The Los Angeles Dodgers' hopes of winning a third straight World Series title were crushed recently as the Milwaukee Brewers swept them in the National League Championship Series. 

Now, the Dodgers are stuck with the bill for what it cost to create a star-studded roster. 

The Dodgers were already baseball's most expensive team by a fairly wide margin when they won the World Series in 2025. Then, they added to their exorbitant payroll when they added Kyle Tucker and Edwin Diaz in the offseason. 

Both players were supposed to propel the Dodgers over the top, and following the acquisition of Diaz and Tucker, they became the overwhelming favorites to win another title. However, Diaz's season was a disaster, and Tucker's also could have been better. 

Let's evaluate how the latter did during his first season in Dodger blue.

Unfortunately for Los Angeles, not only did Diaz have the worst season of his career, but Tucker also did not live up to the four-year, $240 million contract he signed last winter.

Unlike Diaz, Tucker did remain on the field, playing in 154 of the Major League Baseball season's 162 games, but he was not himself. Over the course of the season, Tucker took 540 at-bats and logged a .233 batting average, a .330 on-base percentage, a .385 slugging percentage and a .715 OPS with 17 home runs.

His batting average, slugging percentage and OPS were the lowest since his rookie season in 2018. He also struck out 105 times, a career high. 

Tucker's bat just was not what it should have been, and not what the Dodgers paid for when they acquired him.

What makes Tucker's precipitous drop-off more bizarre is the fact that he struggled so much in home games while displaying productivity on the road. In 78 games and 265 at-bats at Dodger Stadium, Tucker posted an egregious .196 batting average, a .294 on-base percentage, a .298 slugging percentage and a .592 OPS.

On the road, however, his batting average jumped up to .269 while his on-base percentage increased to .364; his slugging percentage went up to .469 and his OPS shot up to .833. 

Tucker also hit 12 home runs in 76 road games versus the five he hit at home. He also hit 47 RBIs away from Dodger Stadium versus just 23 there.

Ironically, during the playoffs, while the rest of the offense was struggling greatly, Tucker was a lone bright spot in the batting order. Through the Dodgers' eight postseason games, Tucker notched a .333 batting average (9-for-27) with a .938 OPS, both of which were career-high marks. 

Tucker's woes during the regular season cannot be dismissed, but he found a way to hit during the playoffs when seemingly no one else could, both at home and on the road. It is going to take a much better 2027 season for Tucker's contract to be justified, but perhaps he is on the right track.