Do the Dodgers really need to win the World Series this year?

2002 A’s, meet the 2018 Dodgers.

The “Moneyball” philosophy has yet to be fully proven, but it forces teams to think differently. That’s what the Dodgers need to continue to do; think differently. LA, however, is not like the ’02 A’s. Just after the turn of the century, the A’s payroll was $41 million which, with inflation, would be about $56 million today.

$56 million, compared to the nearly $180 million dollar payroll the Dodgers are currently working with.

The Dodgers don’t need to emulate the historic philosophy that was championed in Oakland. They could just as easily be the Yankees of 2002. The Yankees, who paid closer Mariano Rivera almost 9.5 million that season, could have set the standard that the Dodgers are now following.

The Dodgers, however, are following the lead of a team that didn’t win the World Series in 2002 and hasn’t since 1989.

The “Moneyball” mentality, at its core, is about finding players with great potential, players that baseball has somehow overlooked. “Moneyball” is Cubs President of Baseball Operations, Theo Epstein, asking his scouts to submit a list of players he thinks could benefit from a change a scenery. “Moneyball” is Andrew Freidman and Farhan Zaidi trading for Chris Taylor back in 2016.

This is the mentality that will lead the Dodgers to the World Series. Just because they have the money, and the prospects, to make big moves, doesn’t mean they have to.

These ideals, this revolutionary LA philosophy, has been just about proven, too. It was proven when Chris Taylor, who had only hit one big league home run prior to 2017, homered off of Dallas Keuchel on the first pitch of the World Series.

If that’s not evidence that something historic is going on in this organization, I don’t know what is.