Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers are one of baseball's most storied and influential franchises, with a history that has shaped not just the sport but American society. Founded in Brooklyn in 1883, the Dodgers made their most indelible mark in 1947 when Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson, breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier and catalyzing the civil rights movement. The Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1940s and 1950s -- with Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, and Roy Campanella -- were a beloved institution, and their departure for Los Angeles in 1958 remains one of the most traumatic events in New York sports history.

In Los Angeles, the Dodgers became something entirely new: the embodiment of West Coast glamour and baseball excellence. Dodger Stadium, perched in the hills of Chavez Ravine, opened in 1962 and remains the largest ballpark in Major League Baseball. Sandy Koufax's untouchable prime in the 1960s, the infield of Garvey-Lopes-Russell-Cey in the 1970s, Kirk Gibson's impossible home run in 1988, and Vin Scully's six decades of poetic narration are chapters in a story that rivals any franchise in sports. The Dodgers have won seven World Series titles, including the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and a dominant run through the 2024 postseason.

The modern Dodgers, under the Guggenheim ownership group, have become baseball's financial superpower, routinely operating with the highest payroll in the sport and deploying an analytical infrastructure that is the envy of every front office. The signing of Shohei Ohtani before the 2024 season was a landmark moment, pairing perhaps the most talented player in the game's history with its most ambitious franchise. The Dodgers' combination of history, star power, financial might, and cultural cachet makes them the closest thing baseball has to a global brand, and their rivalry with the San Francisco Giants is the longest and most heated in the sport.