Can the Dodgers build off of their successful 2024 campaign?
The Los Angeles Dodgers are entering the 2025 season as the favorite to win the World Series, and rightfully so.
They have already started the season off on the right foot, sweeping the Chicago Cubs in the Tokyo Series — with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki pitching very well in front of their home crowd.
Over the past decade or so, the Dodgers have been the most well-run in all of baseball and arguably in all of professional sports, as they have an ownership group that doesn’t shy away from spending money as well as a calculated brain trust that doesn’t just make moves for the sake of it.
Every team is looking up to the Dodgers yet again, and there’s a chance that with the newfound swagger brought forth by their World Series win in 2024, they can surpass the heights they reached last season.
With all that said, here are a few bold predictions for the Dodgers as they head back stateside following a very successful short stint in Japan.
Dodgers win 110+ games
Of the seven teams that crossed that mark, only three have won the World Series, so it’s not like this is something teams actively set out to achieve.
But considering the depth the Dodgers have, not to mention the top-end talent that they are boasting on the roster, they are geared to have an excellent regular season.
In fact, they beat the Cubs without much fuss, and that was with them missing the services of Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts, among others.
They also have some very promising prospects, chief among them Dalton Rushing, waiting in the wings in the event of potential injury problems.
The hope for the Dodgers, of course, is that history doesn’t repeat itself.
They won 111 games in 2022 and ended up faltering in the NLDS to division rival San Diego Padres.
This time, however, they are bringing the lessons they’ve learned in the past to avoid falling prey to the same mistakes.
Shohei Ohtani starts fewer than five games on the mound
Shohei Ohtani sets himself apart from every baseball player that has come before and will come after him by being an MVP-caliber player both on the plate and on the mound.
No other player in MLB history, other than perhaps Babe Ruth, has done what Ohtani has done for an extended period of time.
Ohtani, however, hasn’t pitched since 2023, when he sustained an elbow injury that necessitated Tommy John surgery. Even then, he was as valuable as ever, becoming the founding member of the 50-50 club in his first season as a full-time designated hitter.
In 2025, the Dodgers’ plan is for Ohtani to start a few games, beginning in May if everything breaks right in his injury return process.
But with the Dodgers having plenty of pitching depth, it might serve the ballclub best if they don’t utilize him too often on the mound.
The Dodgers have Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, and Tyler Glasnow as their front four, with Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May always capable to fill the back-end of the rotation.
Landon Knack, Ben Casparius, and Justin Wrobleski can all start in a pinch. We will be seeing Ohtani from the mound, but fans have to temper their expectations for just how often that will be the case.
Dodgers sweep the playoffs
No team has ever gone unbeaten in the playoffs ever since the three-round playoff format was instituted.
The last time any team went perfect in the postseason was in 1976, when the Cincinnati Reds went 3-0 in the NLCS and swept the New York Yankees in the World Series.
If there was ever a team to pull off this bonkers feat, it’s the Dodgers. Now, this team doesn’t exactly have the most pristine playoff reputation.
They have underperformed in the playoffs many times. But this will be the year where everything changes for them, with everything going swimmingly — 110 wins in the regular season and unbeaten in the playoffs.
This will lead to some big outcry from MLB fans, saying that there must be some sort of cap to how much the Dodgers can spend.
But in the end, the Dodgers are subject to rules that every other team in the league is, and other teams have to step up to prevent them from running away with the league for a decade.
