How Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays spend to win - ESPN

The Rays with money.

That was the oft-used description of Andrew Friedman's circumstances a dozen years ago, when he left the cash-strapped Tampa Bay Rays to join the affluent Los Angeles Dodgers. In nine years leading their front office, Friedman had built the Rays into an organization that pushed the boundaries on analytics, thrived at player development, engineered shrewd trades and routinely outplayed financial juggernauts such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

The prospect of replicating that model 2,500 miles west, with a historic franchise bolstered by the deep pockets of a new ownership group, was too alluring for Friedman to turn down.

The result: a juggernaut.

The Dodgers dominate the sport, winning the last two World Series and claiming 12 of the last 13 National League West titles, dating back two years before the start of Friedman's tenure. Dodgers owner Mark Walter has funded the most expensive roster in baseball history and Friedman, his president of baseball operations, has buttressed it with many of the components that helped the Rays thrive.

In Friedman's wake, though, the Rays continue to do their thing, currently owning the sport's fifth-best record despite possessing its third-smallest payroll.

The Rays are spending somewhere in the neighborhood of $90 million on their entire roster this season. The Dodgers' luxury-tax bill alone came out to $169.4 million last year. This year, for luxury-tax purposes, their payroll will easily exceed $400 million. And yet, in a snapshot of what can be so beautiful about this sport, the Dodgers (45-27) and Rays (41-27) are separated by just two games in the standings. A World Series meeting is very possible.

As they prepare to face off at Dodger Stadium