Dodgers arms race leaves Reds fans feeling defeated before Opening Day

Cincinnati Reds fans aren’t imagining it. There’s a specific kind of dread that hits when you’re trying to talk yourself into a season and a contender across the sport is enjoying yet another luxurious offseason.

Kyle Tucker landing with the Los Angeles Dodgers is the latest “are you serious?” moment. It serves as another reminder that some franchises operate with a margin for error the rest of the league simply doesn’t get. And in Cincinnati, that gap feels baked in.

The Reds aren’t even doing the “hopeless rebuild” thing anymore. There’s real talent there with a path to being competitive. But baseball keeps rewarding the same handful of teams for being the same handful of teams, and it drains the optimism right out of cities that have to build everything perfectly just to get invited to the same conversation.

Dodgers’ spending spree has Reds fans bracing for another uphill season

To be fair, the Dodgers are an easy target because they keep stacking stars. Fans can vent at Los Angeles all day, and sure, it’s annoying to watch them add another big name like it’s routine. But the deeper frustration isn’t that the Dodgers spend. It’s that MLB allows an ecosystem where spending this way becomes a sustainable advantage that compounds.

If you can spend, you spend. If you can defer money and smooth out payroll, you do it. If you can turn market size into roster insulation, you absolutely will. No one in that building is going to apologize for pushing every available lever.

The problem is the structure that keeps telling places like Cincinnati to compete on “discipline” and “development” while the biggest brands get to be disciplined and loaded.

Some of this is also a Reds conversation. When fans see the Dodgers sprinting while Cincinnati is measured, it doesn’t just feel like “we can’t catch them.” It turns into, “are we even trying to live in that tier?”

Reds fans have lived the cycle: build a promising core, flash potential, sell the future, then hesitate when it’s time to make the expensive, uncomfortable moves that turn a “fun team” into a “serious team.” Every time a juggernaut adds another star, it highlights every moment Cincinnati chose caution.

That’s why the Tucker move hits twice. The Dodgers got better (again), and it reminds Reds fans the way the sport is set up. This isn’t about saying the Reds aren’t going to win games. They will. And they have a good shot at being dangerous in 2026. But baseball has a habit of turning “dangerous” into “cute” when October rolls around. The superteams start flexing their depth, their star power, and their safety nets.

If MLB wants fanbases like Cincinnati to feel something other than resignation before Opening Day, it can’t keep treating this imbalance like background noise. Because “defeated before the season starts” shouldn’t be a normal emotion — but the league keeps making it one.