Magic Johnson Fires Back at Dodgers Haters After Thrilling World Series Win

When you are the back-to-back World Series champions and own one of the highest payrolls in Major League Baseball, you’ll have a fair share of haters.

The Los Angeles Dodgers again won the Fall Classic on Saturday followed by bemoaning from fans of smaller market clubs, who say the Dodgers ruined baseball by being one of the few markets that can agree to the size of their deferred contracts.

Shohei Ohtani, a 31-year-old Japanese hitter and pitcher widely considered the greatest player of all-time, signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers in 2023. Ohtani opted to defer his salary until after the contract ends and he is presumably no longer or near no longer playing in the league. The Dodgers front office then built a team of stars around him using similar financial practices, which have long been used in baseball.

Some people advocate for a salary cap in MLB. The NBA adopted one in 1984, followed by the NFL in 1994 and the NHL in 2005. Smaller market teams that don’t have the free agency appeal of big cities are seemingly playing under unfair conditions, say salary cap advocates.

But, Dodgers fans say the haters are just jealous and envy living in a place like Los Angeles that attracts the big names.

Magic Johnson Says MLB Similar to Success of NBA

Amid the World Series celebration on Saturday, Magic Johnson, the Los Angeles Lakers legend who owns a small percentage of the Dodgers, said the championship was confirmation of the front office’s plans.

“They said we ruined baseball,” Johnson told the LA Times. “Well, I guess we didn’t.”

Johnson, however, offers a subtle warning to baseball’s owners: don’t let the pursuit of a salary cap jeopardize a sport that’s thriving — due in no small part to the Dodgers’ success.

This year’s World Series had the highest TV ratings in MLB since the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016. Johnson said there are similarities to what is happening in baseball and what happened to the NBA.

“What the Celtics and Lakers were able to do, and Michael Jordan’s Bulls, was to bring in new fans — fans that were, ‘Oh, I don’t know about the NBA,’” Johnson told the LA Times, “but the play was so good, and the Celtics and Lakers and Bulls were so dominant, people said, ‘Oh man, I want to watch them.’

“It’s the same thing happening here.”

The NBA’s leadership could hardly believe its luck — while baseball’s seems determined to set its own good fortune ablaze.

“My phone was blowing up with people who hadn’t watched baseball for a long time,” Johnson said. “They were watching this series.

“This was good for baseball around the world.”

Shohei Ohtani Attracts New Audiences to Baseball

You put a microphone in front of Johnson long enough and he’ll give you a soundbite. That’s been the case since his Michigan State days. After Game 7 Johnson called this Dodgers ring his “18th championship,” which includes all the championships from his playing days and then various ownership groups in his later years.

But one thing Magic could admit more often is the rise in baseball’s popularity is likely connected to the appeal of Ohtani, more so than his own ability to win.

It seems impossible since Ohtani both pitched and hit in the World Series, but his fellow countrymen pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto earned the World Series MVP.

Ohtani can do everything. Although he struggled on the mound in Game 7, he’s an elite pitcher that drives in runs and hits homers. In Game 3, he tied a MLB record for most times reaching bases in a single game (9). Ohtani is also a mysterious celebrity in Los Angeles who has social media appeal across generations. It’s a perfect marriage that is naturally drawing more eye balls.

 

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