hit home runs so they brought in former Texas Ranger Nathaniel Lowe to bat cleanup. Lowe is not an effective solution. Youngsters CJ Abrams and Dylan Crews will have a chance to shine for the city on a hill. And baseball and Miami should be synonymous. But the Marlins are a lousy team, play in a bad stadium and have little fan support. Shortstop Xavier Edwards is worth watching.

Atlanta, Los Angeles and Chicago (barely) will win their divisions, with Arizona, Philadelphia and New York grabbing the wild card spots. Look for the Giants to be the surprise team in the NL this season. 

In the end, there is no stopping the LA bullet train, even though LA doesn’t have a bullet train. Politicians have talked about linking San Francisco to Los Angeles by high-speed rail for decades, but the state can’t afford to build it. Maybe they should ask the Dodgers for financial support.