Yankees-Dodgers off-the-field battle set up World Series edge

The Yankees and Dodgers have been circling each other for years to eventually meet in the World Series, in part because they have been circling each other for years in every aisle of the player supermarket. 

They have had similar taste in the mega department, each pursuing Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. At this past trade deadline, they shopped the smaller realm, too, for Tommy Edman, Jack Flaherty and Michael Kopech. Tommy Kahnle has signed two free-agent contracts, one with the Dodgers and the other that he is in the midst of completing with the Yankees. And as one official employed by one of the coastal superpowers noted, they probably have been curious about all the same relief reclamation projects on each team. 

“There’s a lot of players that are of similar interest,” Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes acknowledged. “I think the way they view players and the way we view players, there’s some overlap there. And since these are two teams that are consistently competing for a championship each and every year, it makes sense that there’s overlap.” 

We can expect that this is going to continue this offseason. The Dodgers are going to, at minimum, check to see if Juan Soto can be convinced to come West again. And there already are rival executives who believe that Los Angeles is the strong favorite to land Japanese star Roki Sasaki if the righty is posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines. That team is expected to announce a decision soon after the Japan Series, which is underway between the Yokohama DeNA BayStars and Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and will end no later than Nov. 3. 

Of course, the Yankees and Dodgers are not the only teams that will be interested in these players. The Mets under Steve Cohen, for example, are certain to be regularly on the Yankees/Dodgers corner now for difference-making stars. It is just that the Yankees and Dodgers have been in this duel for years. 

The Yankees, obviously, will be trying to retain Soto, who will be the top free agent in the market. And all 30 teams should (and many will) have interest in Sasaki, who does not even turn 23 until Nov. 3 and is arguably the best pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball. The fireballing righty asked to be posted last offseason and was denied, and the Marines could decide to decline again for financial reasons. 

Because he is under 25, Sasaki can only sign a minor league deal and max out on a signing bonus on what teams have in their international pool, which would likely be in the $5 million-$10 million range. When Yamamoto signed last year as a full free agent for 12 years at $325 million, the total value resulted in a posting fee paid by the Dodgers to the Orix Buffaloes of $50.6 million. The Marines would receive a pittance of that if they allow Sasaki to leave for free agency before he turns 25. 

Still, there are organizations that believe Sasaki is coming this winter. 

Since the investment is so low and the talent so large, every MLB team would want to convince Sasaki to come. But the Dodgers have entrenched themselves as the team of Japan with the signings of Yamamoto and especially Shohei Ohtani — their postseason TV ratings in Japan have been setting records, for example. 

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Yamamoto spurned the Yankees’ 10-year, $300 million bid — and one by the Mets that matched that of the Dodgers — to some extent to team with Ohtani and because of geography. Los Angeles is a five-hour shorter flight home than New York. The Dodgers will continue to enjoy similar advantages as they pursue their version of a dream team that already has Ohtani, Yamamoto, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. 

Remember that the plan is for Ohtani, who did not pitch this year after his second Tommy John surgery, to return to the rotation next year. The Dodgers were willing to accept injury risk as they obsess on the kind of high-end stuff they believe best works in the postseason. That is why they gave the most money ever guaranteed to a pitcher, even though Yamamoto had never played in the majors — a move that looked prescient as he held the Yankees to one run in 6 ¹/₃ innings as the Dodgers won Game 2, 4-2. They also traded for and extended the oft-injured Tyler Glasnow, a high-end talent who is out of this Fall Classic with elbow tendinitis. 

It is why they were so interested in Cole after the 2019 season. The Dodgers offered the righty a heavily deferred $300 million pact. This is familiar to the organization. The Dodgers have a track record of trying to get stars on either shorter deals with larger annual values (successful with Trevor Bauer, not with Bryce Harper, for example) and/or accords with deferrals. The extreme is the 10-year, $700 million agreement with Ohtani in which $680 million is deferred — an arrangement that gives the Dodgers the kind of financial flexibility to still boldly go after any difference-maker such as Soto. 

Cole signed with the Yankees for nine years at $324 — you will note that Yamamoto’s package was $1 million more to set the record. It is how these franchises dance with one another. The Yanks were willing to absorb more of Stanton’s contract than the Dodgers to forge a trade with the Marlins. The Dodgers acquired Trey Sweeney in a small deal with the Yankees last offseason to give them a key piece to get Flaherty at the trade deadline. 

They circle and circle each other. And now, players they both pursued are competing in the 120th World Series.