Dodgers rode winning culture to another title

Money played big role in success, but it was the intangibles that made difference

- By Jack Harris

TOP: Will Smith gets kudos after scoring against the Brewers in NLCS Game 3. Middle, Miguel Rojas completes a double play as Addison Barger is caught off second base to end World Series Game 6. Bottom, reliever Will Klein roars after ending the 15th inning of World Series Game 3.

ROBERT GAUTHIER Los Angeles Times

With confetti at his feet, a drink in his hand and a smile of equal parts relief and elation planted on his face, Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy gave the question of the night only a cursory thought.

Had the Dodgers cemented a dynasty?

“I guess so,” he said.

Over the last six seasons, Muncy had been one of six Dodgers players to have a hand in all three of their recent World Series championships. He had become one of the faces of a team that elevated itself to historic all-time heights.

But when the topic of the club’s legacy came up, as he stood on the field in the wake of the Dodgers’ Game 7 thrill ride in Toronto on Saturday night, the 35-year-old veteran’s mind was occupied by another thought. The pride he felt emanated from a different source.

“The thing that I'm most proud of is the culture that we have created,” he said. “I hope that’s what’s talked about the most.”

In the public discourse, of course, it won't be.

These Dodgers, with their star-studded roster and record-setting $415-million payroll and long-established reputation as big-spending villains who might be ruining baseball, have only further fueled debates about the financial inequities of the sport.

With a labor battle looming next year, they will be turned into a proxy — the prime example, critics will argue, of what’s wrong with the only major professional sports league in North America without a hard salary cap.