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One day last December, Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi composed a text message to a select number of his players. The 16th week of the NFL season had come to a close, and Zaidi intended to gloat. Only kings understand each other, so Zaidi sent the group the iconic image of Michael Jordan holding three fingers aloft, a fitting symbol for a different sort of three-peat.

"The telling of the story of this dynasty," Zaidi said recently, as he reclined in the desk chair of his office overlooking Camelback Ranch, "is long overdue."

For three consecutive seasons, the Dodgers have permitted Zaidi to enter their fantasy football league. He has captured the title each year. His performance invites shaking heads, grumbling praise and begrudging respect. He frustrates some. He awes others. "The Bill Belichick of fantasy football," outfielder Joc Pederson called him.

The players appear unsure how to unseat Zaidi. They have changed the draft rules to thwart his tactics. They have accused him of partnering with his similarly gifted brother. Pederson has begged him to retire.

His boss, Andrew Friedman, suggested Zaidi should spend more time on his actual profession. His ace, Clayton Kershaw, insisted they cannot boot Zaidi from the league until he had been dethroned. Another offered a more proactive solution.

"I'm not trying to kick him out," third baseman Justin Turner said. "I'm trying to figure out a way to steal his laptop, so I can have his program."

The proliferation of fantasy sports extended into baseball clubhouses long ago. The intra-team leagues are ubiquitous, with players vying for cash and clout, and the participants can be as intense as the average consumer. Some sneak out of the dugout on Sundays to check their phones for updates. One Dodger negotiated a trade during batting practice before Game 5 of the National League Division Series.

Zaidi rules his organization's league like the henhouse fox. 

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