The risks are obvious, but if done right, free agency is the quickest way for a club to infuse its roster with proven talent and push itself to the next level.

Just look at the Dodgers, who have captured back-to-back World Series titles with major contributions from a slew of high-profile free agents.

Of the 28 players to appear in a game for the Dodgers in the 2025 postseason, 11 were acquired or retained via free agency. The club got a combined 25 WAR (per Baseball-Reference) from these 11 players during the regular season. That was only slightly behind the 26.2 WAR they got from their free-agent acquisitions during their 2024 championship season.

As the list below shows, only one World Series champion since the start of free agency in 1976 got more regular-season WAR from their free-

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