Frank McCourt gives up the game. Who will pick it up?

Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has finally given up the game. He’s agreed to put the team and its media rights on the auction block.

In the last year, McCourt seemed to be trying to pitch his way out of the worst inning of his career, and that's why his decision to finally to walk off the mound took observers like ESPN’s Molly Knight by surprise.

"The thing about Frank McCourt is that he’s just never given up and he’s never gone the rational route. So to have him throw up his hands and say he‘s doing what’s best for him and his family and the team, it’s quite shocking," Knight said.

David Carter of University of Southern California's Sports Business Institute wasn't quite as shocked: "He was really watching Major League Baseball cut off his financial lifeline over the last several months, and so I think it was really inevitable."

Major League Baseball seized the Dodgers in May. Then Commissioner Bud Selig rejected Frank McCourt’s deal with Fox Television. That was when McCourt took the battle to bankruptcy court.

His lawyers were already busy with a nasty divorce from wife, Jamie — a battle that ended just two weeks ago.

David Carter says one reason McCourt may folded was he could have been running out of cash for his battle with Baseball. "I think many believed that it might have gone further with respect to litigation, but he just might not have had enough dry powder to keep that going," he said.

So now McCourt will auction the team he bought seven years ago for $420 million. The figure observers are batting around the ballpark is $1 billion. USC's Carter says it will most likely be an intense bidding war.

"You’re not gonna really value the team based on where Frank McCourt has had it the last couple of years because it’s been in decline," he said. "You’re gonna value the team and be willing to pay for it based on what you as a new owner believe you can do with it."

Potential bidders are already filling the bullpen — bidders like Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, former Dodgers players Steve Garvey and Orel Hershiser, and Southland businessmen Ron Burkle.

Veteran Dodgers manager Tommy LaSorda told KPCC's Larry Mantle Wednesday that he's not in the running for a bid, but that he'd like the person to be local. "Whoever becomes the owner, I sure hope it’s somebody local that is familiar with the city and the people and everything," he said.

He said that the team needs to get it's fans back. "Give ’em a good club," he said. "Give ’em an exciting team. Letting them know how much we appreciate them and how much we need them."

Indeed, a lot of Dodger fans — including Daniel Larkin of Winnetka stayed away from the stadium this season. "Well, with this announcement, the fans are back! We weren’t afraid of security or anything. We were sick of McCourt," he said.

"I yelled in the middle of my job last night so loud that people thought I was hurt. I’m excited. The Dodgers are back!"

There is no timeline for the sale of the Dodgers, but the boys in blue could be playing for a new owner by opening day of next season.