NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Dodgers are the 2024 World Series champions. They were the best team in baseball in the regular season and came through in the playoffs, earning the coveted trophy. They did so despite so much injury adversity, and — in troubling news for the other 29 Major League Baseball teams — they appear to be better set up for next season than they were for this one.
Now, Dodgers fans know all too well how often top teams get beat in the playoffs. It has happened to the Dodgers plenty of times, most notably the 2023 debacle against an 84-win Diamondbacks team that was inferior. But as we look ahead to 2025, the Dodgers are most likely going to be the most talented team in baseball and the mind does start to wander in the direction of this being the start of a possible dynasty.
“I think so,” Roberts said when asked about possibly winning more titles. “I think we have the best organization in baseball with consistency, but you’ve still got to go out there and play the schedule. We have great ownership, great front office, and we’ve got great coaches and great players.
“We’ve still got to perform, but I think that we’re on our way.”
Let’s piggyback off Roberts a bit and reiterate how great they are at player development. It is often used in trades, but that’s part of having a great system. They always have a loaded farm system and that’s how they pull off deals for players like Mookie Betts and Tyler Glasnow.
They also have demonstrated the ability to outspend everyone, even the Yankees, in free agency when they want to. It’s a smart, savvy front office with deep pockets. It’s that combination that has helped them win the NL West 11 of the last 12 seasons — and the time they didn’t win it, they won 106 games.
Where they’ll be better next season starts with the rotation.
- Glasnow established a career high with 134 innings pitched and should be good for over 150 in 2025. He’s capable of Cy Young contention.
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto is only 26 and is fully acclimated to the majors now. Plus, he looked ace-like in his World Series start now that he’s fully recovered from the shoulder injury.
- Shohei Ohtani — the presumptive 2024 NL MVP as a designated hitter, who won the World Series in Year 1 of his record-setting 10-year contract — will be able to pitch again. That’s three frontline starters, in all likelihood.
- Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May are all expected to be back from major injuries. We’re already to six starters.
- Bobby Miller has talent and very well could emerge as a quality option.
- Landon Knack made 12 starts this year and showed flashes of being good.
This was a team using a bullpen game as its fourth starter in the playoffs. Maybe they’ll try to bring back free agents Jack Flaherty and/or Walker Buehler. The Dodgers always seem to need additional pitching depth come October, but they likely don’t need either.
Now look at the bullpen that became dominant in stretches in the playoffs. That’s how good Andrew Friedman and company are at stocking the full roster.
Offensively, the Dodgers will continue to be led by the triumvirate of MVPs, Ohtani, Betts and 2024 World Series MVP Freddie Freeman. Teoscar Hernández is a free agent but there should seemingly be mutual interest in him staying around. Max Muncy, Will Smith and Tommy Edman make the latter half of the lineup strong.
And, again, don’t get too distracted by the megadeals when it comes to Friedman’s ability to build a whole roster. The deals for Michael Kopech and Edman might’ve flown under the radar when they happened in July, but these types of moves get the team over the finish line. Friedman came from the Rays and he’s blended the ability to find cheap and under-performing talent with outspending everyone. Reliever Blake Treinen after the game specifically name-checked Friedman for his ability to shape the roster into a perfect blend of unheralded quality players alongside superstars.
The result is a monster franchise.
Major League Baseball hasn’t had a repeat champion since the Yankees’ dynasty winning another title in 2000. We arguably haven’t seen a dynasty since the Giants won three titles between 2010 and 2014, and even that is a polarizing discussion. If the Dodgers won it all again in 2025, we could probably loop in 2020 and point to three titles in six years that includes a back-to-back and call them one. We’ll see.
The bottom line: Knowing everything we know about the current Dodgers, it seems there’s a looming possibility of Wednesday night being the start of a dynasty.
