The Dodgers’ Pursuit of History Ended in Stunning Failure

Sports Illustrated ^ | 10/16/2026 | Ryan Phillips

[Kid Shelleen]

The Dodgers spent the last several years building what was supposed to be a roster so loaded it couldn't possibly lose in the postseason. But on Thursday night, a campaign that began as a chase for baseball's first three-peat in a quarter-century ended as one of its most spectacular failures.

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Los Angeles’s spending also broke records. When factoring in the team’s CBT payroll and luxury tax payments, the roster cost more than $616 million this season, nearly $150 million more than the second-place Mets ($468.9 million). The disparity was so great, the idea of a salary cap in baseball gained renewed momentum. Given all the advantages the Dodgers had, anything short of a World Series would have been a disappointment. What happened in the NLCS went far beyond that.

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[Adder]

The Dodgers didn’t just lose, they looked really bad while doing it.

I was pleased.

Now for Cleveland to win their series and we have a nicely compact World Series the teams can drive to in their cars...

:]

[Right_Wing_Madman]

I watched the four games. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers ($365 million + $162 million = $527 million), the number one and two batters in the lineup, were total no-shows at the plate in the series.

The Brewers are clicking together at the right time and they are going to win the World Series against the walkover AL team.

[NFHale]

Brewers haven’t been to The Show since… 1982? Lost to the Cardinals.

They’re hungry. Either Cleveland or Tampa Bay now….

I think I’d like to see them get the win…

Would’ve been even better if the Phillies got there… But it was not to be this year

[Jim Noble]

America cannot recover until the Dodgers return to Brooklyn.

My grandpa (RIP) was a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, he said it many times, and as I have grown wiser with age, I cannot really say he was wrong.

[xp38]

They have the sisters of perpetual indulgence to comfort them.

[DFG]

Cleveland 2026 team payroll : $74.5 million
MLB rank : 30th (Lowest)
Luxury-Tax Payroll : $92 million

Tampa 2026 team payroll : $95.6 million
MLB rank : 28th
Luxury-Tax Payroll : $113 million

[z3n]

The ‘mid west’ is bigger than you think. It would be a 10 hour drive between cleveland and milwaukee, and that’s if there isn’t a lot of traffic getting through chicago.

But I like they way you are thinking here.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

I was born in Milwaukee the year the Braves won the World Series. The Brewers 1982 game 7 loss to the Cardinals was gutting. I was driving across west central Wisconsin on a bleak and rainy Sunday afternoon listening to their chances disappear. I have not lived in Milwaukee in 51 years, rarely go back. It’s a place of many virtues that gets little respect. It will be very sweet to see the Brewers mow down whoever is in their path. Go you Brewers, go!

[G. W. McLintock]

Only if they change their name back to the Cleveland Indians.

[SteelPSUGOP]

Let’s Go.......Great Lakes Series on tap. Little market guys on the rise.

I was at Milwaukee’s home opener last year to honor Bob Uecker and they played like crap that day. Figures. The Royals routed them. The Brew Crew went on to have a really good year and a spectacular year this season. They are really hot, really good and look like the team to beat.

[chajin]

“Cleveland 30th, Tampa Bay 28th”

I’m a longtime Rays fan, and a one-time Cleveland fan when they spring trained in Winter Haven in the 90s. I want the Rays in the Series of course, but the three games the teams have played have been enjoyable from a baseball lover’s perspective. It shows that a team of good players can be better than a collection of overpaid individuals, something the Rays have been doing for two decades.

But if next year is a lockout, it will be easy to find other things to do.

[Rockingham]

The Brewers being hungry to win the series is sports babble. Hunger does not evoke a banquet. The Brewers happen to be an excellent team this year.

[Hyman Roth]

The Dodgers just were not as hungry as the Brewers. Good to see another team in the WS.

Oh by the way. Dodgers are ultra leftists. Isn't Dodger Stadium on stolen land. Look it up.

[T.B. Yoits]

Maybe the Dodgers should have hosted more anti-Catholic bigotry nights at the stadium, in exchange for a World Series ring.