Behind every great baseball team, there’s an equally successful front office staff.
Having home-field advantage for the 121st edition of MLB’s World Series, beginning Oct. 24 at Dodger Stadium, the Los Angeles Dodgers will host Game 1 and Game 2.
Only capturing the organization’s 9th World Series championship could equal the performance of the Dodgers’ top draw Shohei Ohtani during Friday’s pennant-clinching victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. Along with Ohtani slamming three consecutive home runs off as many Brewers’ pitchers by the seventh inning, the second-year Dodger’s ace pitching performance also contributed to the 5–1 victory.
Ohtani, who also doubled as the club’s lead off hitter/designated hitter, pitched the first six innings. His dominance of the Brewers’ batters was obvious—allowing two hits, three walks, 10 strikeouts, and no runs. There was little debate as to Ohtani’s selection as the National League Championship Series MVP.
For all the glory and attention bestowed upon the men in blue and white uniforms at Dodger Stadium, the championship puzzle put together over the last 11 seasons isn’t by chance. There is an incredibly intelligent team brought together, names most baseball fans, including in Los Angeles, have no knowledge of. Dodgers management doesn’t wear uniforms. Except when identified somewhere on the press level of a ballpark, these MLB savants remain anonymous. This group is responsible for the free agent signings, trades, releases, promotions, and demotions of those listed on the Dodgers’ 40-man roster, as well as who is assigned to minor league affiliates.
As Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and his staff are applauded for shepherding a winning product on the playing field, the club’s framers, privately, deserve a round of high fives.
Mark Walter, Dodgers owner and chairman, is the architect of bringing a winning brand back to Los Angeles baseball. As CEO of Guggenheim Partners, a privately held global financial services firm, in 2012, Walter led a group that purchased the Dodgers for $2.15 billion. Along with Walter, investors included basketball Hall of Famer “Magic” Johnson.
The investor and philanthropist in Walter has long been a believer in sports franchises as long-term holdings. Along with the Dodgers, of which Walter’s 27 percent stake has him as the club’s majority owner, the investor has since 2021 been a minority owner of the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers and WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, among other franchises.
Walter’s vision for a continued winning baseball franchise commenced with the hiring of Stan Kasten. Also an owner of the club, Kasten came aboard in January 2012 as Dodgers’ president. He also holds the title of CEO for the club. As part of Guggenheim Baseball Management, Kasten brought to Los Angeles a long career in operating professional sports franchises. Kasten learned his craft in running the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers, NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, and Washington Nationals baseball club from 2006 to the conclusion of the 2010 MLB season. It was during his time overseeing the Atlanta Braves for 18 years (1986–2003) that Kasten’s greatest results in managing an organization occurred.
It was Kasten’s decision to hire general manager John Schuerholz, and his approval of bringing skipper Bobby Cox aboard, that lead to an unprecedented period of National League dominance by the Braves. One World Series title, a handful of pennants, and 14 consecutive division titles made the Braves the darlings of the National League. He positioned the right people in the decision-making process of the club, allowed them to utilize their expertise into molding a well-stocked, well-developed organization of players and on-field leadership. This level of success is being duplicated with the Dodgers.
Andrew Friedman is perhaps the unsung hero of all things Dodgers. He remains the hustle behind the 26-man roster’s muscle. His expertise in locating talent, figuring out who will make the best and most impact as teammates, and moving numbers around to make Los Angeles’ payroll work, Friedman is a future Hall of Famer. Since he left his general manager post with the Tampa Bay Rays, an organization which he built that saw the club win the American League pennant in 2008, he’s been overseeing the Dodgers. With two World Series championships, five pennants, the signings of Japanese superstars Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki, plus free agents Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Teoscar Hernandez, Friedman has spent Walter and his partners’ money wisely.
Finally, Brandon Gomes, executive vice president and general manager, has engineered successful trades and picked up impactful players. Prior to his appointment as GM in 2022, Gomes worked his way up the organizational ladder. Learning how to lead in the executive suite comes from his years as a pitcher in Tampa Bay and joining the Dodgers, first as a pitching performance coordinator, then as director of player development, followed by serving as assistant GM from 2019 to 2021.
The Dodgers’ ongoing success isn’t by chance but by design. “The suits” in Dodger Stadium suites remain a cohesive unit that is uniquely focused on what works best for their organization. The proof is in the flow of victories, season after season, and winning MLB’s top hardware awards annually. The Dodgers’ brass deserve to take a bow for their putting the most productive baseball puzzle together—again in 2025.
