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Looking Back on the Dodgers-Orioles Manny Machado Trade That Nearly Won LA a World Series

By Stephen Lebitsch

Acquiring Manny Machado made the Los Angeles Dodgers championship caliber. That was until it was time to secure that championship.
Acquiring Manny Machado made the Los Angeles Dodgers championship caliber. That was until it was time to secure that championship. / Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

For the Baltimore Orioles, one of MLB's perennial struggling teams, the blockbuster 2018 trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers involving Manny Machado was about rebuilding amid uncertainty. The Orioles were staring at an 8-20 record after one month and by the time they dealt Machado they were 28-69. There was no reason for them to keep the slugger and not get value in return.

For the other side of the transaction, it was about something bigger than that -- bringing in the final piece to chase the game's ultimate prize. The Los Angeles Dodgers, by acquiring Machado, got that.

Almost.

In exchange for one of the league's best players, entering the final season of his contract, the Orioles received five prospects including outfielder and top-100 prospect Yusniel Diaz as well as third baseman Rylan Bannon.

Obviously, for the Orioles, the assets in the trade were nothing to be overly excited about considering Diaz was the only prospect of the five respectably ranked. However, for the Dodgers, the trade meant finally chasing the World Series with one of the league's best hitters. They came awfully close.

In 66 games with the Dodgers, Machado batted .273 to go along with 13 home runs and 42 RBI. He continued to truck along in the NLDS and NLCS, smacking two doubles, three home runs and nine RBI with an .810 OPS in those 11 games.

But then came the World Series. Machado slashed .182/.208/.182 with zero extra-base hits and three RBI in five games. The Dodgers fell to the Boston Red Sox in a 4-1 manhandling.

Once the offseason rolled around, the Dodgers passed on keeping Machado in LA and instead let him walk to the division-rival Padres on a $300 million deal. The Machado-Dodgers experiment wasn't a failed one, but the All-Star slugger failed to deliver for them when it mattered most.