Dave Roberts says this is his best Dodgers team yet. Is it?
Analyzing Doc's comments after another busy Dodgers offseason
The Los Angeles Dodgers have the chance to become one of baseball’s all-time great dynasties. Coming off of back-to-back World Series titles and another excellent offseason headlined by the signings of Edwin Diaz and Kyle Tucker, Dave Roberts made quite a claim to NBC Sports’ Bob Costas ahead of Opening Day.
“On paper, this is the best team we’ve had,” Roberts said.
The 2024 and 2025 Dodgers are widely considered some of the best teams in baseball history. Could the 2026 Dodgers really be better?
The only player who had meaningful contributions in the 2025 postseason who is not back is lefty reliever Anthony Banda, who the Dodgers sent to the Minnesota Twins for international bonus pool money. Righty reliever Kirby Yates and outfielder Michael Conforto, who were both left off of the postseason rosters after disappointing regular seasons, also left in free agency.
Yates and Conforto were effectively replaced by Diaz and Tucker. The bullpen was one of the only potential weak spots for the Dodgers, with Roki Sasaki filling in admirably as a temporary stopgap, racking up three saves during their postseason run. With Diaz, a three-time All-Star and one of the game’s best closers, that is no longer a concern.
The third outfield spot that Conforo held down for most of 2025, but was taken over by utilityman and postseason hero Kiké Hernandez down the stretch, is now Tucker’s. Tucker is a four-time All-Star, and when healthy, is a bonafide MVP candidate. Last year, in the first half before being slowed down with a broken finger and calf strain, Tucker hit .280 with a .882 OPS, 17 home runs and 22 steals.
Even before Tucker, the Dodgers lineup was silly. With him, they have the potential to start seven All-Stars. Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernandez, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Max Muncy and Tucker.
The starting rotation might be even better. Yoshinobu Yamamoto reached another level last season, putting the Dodgers on his back during the World Series with his other-worldly MVP performance that included a Game 2 complete game, six innings of one-run ball in Game 6 and 2 ⅔ innings of scoreless relief to close out Game 7 on no days rest. Two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell, who is dealing with left shoulder inflammation, should be back sometime in May. Tyler Glasnow is healthy and his curveball is looking especially sharp. Ohtani had a strong spring training on the pitching side, tossing 4 ⅓ scoreless innings in his first appearance and striking out 11 last week in an Freeway Series exhibition start against the Los Angeles Angels.
The biggest question mark in the rotation, and the potential key for this truly being Roberts’ best Dodgers team, is Sasaki. Sasaki has had a fascinating start to his MLB career. Forgoing the traditional posting process to sign a minor league deal and get to MLB earlier than most Japanese players, Sasaki had an up-and-down, injury-plagued regular season. He pitched to a 4.46 ERA in 10 appearances (eight starts), but ended up playing a crucial role in the Dodgers makeshift bullpen throughout the postseason, appearing in nine games, throwing 10 ⅔ innings, recording three saves and giving up just one run.
Sasaki is back in the Dodgers rotation in 2026. But, there are legitimate concerns after a disappointing spring training performance. In four spring starts, Sasaki had a 15.58 ERA with 15 walks in 8 ⅔ innings, clearly struggling with his command.
Some of those concerns were alleviated, at least for now, after Sasaki’s regular season debut on Monday. He threw four innings of one-run ball, struck out four and walked two in a 4-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians. That line may not jump off of the box score, but it showed marked improvement over what Sasaki looked like in the Cactus League. His four-seamer reached 99.5 mph, his new cutter showed promise and he proved that he can contribute to a stacked Dodgers pitching staff. If Sasaki is able to build off of his season debut, the Dodgers rotation could be historically great.
For more on Roki Sasaki, check out this video from Trevor May:
The other potential concern for the Dodgers is their age. Freeman is 36, Muncy is 35, Betts and Teoscar Hernandez are 33. That is a lot of mileage in the middle of the Dodgers lineup.
Betts especially is a prime candidate to regress. As a player who relies on his athleticism and is a slim 5’9”, based on body type alone, it would make sense for Betts’ game to not age very well. He had a career-worst offensive performance last season, leading many to wonder if his transition to playing shortstop full-time took a toll on his hitting. Betts’ hard-hit rate, barrel rate and sprint speed have all dramatically decreased and his bat speed was in the 10th percentile last season. His .258/.326/.406 line were all career lows.
There is an argument that Betts’ offensive struggles were caused by the stomach illness he dealt with last spring training that caused him to lose 20 pounds. He had a much stronger .892 OPS over his last 47 games of the regular season, and an article from The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya earlier this spring indicates that Betts is swinging much better than he did last year.
This group has the potential to be Roberts’ best, but that is not a guarantee. The additions of Diaz and Tucker help, but uncertainty surrounding Sasaki and the potential regression of the offensive core are real problems. And of course, they would need to stay healthy.
Even if this ends up not technically being Roberts’ best team on paper, the 2026 Dodgers still have an enviable amount of talent, and should at least be considered the favorites to win the World Series until proven otherwise.