In their quest for a third consecutive World Series championship, the Dodgers will encounter obstacles in some of the usual suspects.
The Mets, who picked up Freddy Peralta and Bo Bichette. The Blue Jays, with Dylan Cease and Kazuma Okamoto. The Yankees, who re-signed Cody Bellinger.
Over the next nine-plus months, however, the Dodgers’ competition won’t be limited to the 29 other teams in the league.
The Dodgers will also go down in history.
They will be compared to multi-generational champions, from Babe Ruth’s Yankees to Mickey Mantle’s and Derek Jeter’s.
They will echo the legacy of every high-powered team, from the Big Red Machine to the Orioles of Frank Robinson and Jim Palmer, the three-peat Athletics of Reggie Jackson to the Braves of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz.
Download the California Post app, follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletters
California Post News: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedIn
California Post Sports Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X
California Post Opinion
California Post Newsletters: Register here!
California Post App: Download here!
Page Six Hollywood: Register here!
As baseball champions of the past 25 years, the Dodgers already belong in the company of these dominant champions of the past. But the group led by Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman now has a chance to elevate itself into the mythical realm of the sport.
For the Dodgers, there is an opportunity not only to write history, but to rewrite it. If they win the World Series this year, they will have a legitimate claim as the greatest team of all time.
Los Angeles recognizes that history is being made, and similar to when Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant dominated the NBA or when Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart powered the most recent USC dynasty, people here know the Dodgers have the kind of team they’ll tell their grandchildren about.
The appetite for Dodgers-related information has become insatiable in Los Angeles.
The first time I spoke to Ohtani, he was still playing for the Nippon-Ham Fighters of the Japanese league. I visited Roki Sasaki’s birthplace and spoke with a close friend of his late father, who died in the 2011 tsunami that devastated the region. I was able to interview Yoshinobu Yamamoto and interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda about their relationship, learning that the superstitious Sonoda wears lucky underwear on days when Yamamoto is pitching.
With two more stars in Kyle Tucker and Edwin Diaz joining the Dodgers this year, there will be even more stories.
This is what our customers demand and deserve, especially in what could be a generation-defining season for the Dodgers.
Would a third straight championship, or a fourth in six years, make the Dodgers the greatest team ever?
Manager Dave Roberts thinks so.
Over the decades, Roberts said, “The only team that can measure up is the Yankees.”
As great as the Atlanta Braves were in the 1990s, they only won one World Series. The San Francisco Giants won three titles between 2010 and 2014, but their offense was consistently mediocre, which is why they missed the playoffs twice in that five-year span.
The Yankees won the championship three years in a row, from 1998 to 2000. Including the 1996 World Series, they won the World Series four times in five years.
But the game has changed since then. A luxury tax was introduced to reduce spending on player salaries, and one of the side effects would be greater competitive balance. The postseason is also more difficult to navigate now, as the field has increased from six to 12 teams.
What other teams can be compared to the Dodgers?
The athletics or the red sport of the seventies? They never had to play a Wild Card or Division Series.
The Yankees of the 1950s and 1960s? They advanced straight from the regular season to the World Series, eliminating any possibility of an early-round upset.
Through no fault of their own, no pre-integration team deserves attention, and that includes the 1927 Yankees. The player pool was much more limited then than it is today.
Compared to their contemporaries, the Dodgers could be more loaded than either of the aforementioned teams.
In theory, talent would be diluted in a 30-team league, but the Dodgers have seven former All-Stars in their projected lineup, including Will Smith, Teoscar Hernandez and Max Muncy. They have four more in their starting rotation: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow.
They have the most complete 40-man roster in baseball, with pitchers like River Ryan and Gavin Stone who would be in virtually any other team’s rotation plans. The Dodgers may not have generational talent in the minors, but their farm system is characterized by unparalleled depth.
According to Roberts, there are factors beyond baseball skill and on-field performance.
“I would say there are more Dodger fans than ever before,” Roberts said. “Definitely because of social media, because of Shohei, because of our wins, [because of] Yamamoto. And the Yankees kind of did that in the ’90s. They were like the team of the world. So I think when you do something like that, that matters too.
“As for the playing field, that’s what you are for,” he added. “That’s what makes sports great, so people can debate.”
That’s why we’re here. A chronicle of a dynasty’s efforts to cement its legacy. To put what is done or said into context. To provide information that can lead to more spirited debates.
Join us.
#quest #rewrite #history #Dodgers #compete #legendary #Yankees #runs