Dave Roberts Rips Critics, Tells Dodgers to 'Get 4 More Wins and Really Ruin Baseball'

The Los Angeles Dodgers are headed to the World Series after sweeping the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series, capping the four-game stretch with a 5-1 home win on Friday.

Afterward, exuberant Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had something to say for his team's preseason critics while being interviewed by TNT Sports' Lauren Shehadi.

"I'll tell ya, before this season started, they said, 'The Dodgers are ruining baseball.'

"Let's get four more wins and really ruin baseball! Let's go!"

Per USA Today, the Dodgers had the second-highest payroll in baseball for 2025 at $321.3 million. However, L.A. also has over a billion dollars in deferred payments alone to eight players from 2018-2046.

The Dodgers' practices even got commissioner Rob Manfred talking, per Ronald Blum of the Associated Press back in February.

"The Dodgers have gone out and done everything possible, always within the rules that currently exist, to put the best possible team on the field and that's a great thing for the game. That type of competitive spirit is what people want to see," commissioner Rob Manfred said last week.

Manfred added:

"By the same token, it's clear that we have fans in some markets that are concerned about the ability of the team in their market to compete with the financial resources of the Dodgers. And I think if we've been consistent on one point it is we try to listen to our fans on topics like this and I have heard people on this, believe me, I get a lot of emails about it."

The Dodgers won the World Series last year with a loaded lineup headlined by Shohei Ohtani, and the rich got richer in 2025 with the team adding a host of new talents, including pitchers Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki and Tanner Scott.

The debate, of course, before the season was whether the Dodgers were ruining baseball with their spending ways.

On one side, you had people concerned about a big market team being able to spend as much money as they want and defer as much money as they want while smaller market teams get squeezed out of adding players.

On the other side, some fans recognized that the Dodgers were doing whatever they can to compete, which is a lot more than can be said for some teams and their owners who are known for penny-pinching.

Injuries hampered the Dodgers during the regular season, but they still had 93 wins and took the NL West. L.A. has since gone 7-1 in the playoffs to cruise to the World Series. The Dodgers need four more wins for back-to-back Fall Classic titles, something Roberts clearly wants for his team but also to send a message to L.A.'s critics.