Greetings from the sports desk, located somewhere below the main deck of the Good Pirate Ship RedState. There’s a lot to catch up on, but first, let’s see what Sammy the Shark and Karl the Kraken are working on. Spoiler alert: it’s obviously not watching their weight.
Anyway, the World Series has mercifully concluded, with the Los Angeles Dodgers once again triumphing—this time over the Toronto Blue Jays. I’ve been seeing some breathless fanboy write-ups declaring this the Greatest World Series EVAH! I’m not buying it.
Toronto went out of its way in Games Six and Seven to play fundamentally unsound baseball in critical moments, and Los Angeles was more than delighted to accept its largesse. I’m not putting the Dodgers down—they are the best team in baseball, bullpen notwithstanding—and they did what they needed to do to earn the title. However, I am putting the Blue Jays down for consistently failing to come through when victory was within their grasp.
They repeatedly failed to bring runners home in scoring position, nor did they advance runners to put them in better scoring positions. Toronto has no one to blame but itself for walking away empty-handed.
Now, an interesting off-season begins. While there are no Shohei Ohtani-level megastars on the free agent market, there is plenty of available talent that can make any team willing to flash the cash instantly better: Cody Bellinger, Kyle Schwarber, Kyle Tucker, Ranger Suarez, and more.
Should the Dodgers do what they normally do—namely, pay whatever they feel like for whoever they feel like—it will only add to the screeching chorus that baseball’s current salary structure is untenable due to the radical difference in income between big and small market teams.
As I mentioned on October 30, 2025, it’s not that Los Angeles is breaking the rules. It is that the present rules allow for such inequity, and also permit teams with no great interest in winning to continue puttering along with minuscule payrolls and even smaller winning percentages, yet still turning a handsome profit for their owners.
The players couldn’t care less about this, as long as the delusion holds that sooner or later, every team will start spending at a Dodgers or Mets-like level. They will not.
In addition to refusing to discuss a salary cap, the players are equally adamant about not having a minimum team salary established. Never mind how the other three major sports have amply demonstrated that a salary ceiling, combined with a floor, does not preclude top players from getting top dollar while benefiting all players throughout their respective leagues. Likewise, such structures allow all teams to compete regardless of location.
This is doubtless to the chagrin of some; for example, one can imagine the NBA was less than thrilled this past spring when the championship came down to the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers, as compared to, say, the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks.
But of such is real life. The big city and the bright lights do not automatically get a free pass to getting whatever their concrete and neon heart desires, as anyone who has ever watched a Hallmark Channel Christmas movie can attest.
So, baseball seems headed toward a vicious lockout following the 2026 season, with that season most likely ending with the Dodgers becoming the first team since the 1998–2000 New York Yankees to win three championships in a row.
Like the Dodgers of today, the Yankees of that time were the best team money could buy. Unlike the Yankees, who had the opportunity to go for four in a row but lost the 2001 World Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles will not be in the 2027 World Series—because there will not be one.
The Schumer Shutdown is here.
Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown over healthcare for illegal immigrants. They own this.
https://redstate.com/jerrywilson/2025/11/03/redstate-sports-report-the-dodgers-again-n2195823
