Pitcher for Team With MLB’s 10th-Highest Payroll Disses 9th-Ranked Dodgers’ ‘Checkbook Baseball’

Someone seems upset that the Dodgers are trying to win.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have received all sorts of hate this offseason for spending a lot of money to build a better team. After two straight NLDS exits, the Dodgers' front office said enough was enough.

They brought in arguably the two biggest names on the open market, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, giving them more ammo to an already loaded team. But in addition, they also added more talent to give them an extremely star-studded team. 

This has rubbed many around the game the wrong way, even if all the team is doing is trying to win. Los Angeles has embraced the villain role this offseason but with the season starting up, opponents are starting to take jabs again.

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas had some fairly interesting comments about the Dodgers when asked. St. Louis is scheduled to take on the team during L.A.'s home opening series at the end of March.

"We’re not exactly a low payroll team, but you got the Dodgers playing checkbook baseball. We’re going to be the hardest working group of Midwestern farmers we can be. … It would be great to stick it to the Dodgers."

#STLCards RHP Miles Mikolas on opening vs. the #Dodgers : “We’re not exactly a low payroll team, but you got the Dodgers playing checkbook baseball. We’re going to be the hardest working group of Midwestern farmers we can be. … It would be great to stick it to the Dodgers.”

— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) March 16, 2024

The irony in all this is that the Cardinals have the 10th highest payroll in baseball, while the Dodgers hold the 9th, according to Spotrac. So the "checkbook baseball" comment doesn't check out as well as he may have thought when he said it.

Los Angeles star Mookie Betts has spoken about how he doesn't understand the hate being directed toward the team for trying to win. After all, the name of the game is building the best possible team to compete for a World Series. 

The Dodgers finally flexed their financial muscle and other clubs don't like it. The high-spending offseason for Los Angeles will be talked about all year, and the Dodgers will only be able to quiet it by winning.