Dodgers file for bankruptcy: What now for the boys in blue?

If you’ve ever seen Albert Pujols cross home or a football player take a knee after scoring a touchdown, you might think that God cares about who wins and loses a professional sports game. I tend to disagree. But I know that God can’t be happy with what is happening to His chosen team.

Amid an already ugly season with even worse problems off the field, the Los Angeles Dodgers filed for bankruptcy today. Here’s the story from the Los Angeles Times:

McCourt has obtained $150 million in interim financing, according to the court filing in Delaware. If the bankruptcy court approves that financing on Tuesday, McCourt would meet Thursday’s payroll deadline and could remain in control of the club throughout the bankruptcy proceedings, with the intention of negotiating a television rights deal within 180 days that would satisfy the court by paying off all creditors in full.

Major League Baseball is expected to challenge McCourt’s move at Tuesday’s hearing in Delaware.

Under the MLB constitution, the act of filing for bankruptcy enables the commissioner to strip McCourt of ownership. But bankruptcy court proceedings generally override MLB rules.

Manny Ramirez is the Dodgers’ largest creditor, according to the bankruptcy filing. The Dodgers owe Ramirez $21 million, followed by Andruw Jones ($11 million), Hiroki Kuroda ($4.5 million), Rafael Furcal ($3.7 million) and the Chicago White Sox ($3.5 million, for Juan Pierre).

Yada, yada, yada. Turns out McCourt owes a lot of people money.

You can read the entire bankruptcy filing here. Possibly the most damning aspect of the whole ordeal: McCourt owes Vin Scully—the voice of God in the universe of televised Dodgers games—$152,000.