cap

Step into the Dodgers’ team store, turn to the right, and you’ll be staring at Shohei Ohtani.

Not in person, of course. But amid all the jerseys and caps and T-shirts, there is a commercial playing on a loop, with Ohtani waving his fingers through his hair and winking as he displays the product he is endorsing: the top-selling skin serum in Japan.

“Take care of your skin,” the narrator says. “Live life to the fullest.”

Life is good at Dodger Stadium. In the store at the top of the park, you can buy a bottle of skin serum that retails for $118, or World Series championship gear including T-shirts and caps for $54 and up, hoodies for $110 and up, and cool jackets for as much as $382.

If you’re a fan of any team besides the Dodgers, you might despise all the money they spend on players. On Friday after the Dodgers introduced their latest All-Star, closer Edwin Díaz, I asked general manager Brandon Gomes if they really could buy whatever player they wanted.

“Our ownership group has been incredibly supportive, so if we feel like it’s something that meaningfully impacts our World Series chances, we’ve had that support all the time,” he said. “We’re fortunate to be in that position.”

The Dodgers’ owners spend money to make money, and they wisely hired Andrew Friedman a decade ago to tell them where to spend their money. Sounds simple, but some owners do not spend money wisely, and some do not spend money, period.

And sometimes you do both, and it just does not work out.

In the last decade the Dodgers have made the playoffs every year. Take a guess: What other Los Angeles pro team has made the playoffs the most during the last decade?

It’s the Clippers — eight playoff appearances, no championships and now a disaster.

The Dodgers have won three championships over the last decade. You might not remember that the Dodgers’ owners were ridiculed within the industry for spending $2 billion to buy the team in 2012.

At the time I asked co-owner Todd Boehly how he would define successful ownership of the Dodgers.

“You’re not really asking me that, are you?” he said then. “The more World Series we win, the more valuable a franchise it is, right?”

The Dodgers were valued at $8 billion last year by Sportico.

They signed Díaz for three years and $69 million. I asked Gomes what winter signing he recalled as the biggest during the five years he pitched for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, left, and Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes welcome star closer Edwin Díaz during his introductory news conference Friday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

In 2014, he said, the Rays signed closer Grant Balfour: two years and $12 million — after the Baltimore Orioles withdrew a two-year, $15-million deal following a physical examination.

It’s not just the Rays, or even the small markets. The New York Mets’ spending rivaled the Dodgers last season, but the Mets missed the playoffs and lost free agents Díaz, Pete Alonso and Tyler Rogers this week alone. The New York Yankees sound oddly supportive of a salary cap. The Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs talk like big-market teams but do not spend like them.

At the Angels’ team store Friday morning, five customers looked around the team store, where all jerseys sold for 50% off. The attraction at the store Saturday: photos with Santa.

The Angels have not made a postseason appearance since 2014, and their acquisitions so far this offseason: a formerly touted infield prospect once traded for Chris Sale, a talented young pitcher who missed this past season because of injury and another pitcher who finished third in Cy Young voting in 2022 but has not pitched in the majors in more than 18 months. They’ll likely pay those three players less than $4 million combined.

In March, Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken invited Angels owner Arte Moreno to join her in “an open and honest conversation about the future of baseball in Anaheim.”

This week when the future of the Angel Stadium site came up during an Anaheim City Council meeting, Aitken mused about asking city residents “how much of a priority is it to have the land tied up with a baseball franchise,” Voice of OC reported. (The Angels’ stadium lease extends through 2032, and the Angels have the right to extend it through 2038.)

So consider this a timely holiday reminder for Dodgers fans to give thanks for this ownership group, for what the Dodgers are doing now is exceptional and extremely rare.

It would be nice if the Dodgers made more of a commitment to family affordability — and also if the Dodgers did not charge $102.25 for “an iconic photo op with the 2024 and 2025 World Series trophies” — but their attendance nonetheless hit 4 million for the first time.

This is a Dodger town, and the team is the toast of the town. The Dodgers are the biggest winner in American pro sports right now.

The owners are winners too. On Thursday, Boehly’s company staged its holiday party, and the musicians included Eddie Vedder, Bruno Mars, Anthony Kiedis, Brandi Carlile and Slash. Live life to the fullest, indeed.

The Prime Minister says catching a bus ‘shouldn’t cost the earth’

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has issued a fresh message on public transport costs this morning, stressing that taking the bus ‘shouldn’t cost the earth’. His thoughts come after bus fares on thousands of routes in England were previously capped at £3 until 2027.

“Catching the bus shouldn’t cost the earth,” Sir Keir said on X, formerly Twitter, this morning. “That’s why we are capping bus fares at £3 and investing in new buses and stops.”

Earlier this year, the Government’s Spending Review revealed that its £3 bus fare cap would remain in effect until at least March 2027. This measure, which applies to most bus routes in England, was first introduced in January 2023. While the cap was initially £2, this was subsequently increased to £3 on single bus fares outside London from January 2025.

The Government has explained that participation in the fare cap initiative is voluntary, meaning some firms have chosen not to take part. Instead, local companies may offer ‘other types of tickets that are suitable’ for similar needs.

“Some types of routes are not covered by this scheme so they are not included, for example, coach services, school-only services or airport services,” the Government further advises online. “Fares are capped locally in London, so it is not included in this scheme. Routes listed as ‘not included’ in the national £3 fare cap may still offer a discounted fare as part of a locally run initiative.”

Despite this, residents of England who are considered ‘eligible disabled’ may obtain a bus pass for completely free off-peak local travel, thanks to the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS). Similarly, residents of England and Wales can obtain free bus passes upon reaching State Pension Age, or at the age of 60 in London specifically.

The regional disparity between London and the rest of England has recently taken centre stage in public debate, following a parliamentary petition that collected over 100,000 signatures. This campaign argued that the current situation is ‘unjust’ and free bus travel should be extended to all people over 60 in England.

The Department for Transport (DfT) responded to these complaints in February this year, stating that ‘any changes to the statutory scheme must be carefully considered for their impact on its financial sustainability’. However, the subject will soon be debated in Parliament on January 5, 2026.

The DfT response continued: “The ENCTS provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age, currently sixty-six. The ENCTS costs around £700 million annually and any changes to the statutory obligations, such as lowering the age of eligibility, would therefore need to be carefully considered for its impact on the scheme’s financial sustainability.

“Local authorities in England do have the power to offer concessions in addition to their statutory obligations, for example, by extending the age of eligibility for the older persons’ bus pass. These are additional local concessions provided and funded by local authorities from local resources, depending on the needs and priorities of each area.”

At the time, it also added: “Concessionary travel is a devolved policy area and as such, the eligibility age for the bus pass differs between the devolved nations of the United Kingdom. This means, in effect, that there are different schemes in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, so the administrative arrangements are entirely separate.”

If you are reaching State Pension age or are considered ‘eligible disabled’ and are interested in applying for a bus pass, refer to the Government’s website for further information. You can also read the now-closed bus pass petition at Parliament’s website here.

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What kind of team would commit $141 million to two closers?

The one that won last year. The one that won this year. The one that plans to win again next year.

“All I have to say to you,” Dodgers owner Mark Walter told fans at the team’s World Series championship celebration last month, “is we’ll be back next year.”

The Dodgers handed Tanner Scott $72 million last winter. It hasn’t worked out. So, on Tuesday, the Dodgers handed Edwin Díaz $69 million.

If the Dodgers are going to be Exhibit A for Walter’s rival owners to cry about how desperately they need a salary cap, bring it on. If Walter’s rival owners demand that players be locked out next winter and not be allowed back until they relent and accept a salary cap, well, bring that on too.

There is a sentence players are taught to utter: “I can’t worry about what I can’t control.” The Díaz signing is basically the Dodgers’ ownership saying the same thing: “We can’t worry about other owners pointing their fingers at us. We’re here to win. If the rules change, then we’ll worry about that.”

Or maybe not.

“Honestly, I think that we have an organization that, whatever rules or regulations or constructs are put in front of us,’’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters Monday, “we’re going to dominate.”

In what they call their golden age, the Dodgers are chasing history. No team had won back-to-back championships in 25 years. Next up: tying the major league record of 14 consecutive postseason appearances, and becoming the first National League team ever to win the World Series in three consecutive years.

“What’s better than two?” Roberts hollered at the World Series celebration. “Three! Three-peat! Three-peat! Let’s go!”

It ain’t bragging if you can back it up. For the first time in what will be his third season with the Dodgers — and after winning consecutive most valuable player awards — Shohei Ohtani should be available to pitch and hit for the entire season.

“I’m ready to get another ring next year,” Ohtani said at the celebration.

Mookie Betts, the only active player to win four championships, will come off a Gold Glove-nominated year in his first full season at shortstop and, presumably, will not have to fight off an illness like the one that derailed his strength and hampered his offense at the start of last season.

“I got four,” Betts told the celebration crowd. “Now it’s time to fill the hand all the way up, baby. ‘Three-peat’ ain’t never sounded so sweet. Somebody make that a T-shirt.”

Roberts stirred some conversation last week when he told the Amazon Prime show “Good Sports” that he would support a salary cap.

“You know what? I’m all right with that,” Roberts said. “I think the NBA has done a nice job of revenue sharing with the players and the owners. But if you’re going to suppress spending at the top, I think that you’ve got to raise the floor, to make those bottom-feeders spend money, too.”

The owners of those bottom-feeders ought to be aware of that, because they would have to spend, and they would not be able to point their finger at the Dodgers. The owners, after all, are pitching a salary cap to the public as a cure for competitive balance.

The Dodgers would welcome that challenge. A salary cap would limit salaries, but it would not limit spending on coaching, analytics, biometrics, facilities, nutrition, team planes, and other areas in which the Dodgers’ owners have earned championship rewards for their significant investments.

For now, though, the Dodgers needed a closer. The Dodgers got the best one available in free agency, a guy who has struck out at least one-third of opposing batters in each of his past seven seasons and has limited opponents to a batting average under .200 in each of his past five seasons.

Would the Dodgers like to get younger? Yes. Did they field the oldest group of position players in the majors last year? Yes. Do the Dodgers now have Díaz and Scott for the next three years, and do both turn 32 next year? Also yes.

But, given where both the Dodgers and Major League Baseball are right now, this might be the more pertinent question for the Dodgers: Can Díaz become the first Dodgers reliever to close out a World Series clincher since Steve Howe in 1981? (Orel Hershiser did the honors in 1988, followed by Julio Urias in 2020, Walker Buehler in 2024 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in 2025.)

If you believed the Dodgers were ruining baseball, then the signing of Díaz will only intensify that. After all, 11 teams did not open last season with a payroll of $141 million — the combined value of the Díaz and Scott contracts.

And, if enough owners believe the Dodgers are ruining baseball, then those owners can find a solution short of a salary cap — or they can set fire to the game, and to the momentum generated by a global superstar leading an internationally popular team, and an internationally popular World Series.

The Dodgers cannot resolve that by themselves. They can act in their best interest, and on Tuesday they did.