When you think of sports dynasties, which teams come to mind? Tom Brady’s Patriots? Michael Jordan’s Bulls? Well, what if I told you another one is brewing right now in Major League Baseball. Fresh off a 2024 World Series championship, the Los Angeles Dodgers are building a superteam for the 2025 season that looks even better than their victorious squad from last fall. This offseason, they’ve made a series of resignings and acquisitions that look to bolster their lineup, starting pitching rotation and their bullpen.
The Dodgers began their offseason by signing two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell to a five-year, $182 million contract. Snell won the American League Best Pitcher Award in 2018 with the Tampa Bay Rays and most recently in the National League with the San Diego Padres in 2023. He is a left-handed veteran with tremendous strikeout numbers, poise deep into games and an ability to excel with runners on base.
So, the Dodgers signed an award-winning starting pitcher, which is so valuable in the MLB; but it doesn’t stop there, it only gets crazier. They then broke the league with their headlining signing of the next Japanese phenomenon, pitcher Roki Sasaki. Much like other popular Japanese-born players Yu Darvish and Shohei Ohtani before him, the 23-year-old had been drawing attention for several years before he was available to be signed overseas by an MLB team. The Dodgers now get to pair the rookie Sasaki with their highlight international signing from last offseason, star Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yamamoto, the 26-year-old righty who signed with the Dodgers in December 2023 to a 12-year contract, battled injuries in 2024, but when he was healthy, he was dominant on the mound, posting a 3.00 ERA with seven wins in 90 innings pitched. These three starters will sit atop the Dodgers starting rotation and match up well to any opposing staff they will see.
The Dodgers also resigned 2024 Home Run Derby winner and two-time All-Star outfielder Teoscar Hernandez to a three-year contract as well as bringing back veteran reliever Blake Treinen, who posted a 1.93 ERA in 50 games in 2024.
Yet, it somehow doesn’t end there! The Dodgers gave contracts to two more All-Star relievers. The first is southpaw Tanner Scott, who was the previous closer on the Marlins and Padres, and the second is another veteran in Kirby Yates, who was the All-Star closer for the Texas Rangers this past season. The Dodgers had to cut Ryan Brasier from the team to make space for Yates. Brasier had an elite year and was a key part of the Dodger bullpen, but they can always be better!
They also brought back veteran and best pitcher of our generation Clayton Kershaw. And just in case their depth was not good enough, they resigned Enrique Hernandez as a utility piece, because why not?
Lastly, the Dodgers made two “surprise” signings for depth lineup pieces too. They signed Michael Conforto, the former Mets and Giants All-Star outfielder, and Hyeseong Kim, a promising utility player from Japan to round out the necessary gaps in their lineup.
Their lineup now includes the three aforementioned high-quality hitters they signed in addition to Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Ohtani is baseball’s two-way phenomenon who just won his second Most Valuable Player Award and completed the first ever recorded 50 home run, 50 stolen base season. That is only half of what he can do, and this year he is back on the mound. Additionally, Betts and Freeman are both former MVPs who have put up crucial performances in their teams’ playoff runs throughout the 2020s. These superstars combined with their already well-performing talent throughout their lineup will put the Dodgers in an incredible spot to make a deep run in the 2025 season.
Their starting rotation will consist of Snell, Sasaki, Yamamoto and Ohtani, and is rounded off with their fifth starter – Tyler Glasnow, a right-handed strikeout specialist, who made his first All-Star appearance with the Dodgers in 2024. Glasnow struck out 168 hitters in 134 innings last season, injuries were the only thing stopping him from more innings of dominance. This means that any day of the week, the Dodgers starter that takes the mound will be a menace to opposing batters.
The 2024 World Series champion that won 98 games and the NL west division crown only got better. Fangraphs projects the Dodgers to win 97 games and win the NL west (again), while popular sports betting sites project the Dodgers to win around 103 to 104 games, easily the highest total in the league, and favor them to be repeat champions.
In addition, the debate in favor of a salary cap in the MLB has been renewed. After the Dodgers past two offseasons now resulting in huge spending sprees, fans, writers and executives have started to wonder if there should be some sort of penalty or tax on teams that spend above a certain total. This would keep large payroll teams in check to ensure competitive fairness across the league.
The MLB currently does not have a salary cap, but has a competitive balance tax, which means once a team spends over a certain limit, they are charged a certain large dollar amount on top of their payroll. But to some, this does not seem like enough. Should the MLB strictly limit the amount a team can spend? Or should teams be able to spend as much as they want as long as there is an additional charge? It ultimately harms teams that don’t have as much to spend, but the Dodgers are making all of their moves fairly. This trend and debate will absolutely shape the MLB for years to come.