Star players flocked to SF Giants division rivals for easy title, but their plan backfired in 2026

Over the past couple of seasons, several star players flocked to the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, their plan backfired in 2026, as the SF Giants division rivals fell to the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Championship Series.

For years, the Dodgers have had the most success in free agency. They are a financial powerhouse, and have built a winning culture. When they target a player, it is hard to compete with them because they have financial and non-financial qualities in their favor.

This has led to them signing Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in recent years. They also traded for Mookie Betts and Tyler Glasnow. The Dodgers have excelled in all areas of player acquisition.

That core helped them win a World Series in 2024. At that point, it had been their second championship over the past five seasons.

That championship is a line in the sand. That was the core. For years, they struggled in the postseason, but they had been a superteam. Of course, the Dodgers have been eager to keep their competitive window open by continuing to add star players in free agency.

A second wave of stars joined the SF Giants division rivals, but that ploy backfired in 2026

There is no reason for them to pursue any other direction. They should want to continue adding to its core. However, it felt cheap when a second wave of stars landed in Los Angeles over the past two years. This wave includes Blake Snell, Edwin Díaz, and Kyle Tucker.

They could have helped any team, but instead, they all took the easy way out. Snell joined the Dodgers prior to the 2025 season. He played a role in helping them win their second straight title, but he is barely healthy enough to complete even half of the regular season.

Snell's role is similar to Tyler Glasnow's role in that the goal is to be ready for the playoffs. The regular season carries very little meaning. A similar sentiment could be shared about Shohei Ohtani as a pitcher. They have such a significant injury risk, and it played out exactly that way during the regular season.

It would be catastrophic for any other team to get 36 combined starts from those players, given how much money they have invested. However, the Dodgers have plenty of star armor to weather this storm.

They did not need Snell, Tucker, or Díaz. However, if they want a player in free agency, nothing will get in their way.

Those players joined an established superteam. They wanted an easy ring, and Snell got one. He only made 11 starts during the regular season in 2025, but the regular season does not matter with the star power they possess. He was healthy enough to make six more appearances in the playoffs.

It was more of the same for Snell in 2026. He made nine starts for the Dodgers during the regular season. He made two more starts in the playoffs, struggling in his final outing, where he allowed four earned runs in six innings against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Tucker and Díaz joined last offseason. Of course, Tucker joined a lineup that already featured three future Hall of Famers and several more All-Stars. He was more of a want than a need for a lineup that already had enough offensive firepower.

This felt like a cheap opportunity to win without needing to be a star. Of course, Tucker has been a star throughout much of his career. This includes four All-Star appearances, even if his 2026 campaign did not play out that way. He took less money to join a superteam. Tucker wanted to be in Los Angeles. He wanted to win. And, he did not want to work all that hard to do it.

Lastly, Díaz has been one of the premier closers for the past several seasons. He joined the Dodgers on a three-year, $60 million deal. This includes a team option for a fourth season.

To some extent, the bullpen was a need for the Dodgers, and they signed the best reliever on the market because they could. Though, they had already addressed that when they signed Tanner Scott to a four-year, $72 million contract one year before signing Díaz.

The Dodgers hoped that Díaz would be a dominant closer, but it did not play out that way. They did not necessarily need a closer of that caliber. They already had an experienced arm in Scott, and enough talent in the rotation that the bullpen was not an urgent need.

In the end, the Dodgers got swept by the Brewers. They have been a powerhouse for years, and were a superteam by the time a second wave of stars came over. Those stars were looking for an easy win. It worked for Snell in 2025, but it backfired for all three of those players in 2026. The Dodgers' front office is never satisfied, so while this defeat felt like a win for baseball, they will be aggressive again in trying to get back to the World Series.

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