Dodgers News: Yankees Owner Hal Steinbrenner Expresses Concern About Dodgers’ Payroll and World Series Titles
Hal Steinbrenner is the most recent to criticize the Dodgers for their spending and their success.
LOS ANGELES, CA—Over the last several seasons, the Los Angeles Dodgers have been criticized by multiple smaller-market teams for their spending; however, until recently, it was never seen as a significant problem for the sport’s parity.
Under the Dodgers’ new ownership group that took over during the 2012 season, the team, led by Guggenheim and controlling owner Mark Walter, has been at the top of league payroll every season, but until recently, it had had okay results in the postseason.
Still, over that stretch, the Dodgers have won the National League West 12 of 13 times, won five National League Pennants, and claimed their third World Series victory, and the first back-to-back title in 25 years, a feat that had not been done since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees.
In many ways, the Dodgers and their run of dominance have them viewed as the new modern-day Yankees, with their winning ways having no end in sight, which, entering this offseason, has brought even more criticism, with labor negotiations set to begin next December.
Well, an unlikely source has added to the anti-Dodgers narrative: Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner.
“Of course it’s a concern,” Steinbrenner said, per Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. “The (Dodgers) have tremendous resources, and they’ve gotten the job done. That’s the big thing. They’ve played to their potential when they needed to. They have overcome a lot of injuries this year. Again, they got healthy at the right time. I don’t know what next year is going to bring. But of course it’s always a concern any time I feel that one team is pulling away from the other 29, (or) selfishly, pulling away from me.”
It’s an odd critique from an owner who despite his short comings since taking over his father (one World Series victory since 2007) finished fourth in payroll for the 2025 season, and leading the American League in 2024, which led to the teams first World Series appearance sin’s first World Series appearance since 2009.
Still, Hal has distanced himself from the spending his father made during his tenure running the team, which gave them the famous nickname “the Evil Empire,” and their ability to land high-profile additions while winning World Series titles contributed to it.
In the same interview, Steinbrenner stated that there is a weak correlation between spending and winning a championship, as evidenced by their city rival, the New York Mets, who led the league in payroll last season but failed to make the postseason.
“If there’s a correlation between spending the most money and winning a championship, I still think it’s a weak correlation, sample size of data,” Steinbrenner said. “But (the Dodgers) earned every bit of it. … They really played up to their potential, especially those last two games. That has to happen. Your players have to play up to their potential when you’re playing a team as good as the Blue Jays, and you’re playing under that kind of pressure in the World Series. Hats off to them. It’s not easy to do twice, and they did it in dramatic fashion this time.”
But the Dodgers’ concern lives in a lot of owners’ heads, more than most fans would think, especially New York Yankees fans who have pleaded for Steinbrenner to open the pocketbook.
The cries for a league-wide salary cap are real, and it’s something that even Steinbrenner would consider supporting, but only if a salary floor accompanied it.
“Something that would be reasonable enough that it would improve competitive balance significantly in the sport, which many fans would argue is not good enough.”
When the CBA expires next winter, it will be interesting how quickly each side will come to an agreement and whether changes will be made, but as the Dodgers’ success continues on, other teams and their owners will be envious of something they’ve failed to achieve.
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