Yankees Owner Hal Steinbrenner Weighs In On Dodgers $500-Million Spending Spree: It’s ‘Difficult’ To Keep Up

The past year has belonged to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Sure, they won the World Series in October, overpowering the New York Yankees in just five games and overcoming a deficit that seemed sure to buy the Yankees more time. And, yeah, just over a year ago they signed superstar Shohei Ohtani to a record-setting deal. But the story recently has been their free agency, fueled by a combination of the previous two and the willingness to spend big.

To put the Dodgers’ spending spree in context, they’ve spent over $450 million this offseason alone, including hundreds of millions deferred. Including penalties for exceeding the salary threshold, their payroll for the 2025 season will likely be in excess of $500 million. The Philadelphia Phillies are slated to be second, nearly $100 million behind.

Their free-agent and extension class includes two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell, NLCS MVP Tommy Edman, two-time All-Star Teoscar Hernández and highly sought-after pitcher Roki Sasaki. They haven’t stopped adding or signing reliever Kirby Yates to a one-year deal at the end of January.

As the spending continues, so have fan – and club – outcry.

A day after Sasaki’s signing, Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts commented that it was “really hard to compete” with the Dodgers. More recently, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said, “It’s difficult for most of us owners to be able to do the kind of things that they’re doing.”

The Dodgers, Yankees and Cubs represent the three top revenues in the league. They also represent the first, fourth, and tenth highest payrolls for the upcoming season, respectively.

Fan outcry has largely been concentrated around MLB’s lack of a salary cap, a mark that distinguishes it from nearly every other professional sports league. The top and bottom payrolls in the 2024 season were separated by nearly $250 million – the New York Mets clocked in at around $315 million, while the Oakland A’s clocked in at around $62 million.

The Dodgers’ willingness to spend has only made the lack of parity that much more obvious. It is worth mentioning, though, that the highest payroll has won the World Series just two times in the past 15 years. Spending does not by any means guarantee a championship.

“They still have to have a season that’s relatively injury-free for it to work out for them,” Steinbrenner said. “It’s a long season as you know, and once you get to the postseason, anything can happen. We’ve seen that time and time again. We’ll see who’s there at the end.”