Yoshinobu Yamamoto was absolutely the most valuable player of the 2025 World Series with his difficult to believe performances, but this series will forever be remembered for so many remarkable things that we are almost too weary to list them.

Regular readers are well aware that while I was once a Dodgers fan (1955-’73). I have become a bit of a Dodgers hater as they gradually displaced the Yankees as the richest of the rich franchises in baseball and attained the ability to outspend the Pentagon while acquiring the best available talent in order to humble all opponents. Nevertheless, it has always been possible to like the players, at least the ones not named Steve Garvey. One has to appreciate the talent of Blake Snell, Freddie Freeman, Andy Pages, Miguel Rojas and others while simultaneously wishing ownership to move to some place like Saudi Arabia.

The Toronto Blue Jays were nothing short of magnificent. Three sons of former major leaguers all improved greatly over their 2024 season. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. makes money now like he’s in the Trump family but earns it. Bo Bichette was making everyone forget about his awful, injury filled ’24 season when he hit the injured list again in September. He missed the playoffs until the World Series and came back at second base rather than his usual shortstop position because his injured knee still limited his range and running ability and performed admirably. His three run home run in game seven had Jays fans thinking championship. That followed an intentional walk to Guerrero, who was a Canadian hero with a fabulous post season in all aspects of the game. Daulton Varsho was a standout, particularly on defense. And we all know who Trey Yesavage is now. Hitting coach Dave Popkins scored big points with this reporter for the intelligent, relentless attack that kept the Jays in just about every game they played throughout the playoffs. Their fourth run in game seven was an example. After the Dodgers cut Toronto’s lead to 3-2 in the sixth inning, Ernie Clement led off the bottom of the inning with a single. Andres Gimenez plainly intended to sacrifice bunt him forward. Gimenez took three pitches that were all called balls. The fourth pitch was a strike which probably nullified the bunt call, but Clement stole second base, and then Gimenez ripped a double to make it 4-2.

Were the Dodgers finished? What probably was finished was the experts grousing about how solo home runs don’t beat you in, as John Smoltz would say, the post season. Max Muncy in the 8th, 4-3. Miguel Rojas in the 9th, while everyone worried about him walking ahead of Shohei Ohtani, 4-4. Will Smith in the 11th, ballgame.

How does Major League Baseball address the lack of parity that makes it so hard to topple the New York teams and the Dodgers. It’s not as though the other teams are losing money. But the disparity is great. The rule now is that, if a team exceeds a certain amount of money, say 44 trillion dollars, in salaries, it is fined another chunk of money. That doesn’t work. If you fine a corporation like Lockheed Martin or Google money for polluting rivers or minds , they just make more money. So, the answer has two parts. First, outlaw deferred money. Pay these players up front and they can figure out their own investment strategy. Then, instead of making them pay money, make them pay players. Thus, if I sign Bo Bichette to a contract this winter that puts my team over the limit, the last place team in my division or league gets one of my top ten players rated by an independent agency based on last season’s performance. And don’t let Rob Manfred explain it.