It was during lunch nearly four weeks ago when a former high-ranking Los Angeles Dodgers executive made the bold, fork-dropping prediction.

The Dodgers were so embarrassed with their postseason failures the last two seasons, after being swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first round of the playoffs, that they would take out their wrath on all of baseball.

“These guys are going to sign Shohei Ohtani. They’re going to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And they’re going to go for a starter," he said. “Mark my words. You’ll see."

Well, here we are, a staggering $1.161 billion later, and all three are signed, sealed and delivered before the Christmas holidays.

The Dodgers signed Ohtani to a record 10-year, $700 million deal earlier in December.

They traded for and signed Tyler Glasnow to a five-year, $136.5 million contract.

And late Thursday night, pulled off the trifecta by landing Yamamoto with a 12-year, $325 million contract, the longest and most lucrative guarantee for a pitcher in baseball history, which doesn’t even count the $50.6 million they’re paying the Orix Buffaloes in Japan for his posting fees.

The Dodgers’ stunning spending spree have made the New York Yankees, Mets and Boston Red Sox look like the Oakland A’s.

The Dodgers, whose only World Series title in the past 35 years came during the 2020 COVID-shortened season, are letting everyone know that this is their world.

The San Diego Padres and Mets taught everyone last season that spending wildly doesn’t guarantee a World Series trophy, much less a playoff berth.

But, oh, is this different.

The Dodgers have thoroughly dominated the National League West the past 11 years, capturing 10 division titles and winning 106 games in the other during their wild-card season.

They have proven to be great in every month but October, winning just one playoff game in the last two years.

Now it’s World Series or bust.

Sure, you’re going to start hearing teams gripe about baseball’s financial divide with owners insisting it’s time for a salary cap in the next collective bargaining agreement in 2026.

But the harsh reality is that the Dodgers are simply making shrewd business decisions.

Ohtani could have easily accepted $700 million from the San Francisco Giants or Toronto Blue Jays, but chose the Dodgers for their winning tradition and ingenuity, with Ohtani getting paid the price of a middle reliever with his $2 million a year in actual salary.

Anyone could have traded for Glasnow, the former ace of the Tampa Bay Rays, but only the Dodgers had the farm system and capital to get it done.

Yamamoto could have taken $325 million from the Mets, which the Dodgers matched, or $300 million from the Yankees, but Yamamoto chose the organization that never stops winning.

They’re the team everyone wants to emulate with its star-studded crowds, its powerful farm system, its filthy rich $8.35 billion TV contract, its gorgeous stadium, and all of the money pouring into their bank accounts to afford expenditures like this.

They also happen to be brilliant.

These guys are going to make about $50 million a year in advertising and marketing revenue off Ohtani alone. They should make a financial killing investing the $680 million in deferrals from Ohtani’s contract. And no team in baseball will have the global appeal of the Dodgers, with every fan in baseball-crazed Japan making sure Chavez Ravine is a mandatory visit.

It was just a week ago when the Dodgers made a promise at the Ohtani press conference announcing his contract with $680 million in deferrals.

“It was important to Shohei that this wasn’t the one move we were going to make,’’ said Andrew Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operation, “and I think anyone who has watched us operate over the years, we’re trying to add really good players at every turn.’’

Promise delivered.

Sure, there are huge financial risks in the Dodgers’ expenditures. Who knows when Ohtani will pitch again and how effective he’ll be? Glasnow has never pitched more than 120 innings in a season. And Yamamoto, just 5-foot-10, has never thrown a single pitch in the major leagues and just signed the biggest guarantee for a pitcher in baseball history.

But you know what? Yamamoto, 25, will be paid an average of $27 million a year when he’s 37 years old. That’s $9 million less than St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Sonny Gray will earn when he’s 36 years old and in the final year of his contract.

Glasnow will earn an average of $27.3 million a year. That’s only $300,000 more than Carlos Rodon will make each season in the final five years of his contract with the Yankees.

Ohtani’s contract pays him $2 million a year in actual salary. That’s $36 million less per year than Anthony Rendon will make with the Los Angeles Angels the next three years.

We’ll see how this all turns out, with the Dodgers’ payroll projected to be about $288 million, but they’re going to have to soon add one more expenditure.

No, we’re not talking about All-Star closer Josh Hader.

They'll need to construct another press box to find some way to accommodate the hundreds of reporters who will be descending upon Dodger Stadium every day.

This, after all, is Team Hollywood.

The envy of all of baseball.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dodgers spending spree tops $1 billion with Yoshinobu Yamamoto signing