The Los Angeles Dodgers already crushed the New York Yankees‘ spirit by rallying from a five-run deficit Wednesday to clinch the 2024 World Series in five games. It was a series in which the Dodgers outplayed the Yankees in all facets, according to FOX Sports analyst and Yankees legend Derek Jeter, a point driven home by New York’s stunning defensive miscues in the fifth inning of Wednesday’s Game 5.
But there is one way in which the Dodgers could really pour salt into the Yankees’ wounds — by signing Juan Soto in free agency — and Colin Cowherd argued Thursday that it would be great for the sport if L.A. did just that.
“[Freddie] Freeman, [Mookie] Betts, [Clayton] Kershaw, Soto — it would be the ultimate villain [team] outside of Los Angeles,” Cowherd said. “Couldn’t take your eyes off it. Major League Baseball has not had a dynasty since the early 2000s and, by the way, go look at the NBA. Last time they got great ratings — [Michael Jordan’s] Bulls, [the] Kobe [Bryant]-Shaq [O’Neal Lakers], Steph [Curry]’s Warriors. I think the Dodgers should make a run this [offseason]. The Dodgers led baseball in home attendance, and they also led it in road attendance. They’re interesting. It’s a star-studded machine. Add another star. We’re all distracted — you have to create urgency.”
Cowerd continued to talk about the value of the sport having a villain.
“[It] would create a special and unique experience you can’t get anywhere else. Everybody got mad when [Kevin Durant] went to the Warriors — they watched. [The Warriors] were a villain. It was unique. We were calling them the greatest basketball team of all time. There’s a million platforms, a million channels, a million places for your eyeballs to go. People are not watching good — they’re watching Caitlin Clark because there’s never been anything like it in women’s basketball.”
Cowherd’s argument is rooted in the belief that the only way for MLB to make a resurgence in popularity is to have a dynasty like the NBA teams he outlined, or the Tom Brady-led New England Patriots and Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL. MLB has not had back-to-back World Series champions since the Yankees won three World Series in a row from 1998-2000.
“Mahomes and Brady’s dominance has not hurt the NFL whatsoever,” Cowherd said. “I think Major League Baseball needs a dynasty, and nobody has the wherewithal and the passion and the attendance and the inertia and the momentum and already a launching pad of a franchise like the Dodgers. I would go after Soto. You’ll probably have to let somebody go. Okay, but when the Warriors went and got KD, Adam Silver was very uncomfortable, and then people stopped watching the Denver Nuggets win a title. I know it makes you uncomfortable — that’s an unfair advantage. Sports is all unfair.”
Ironically, it’s the Yankees who have established themselves as MLB’s preeminent team because of the dynasties they’ve enjoyed virtually constantly from the 1920s to the late 1970s, and again in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They’ve won 27 World Series titles in the process, way more than anybody else — the St. Louis Cardinals are a distant second, with 11.
Keeping Soto in the fold would give the Yankees a much clearer path for a return to that former glory, after they just snapped a 15-year streak of not even reaching the World Series.
Soto is fresh off a superstar first season in the Bronx after arriving in a trade with the San Diego Padres last winter, and is expected to earn one of the biggest contracts in MLB history this offseason. It was a common occurrence to hear Yankees fans, both in Yankee Stadium and at road games, chant “re-sign Soto” during the latter part of the regular season and throughout the Yankees’ playoff run.
The reasons are obvious — Soto, who was already a superstar before arriving in New York, put up the best numbers over a 162-game season in his career this past season. He slashed .288/.419/.569 with a .989 OPS and had the fifth-lowest strikeout rate among all MLB hitters. His Wins Above Replacement on Fangraphs, or fWAR, was the fourth-highest in the majors behind only current Yankees captain Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals, and Ohtani.
And that was all before a postseason in which he improved on those numbers, including a 1.102 OPS, and hit four home runs, including the decisive blast in the 10th inning of a clinching Game 5 of the American League Championship Series.
But while Soto has expressed fondness for his time as a Yankee, he also spoke about the team in the past tense when talking to reporters after New York’s Game 5 loss and said he would “be available for all 30 teams” in free agency. And the Dodgers are reportedly interested in Soto.
Could he take Cowherd’s advice and spurn baseball’s so-called “Evil Empire” to create a new dynasty out West?
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