Tarik Skubal's locker is set up in the Dodgers clubhouse after his acquisition from the Detroit Tigers.-X (formerly Twitter)ESPN’s Jeff Passan had it first:And with those 18 words, the minds of baseball fans everywhere exploded. “Of course the Dodgers!”; “Was there any doubt?”; “The rich just get richer”; “Why bother even playing the game?”; and the like.But the Los Angeles Dodgers are not breaking baseball. They are just playing it better than the other 29 teams – both on and off the field. They are doing it better at the major league level and at every level of the minors. They are doing it better with their coaching and in the front office. And this is not a case of “don’t hate the player, hate the game,” because the game the Dodgers are playing can and should be played by many, many other teams.When asked directly how he would respond to the notion that the Dodgers are breaking baseball, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman responded to Forbes.com by saying, “I passionately disagree.” When speaking with people around baseball prior to the Dodgers’ Sunday late afternoon tilt with the Boston Red Sox, one theme was constant: Why didn’t other teams make this trade? Los Angeles acquired Skubal by sending Zyhir Hope, River Ryan, and Brady Smith back to Detroit. Not exactly a king’s ransom.Zyhir HopeHope was a 13th round pick in 2023, and FanGraphs attaches a 50 Future Value (FV) to him (which is basically average). He is the #25 prospect in all of MLB, and the Dodgers originally acquired him from the Cubs for first baseman Michael Busch, who the team didn’t need because they have a guy named Freddie Freeman playing there for the foreseeable future. With #3 prospect Josue De Paula currently playing well in Double-A, the team could easily part with a minor league outfielder - even one as highly-touted as Hope.MORE FOR YOURiver RyanRyan was an 11th round pick in 2021 by the San Diego Padres. FanGraphs gives him a 55 FV. Ryan missed the entire 2025 season with Tommy John surgery, and has not pitched since June 17th as he deals with a hamstring issue. He is expected to be back – and pitching for the Tigers – before season’s end. But he most decidedly will not fill the $32 million, two-time Cy Young winning hole left by Skubal. Many prognosticators thought that the Tigers would demand a big league starter that could at least fill Skubal’s spot in the rotation. Alas, it didn’t take that. It should be noted that the Dodgers acquired Ryan from San Diego in 2022 in exchange for infielder Matt Beaty, who is currently out of baseball.Brady SmithThe Dodgers drafted Smith in the third round in 2023. He has not pitched above High-A, and FanGraphs gives him a 40+ FV. Keith Law of The Athletic called Smith a “lottery ticket” and said, “I could see a mid-rotation starter here, but his probability remains low for now.”MoneyWhere the Dodgers have a competitive advantage over other teams is their ability to absorb the approximately $10 million owed to Skubal for the rest of the season. But that amount is not beyond the reach of the Rays or the Brewers or the Cubs or many of the other teams looking for reinforcements – and the ultimate reinforcement at that – at the trade deadline. The other teams could have paid that tax; they chose not to. And that is something that the Dodgers are not afraid to do. Friedman and owner Mark Walter know that flags fly forever and that windows stay open for only so long. Add to that no one knows what financial constraints will be in place in 2027 and beyond after a new CBA is settled. The Dodgers – at every level – embody what manager Dave Roberts said prior to Sunday’s game: “All I care about is winning the World Series in 2026.”Final WordOn Sunday afternoon Friedman, when asked about the Dodgers’ impact on baseball, went on a long soliloquy, saying: “This is about the partnership we have with our fans who come out 50,000 large and the passion they have for this team; the guys in that clubhouse who are doing everything they can to put us in a position to a win a World Series; and, fortunately, the incredible work done by our scouting staff, player development staff, our front office, [and] analytics group. All of our different departments have their fingerprints all over this. And to put us in a position to not only be competitive here [in the clubhouse] but to also have a very strong farm system, which puts us in a position to have these types of conversations. So I think it is just incredible work by a lot of people that allowed for this and it is special. And we are not going to be flippant about this moment in time and how special this group, [how special] this era can be in the history of this incredibly storied organization. And we are going to do everything we can to win the last game of the year.”The Dodgers value winning above everything else. Sure, they have more means to do so, but money is not what built the farm system or the front office or the organizational methods that make them the best in the business. Hard work, acumen, skill, a little bit of luck, and a ton of guts are the keys to their success. If that is breaking baseball, that says more about the other 29 teams than it does the Boys in Blue.