Just as the Dodgers clinched the NLCS and punched their ticket to the World Series for the second year in a row, manager Dave Roberts seized the perfect moment to fire back at the critics, with a mic drop moment!! For months, baseball fans have been debating whether the Dodgers’ star-studded, $400 million roster is bad for baseball. The phrase “Dodgers are ruining baseball” has basically become a catchphrase around the league. And it’s clear Roberts has heard all of it.

So, during the team’s NLCS celebration, he delivered a message that felt like both a war cry heading into the World Series and a sharp retort to the haters. Some fans saw it as pure motivation, others as another step in the Dodgers’ so-called “takeover” of baseball.

“Before this season started, they said the Dodgers are ruining baseball. Let’s get four more wins and really ruin baseball!” Roberts sounded confident from the NLCS stage.

So, do you think that mic-drop moment just came out of nowhere? Well no….

When it comes to the whole “Dodgers are ruining baseball” storyline, it’s not hard to see where it comes from. The Dodgers have been the center of attention the past two offseasons, sparing no expense to build a powerhouse roster. For instance, $700 million for Shohei Ohtani, $325 million for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, $136.5 million for Tyler Glasnow, and $182 million for Blake Snell are just a few big-name moves.

And it’s paid off….

They achieved their goal in 2024 by beating the Yankees in the World Series, and now they’re on the verge of doing it again. And what really sparked Dave Roberts’ recent clapback was how his team dismantled the Brewers in the NLCS.

If you know, Milwaukee had the best regular-season record in baseball, but the Dodgers made them look over-matched. LA swept them in four games, with their starting pitchers allowing just two earned runs over 28.2 innings with a ridiculous 0.63 ERA. The Brewers managed only four runs total and were outscored 15-4. So, no wonder Roberts felt like it was time to respond to the critics.

The Dodgers are showing their dominance in the MVP race, also

It’s not just that the Dodgers have become a powerhouse in both the regular season and the playoffs. But they’ve also built a mini-dynasty when it comes to MVP honors in the National League. For reference, since 2017, no team has come close to their dominance, with Dodgers players taking home the NLCS MVP six times in that span.

Again, this year, it was Shohei Ohtani who carried the torch, earning his first-ever NLCS MVP award — not just with the Dodgers, but across his entire career, including his time in the American League. And that makes Ohtani the 10th Dodger in franchise history to win the honor.

Well, for the Dodgers, it’s quite a list, too… Dusty Baker (1977), Steve Garvey (1978), Burt Hooton (1981), Orel Hershiser (1988), Justin Turner and Chris Taylor (who shared it in 2017), Cody Bellinger (2018), Corey Seager (2020), Tommy Edman (2024), and now Ohtani in 2025.

So, like it or not, the Dodgers are changing the landscape of MLB, and doing it with complete authority. Unless other teams start catching up, this run of dominance could be here to stay.