The Dodgers Are Baseball’s Villains, and They’re Loving Every Minute of It

They are the envy of baseball. Or scourge depending on vantage point.

In the coming days, the Los Angeles Dodgers also will become even more of a nightmare when they add more talent to a roster already bursting with it.

After left-handed trade addition Tarik Skubal made his Dodgers debut on Tuesday, left-hander Blake Snell (elbow) is set to return from the injured list soon after pitching just three innings this season.

Right-hander Tyler Glasnow (back) should be back around the start of September, along with catcher Will Smith (neck).

Even more daunting is that the coming weeks are expected to rekindle the Dodgers’ drive for a third consecutive title, which is an accomplishment only two other franchises have achieved.

Except that is working way too far into the future. The Dodgers simply will take any win they can get at this point.

Los Angeles lost its seventh consecutive game Friday in a series opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The most recent defeat came when Diamondbacks’ No. 9 hitter Ryan Waldschmidt hit a game-ending two-run home run off Edwin Diaz as Arizona pulled off a 4-3 victory.

The Dodgers’ offense is stagnant, and the back end of the bullpen is shaky, but they have been here before. They also lost seven consecutive games last season just before the All-Star break before restoring their identity.

Barring a complete meltdown, Los Angeles is playoff bound. Whether they pull it off a title or not, a run toward matching the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics on the list of three-peat title holders is sure to captivate baseball. It will be hard to look away.

Once again, the Dodgers lead baseball in home attendance with an average of 50,380 at each of the 56 home games played this season. They also averaged an MLB-best 36,742 per road game, heading into the weekend series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

A villain helps build the drama. An entire team of them builds intensity.

If the Dodgers are hurting baseball, MLB is not feeling the pain.

As the outcry grows over the club’s ability to compile talent, they hear it in Los Angeles, so they have leaned into it.

Before each home game, a hype video is played at Dodger Stadium touting team’s love of the “bad guy” role.

But large crowds, key trades and past success guarantee nothing. The Dodgers no longer have the best record in baseball and by some measure, Shohei Ohtani is not even the leader for the league’s MVP.

The Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs don’t feel as if the bad guy is indestructible. Those teams just pulled off consecutive three-game series sweeps over Los Angeles, which had been swept just once before last weekend.

The Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves are Tampa Bay Rays all have a better record than the Dodgers through Friday’s play.

The current issues are nothing new. The Dodgers had their low points in each of the past two seasons. They were nearly bounced from the playoffs in the divisional round in 2024 by the San Diego Pardes before they rallied. They staggered against the Toronto Blue Jays in last fall’s World Series.

They found a way both seasons, but swings in performance are far from a pattern for sustained success. And because each of the past two titles fell the way of the big-spending club, now comes a cry for the first ever salary cap in baseball.

Some baseball fans are siding with owners over the players they come to see perform every night as labor negotiations loom. Payroll restrictions are not the wish of the players. That is the wish of some owners, all while franchises grow in value like never before.

Through it all, the Dodgers refuse to back down. When they acquired Skubal at the trade deadline, the national groan was palpable.

Are the Dodgers ruining baseball?

“Passionately disagree,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “Again, this is about the partnership that we have with our fans who come out 50,000 large and the passion that they have for this team (and) the guys in that clubhouse who are doing everything they can to put us in position to win a World Series.”

No matter who wins the upcoming World Series, baseball will be plunged into uncertainty the moment the last out is recorded. Whether or not the 2027 schedule begins on time is anybody’s guess.

Whenever the next pitch is thrown, the Dodgers still will be the favorites to win it all again. Of all the stars they have on the roster this season, only Skubal will be a free agent this winter.

Work stoppage or not, they won’t blame themselves for operating within the rules. They will continue to be the bad guy, and they will be loving every minute of it.