The Los Angeles Dodgers have dominated the 2020’s, leading to claims that LA is “ruining baseball” and calls for regulations on spending.
Former Dodgers starting pitcher and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw has a different view, though, and says the Dodgers’ success is good for the spot.
“I think that was the way the Yankees were,” Kershaw said. “When I was growing up, the Yankees were the best team, in the World Series and winning all those. But I think that’s good for baseball. I really do. Having a team that you either love, because that’s your team, or you hate because they keep winning, that’s good for baseball. You don’t want to be indifferent. I think it’s good to have that. That’s what viewership is. I think this postseason, obviously with our Japan fanbase, and being in Canada, it was the highest-watched postseason in a long time. So I think it’s all good for baseball.”
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Kershaw isn’t the only former player to hold this view, as former Dodger fan favorite Justin Turner had a similar view to Kerhaw’s.
“So it was just really good for baseball, really good for viewership,” Turner said. “I think that World Series definitely helped grow the game, and I think that’s the point. We want to grow the game and we want to inspire young kids to fall in love with the game early, chase their dreams and hopefully they’re the ones playing in Game 7 of the World Series.”
As far as viewership is concerned, both players are spot on. MLB reported Game 7 of the World Series averaged 51 million viewers, making the it the most-watched MLB game since Game 7 of the 1991 World Series. The World Series gathered 17.9 million average viewers from Canada and Japan, the largest international audience in World Series history.
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With baseball bigger than ever, the Dodgers’ dominance — whether or not fans see them as positive or negative — is undoubtedly contributing to the growth of baseball.
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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