To their fans and many players around the league, the Dodgers are the blueprint, an ideal model of the success and synergy that\u2019s possible when a willing ownership group supports an adept front office. To the 29 other fanbases, they represent a different kind of poster child, a quintessential example of everything wrong with the sport\u2019s economic system and competitive imbalance. The narrative hasn\u2019t changed as they embark on a new season, certainly not after adding the best free agent on the market and the best closer available to their championship core. Only now, they\u2019re looking to become the first team in a quarter-century to win three World Series in a row. The pressure of that task does not appear to intimidate a veteran group that is already coming off of one triumphant title defense. “It\u2019s going to be weird to say, but this year feels, to me, almost a little more relaxed,” Max Muncy told me last month, attributing the ease he felt this spring to the Dodgers\u2019 normal build-up after starting the 2024 and 2025 seasons early in Seoul and Tokyo, respectively. “With that, you don\u2019t even think about, \u2018Oh, we\u2019re trying to three-peat.\u2019… You can\u2019t focus on October yet. “Obviously we know that\u2019s our goal, and we expect to be there, but you can\u2019t go about your work with that in mind. You\u2019ve got to go about your work thinking, \u2018How am I getting better today? How are we getting better today as a team? What are we doing as a team today?\u2019 That\u2019s the message we\u2019ve always tried to preach here.” Dave Roberts relayed similar thoughts to his group in February when the Dodgers reconvened for the first time as a full group this spring. On paper, he knows this is probably the best roster he has ever managed, no small feat for a team that has won three championships in the last six years and 12 division titles in the last 13 seasons. But Roberts, like Muncy, doesn\u2019t feel any added pressure compared to recent years. In the midst of the Dodgers\u2019 golden era, winning the World Series has become the annual expectation, and the Dodgers are returning all the core pieces from an experienced squad that already demonstrated its resolve last season. “I thought we did a very good job of keeping our eyes looking forward at our goal versus looking to the side and looking at who\u2019s around us, who\u2019s chasing us,” Roberts said. “Knowing you have a target \u2014 as we should if we\u2019re the defending champions \u2014 but to still focus on yourselves and what\u2019s forward, that\u2019s what we do a good job of.” So the goal, and his message, remain largely the same. Had the Dodgers stood pat this offseason, they still would have been the favorites to win it all again in 2026. Instead,\u00a0they targeted “needle-movers” and kept pushing, addressing the two biggest concerns on their roster by adding four-time All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker and three-time All-Star closer Edwin Diaz. Both could have signed a longer deal elsewhere, but both chose the Dodgers on lucrative shorter-term pacts. The three-year, $69 million deal for D\u00edaz set a record for average annual value for a reliever. The staggering four-year, $240 million deal for Tucker set a record for present-day average annual value for any player. “We’ve built something really special around here,” said Freddie Freeman, “and everybody wants to be a part of it.” The Dodgers aren\u2019t concerned about complacency, but the injection of new talent helps in that regard. – MLB Team-By-Team Season Preview- MVP? Cy Young? Making Our Picks- 30 MLB Breakout Stars for 2026 When Roberts gathered his team together for the first time in February, he discussed the 2025 championship run and the little things that got the Dodgers back to baseball\u2019s apogee. Then he handed the floor to newcomers Tucker and D\u00edaz, who shared their views of the Dodgers\u2019 organization from the outside. “It was just more about what made the Dodgers attractive to them,” Roberts explained, “and I think it\u2019s powerful for our guys to hear it from the other side, from somebody who hasn\u2019t been here.” For D\u00edaz, who has yet to make it to a World Series in his nine-year career, he felt this move gave him his best shot to win. For the Dodgers, this winter\u2019s spending was just the latest example of their desire to cement their place atop the sport\u2019s pedestal, regardless of the staggering cost, the tax penalties incurred or the simmering hostility around the league as they operate in a different financial stratosphere. “When you see your front office go out and add more guys, saying, \u2018We\u2019re not done,\u2019 it just kind of creates a message of we have to keep winning,” Muncy said. “It\u2019s very invigorating for the players to know the organization wants to keep winning. They\u2019re not just set with one win. They want to keep going, and that creates a hunger in itself.” Building A Juggernaut The Dodgers have built their juggernaut, and become the envy and epicenter of the sport, for a multitude of reasons. They\u2019ve chosen their long-term deals carefully, they\u2019ve drafted and developed well internally and they\u2019ve spent exorbitantly, using their many revenue streams to invest back into the product unlike any team before. The result is back-to-back World Series championships and a team that is the overwhelming favorite to win a third straight, something that hasn\u2019t been done since the 1998-2000 Yankees. Prior to that, it was the 1972-74 Oakland Athletics. Baseball Prospectus\u2019 PECOTA standings project the Dodgers to win 103 games, nine more than the next closest team. FanGraphs gives the Dodgers a 19.7% chance to win the World Series, 10% higher than the next closest team. “You always have to have somebody that teams and fans enjoy disliking,” Roberts said, leaning into the villain role. “That\u2019s good for fans and sports, I think. I was one of those guys that didn\u2019t like the Yankees but saw their value to the sport, certainly\u2026when you can get put in that vein of the Yankees of the \u201890s, you\u2019re doing something right.” Whether or not the Dodgers win it all again, the acrimony felt by fans and owners of other teams is certain to bleed into the upcoming labor negotiations. Most of the players on those 29 other teams, however, don\u2019t see any problem with the way the Dodgers operate. Last month, Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. of the rival Padres both praised the way the Dodgers built their team. So did Bryce Harper, whose Phillies came up short against the Dodgers in last year\u2019s NLDS. “They pay the money, they spend the money, they run their team like a business,” Harper said. “They run it the right way. They understand where they need to put their money into but also, people don’t look at this either, their draft and their development is unbelievable.” Those supporting pieces make it feel inevitable that the Dodgers could sleepwalk their way to the 2026 postseason, even with Blake Snell, Tommy Edman, Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez and a plethora of talented relievers starting the season on the injured list and Roki Sasaki coming off an ominous spring. For most teams, those obstacles could derail a season. The Dodgers, however, are not most teams. They\u2019ve built a roster seemingly deep enough to provide an answer for any problem that might arise. And yet, despite the fan vitriol, they are not an indomitable force. Getting to the playoffs hasn\u2019t and shouldn\u2019t be a problem. Once there, though, they know that nothing is guaranteed. In 2024, the Padres had two chances to knock off their rivals in the NLDS and came up short both times, despite the Dodgers needing to patch together bullpen games to survive the gauntlet. The Dodgers have harkened back to that series victory as a turning point for the franchise. In 2025, the additions of Snell and Tanner Scott seemingly pushed them to heights unseen. Many projected them to shatter the all-time wins record. Instead, they won 93 games, their fewest in a full season since 2018. They treated the regular season like a dress rehearsal, carefully handling their pitching staff so their best arms could be available when needed most at season\u2019s end. And still, they needed to use their starters in relief to survive October. The Blue Jays came two outs away from conquering Goliath before falling victim to an unlikely protagonist. It was Miguel Rojas, not Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts or Freeman, who was the Game 7 hero with a game-tying, series-altering, life-changing home run. “I waited 20 years in professional baseball to have that moment, and it happens to me at the end of my career,” Rojas said last month. “In Italy, I\u2019m walking around Rome and I\u2019m seeing Dodgers fans over there saying, \u2018Thank you for hitting that home run.\u2019 It\u2019s crazy. It\u2019s overwhelming.” The ninth-inning blast from Rojas, who had just one home run the final two months of the season, and a back-and-forth World Series for the ages demonstrated the unpredictability of postseason baseball. The result made the target on the Dodgers\u2019 back even bigger entering 2026. “It\u2019s a challenge, but it\u2019s something we get to look forward to,” Muncy said. “We get to embrace it. That\u2019s what makes it fun.” In Touching Base, we check on which are the biggest topics in baseball and what comes next for the players and teams involved.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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