Dodgers Domination: Read All About It

Pedro Moura's book examines LA's multipronged precision assault on the game

Welcome to Warning Track Power, a weekly newsletter of baseball stories and analysis grounded in front office and scouting experiences and the personalities encountered along the way. For fans of great baseball books, get ready to read about your next purchase.

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We had captured the NL West just a couple months earlier, but KT was already peering into the rearview mirror. He adjusted it to make sure that all of us in the room could see what was lurking.

There, in the Diamondbacks team suite at the 2011 Winter Meetings — in Dallas, of course — Kevin Towers made it clear to all of us: When the financially embattled Frank McCourt sold the Dodgers in the very near future, that organization would enter a period of boundless wealth and spending ability. The division dynamic was about to shift. (Ban the shift!)

In the six preceding seasons (2006-2011), four different teams had won the NL West. In the 10 subsequent years, the Dodgers have won eight times.

Of course, we all had learned that a bloated payroll alone did not ensure winning. Still, there was a sense that the new ownership group would spend enthusiastically. What nobody knew at the time was that deep pockets were only the beginning.

As soon as I learned about Pedro Moura's debut book, How To Beat A Broken Game: The Rise of the Dodgers in a League on the Brink, I thought of KT’s presaging that night at the Winter Meetings.

Beyond the expected investments in the Major League roster, Guggenheim Baseball Management, the new owners of the Dodgers, announced its presence by enticing Andrew Friedman to leave Tampa Bay for LA. Thirty-five million dollars over five years can be fairly persuasive.

One of my favorite parts of the book explores the differences between outgoing GM

Ned Colletti and the then-37-year-old newly minted president of baseball operations. Many of the comparisons are recognizable as familiar tropes of professional sports today: The outgoing executive wore cowboy boots, had risen out of poverty, relied heavily on his scouts, found himself at home in deep-dish pizza joints in the Chicago suburbs, and had a penchant for veteran utility players.

Meanwhile, the new kid in town had a rotation of eco-friendly sneakers from start-up Allbirds, enjoyed tasting menus at sushi restaurants, relied on data to determine where to position defenders, and grew up among the Houston elite with season tickets behind the plate at the Astrodome.

The game has evolved so much over the past several years that Colletti and Friedman feel like they are separated by decades. “The contrast in terms of upbringing between Friedman and Colletti cannot be overstated,” Moura said when we recently spoke. “It marks a change that is never going to be set back from. You’re never going to see a person in charge of the Dodgers anything like Ned Colletti.”

Moura’s assertion is much more a commentary on baseball today than anything else. During Colletti’s nine-year tenure as GM, the Dodgers made the playoffs five times and had the third best overall winning percentage in the National League.

So look, if you like reading WTP and if you've made it this far, then you will love How To Beat A Broken Game. For starters, Moura has an editur.

You may already know Moura as a national baseball writer for FOX Sports. Previously, he covered the Dodgers at The Athletic. A Los Angeles resident, Moura was properly positioned to tell this story as soon as Austin Barnes squeezed strike three for the final out in Game Six of the 2020 World Series.

This is a book that the Dodgers faithful will love. Moura spoke to numerous scouts and coaches in and around the Dodgers organization. He tapped into the often controversial private coaches whose allegiances lie with individual players (clients) not teams. The stories have depth and character, and they provide incredible insight to the organization’s drafting and developing.

All baseball fans, in fact, will enjoy How To Beat A Broken Game. My only warning is for fans of other teams in the NL West. As I read this book, I found myself constantly wondering: What will derail the Dodgers?

It’s one thing to be among the richest of teams. It’s something entirely different to draft and develop players at an elite level. To have both…

I asked Moura for help. What did he see as the greatest threat to Dodgers hegemony?

“Complacency, I suppose,” he replied. “I say that not to say that it exists right now, but the eventual inevitability of complacency… I mean, what human existence has not be undone by complacency at some point? But how far away from now is that? I don’t know. It could be quite a while.”

It’s a great answer. Certainly much better than my best guess, which requires The Simpsons imitating life. Like Mr. Burns said of his softball team of ringers, the only thing that could prevent them from winning would be his nine all-stars falling victim to nine separate misfortunes.

Even still, the Dodgers have advantages that Springfield could only dream of. In what other reality could a team leave a pitcher making $32 million off its NLDS roster? David Price is owed yet another $32 million in 2022 and is doubtful to factor in to LA’s starting rotation in April. Shrewd draft-day decisions and seemingly magical player development touches enable the Dodgers to overcome bad contracts.

The Dodgers certainly aren’t the only organization worthy of this kind of attention, but they have been the best team in baseball for the past five years, and they’re the favorite to remain that way for the next five.

Moura addresses the elements of today’s game that have gotten us here — for better and for worse. He brings to life so many insightful baseball conversations, equally valuing the words of Major League coaches and area scouts. He reminds us that this broken game is still the best game.

I wonder which owner will read this book and attempt to replicate the model, at least from a player development standpoint. I hope that the scouting success stories detailed in the book play a role in stemming the pound-foolish scout bloodletting. It would be a significant step in fixing a broken game.

How To Beat A Broken Game tells the story of an organization’s success through embracing and effectively applying technology, data, and the human element. If the league truly is on the brink, I believe it’s the Dodgers that can help rescue the game before it slips away.

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