Offseason questions as Dodgers seek three-time championship
How does a baseball giant plan to improve? Here are three key questions for Dodgers in search of third straight title
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers greeted their fans at the end of their championship parade on Nov. 3, and virtually every player who took the microphone on the makeshift Dodger Stadium stage expressed the same goal:
The three-time championship.
Only two franchises, the Oakland Athletics of the early 1970s and the New York Yankees of the late 1990s, have won three consecutive World Series titles since Major League Baseball introduced the divisional system in 1969. And yet, today’s Dodgers make no secret of their desire to achieve the same.
“It’s not a question of whether we’re going to do it or not, or how we’re going to do it,” said Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman“It’s just that we’re going to be extremely motivated and do everything we can to put ourselves in the best position to do it again.”
How exactly that will look is a source of intrigue throughout the sport.
The Dodgers have spent astronomical sums over the past two offseasons. With signings and extensions, they added five nine-figure contracts to their payroll, which, for purposes of the competitive balance tax, amounted to approximately $415 million in 2025. The industry seemed to bend to their will because of it. Now, the Dodgers have become something of a ‘demon’. Agents link them to their clients in an attempt to inflate prices, and rival executives fear they will snap up the players they are targeting.
However, the Dodgers continue to fight an internal battle, expressed by general manager Brandon Gomes at last week’s general manager meetings in Las Vegas.
“How do you win this year without falling into the abyss?” he asked rhetorically.
Friedman, Gomes and the rest of the Dodgers’ decision-makers constantly try to balance immediate success with future success, an inexact science that periodically derails them from the middle ground. Over the past two winters, the Dodgers focused on the present. Now, according to several sources close to their team, they hope to find a greater balance, although to what extent remains to be seen.
On the one hand, the Dodgers are aware of the depth of their roster and the age of their players. On the other, they are determined to maximize what Friedman has called the “golden era” of this franchise, aware of how a third consecutive title could cement that legacy.
“I think by definition it’s a dynasty,” Friedman said after watching his team win its third championship in six years. “But that, in many ways, defines everything if we say, ‘Okay, this is what it is.’ To me, it continues to evolve and grow, and we want to expand it, we want to continue it and do everything we can to take it to a level that those who come after it will be difficult to reach.”
How they achieve this will depend on how they answer three key questions.
How will they solve their bullpen problems?
With everything at stake in Game 7 of the World Series, Dodgers manager Dave Robertsused six starters, including their entire postseason rotation (Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto) and two young starters who became relievers out of necessity (Emmet Sheehan and Justin Wrobleski).
This highlighted the deep crisis that affected the Dodgers’ bullpen in 2025, and yet it contrasts sharply with the management’s firm conviction at this time, according to sources, that the depth of their bullpen should inspire confidence in 2026.
There is some truth in that. If everyone is healthy, seven of the Dodgers’ eight bullpen spots are already filled: Tanner Scott, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, Evan Phillips, Brock Stewart, Brusdar Graterol and Anthony Banda. Additionally, there are as many as eight relievers available on the 40-man roster, all promising: Edgardo Henriquez, Ben Casparius, Will Klein, Jack Dreyer, Paul Gervase, Bobby Miller, Kyle Hurt and Wrobleski, assuming the latter three remain in the bullpen.
This doesn’t mean the Dodgers have the situation resolved. Their bullpen is coming off a season with a 4.27 ERA, 21st in the Major Leagues. And there are many unknowns about the returning pitchers, whether due to injuries (Graterol and Phillips), older age (Treinen and Stewart), control problems (Henríquez, Klein, Hurt and Gervase) or the bitter memory of a disastrous 2025 season (Scott). But if there is something to highlight from all this, it is the following:
The Dodgers will have a high bar when it comes to finding reinforcements for their bullpen.
A solid closer, or at least a key pitcher capable of tackling the ninth inning on a championship team, will be his top priority in the coming weeks. While the option of a trade remains their ideal route, free agency is loaded with notable closers. The most important is Edwin Díaz, although the idea of a long-term contract and the presence of a qualifying offer could scare away the Dodgers. They will most likely opt for someone like Devin Williams, in whom they have already shown interest, according to sources. One rung below are others who, like Williams, could be gotten with the type of short-term contract the Dodgers prefer, including Brad Keller, Pete Fairbanks, Emilio Pagán, Kyle Finnegan, Luke Weaver and Robert Suárez.
How bad do they need another bat?
You know what else the Dodgers didn’t do well last season? Bat. At least, for a good part of it. In a span of 33 games, from early July to mid-August, they hit .235 and averaged the sixth-fewest runs in the majors. In their last three playoff rounds, they posted a combined .213/.303/.364 average. If this sounds a little harsh, well, it might be: 33 games represent only about 20 percent of the regular season, and hitting in the playoffs has proven to be difficult enough for any team. If this group remains intact, in theory, it would represent possibly the best lineup in baseball.
But the ups and downs of the past schedule help highlight another important point about the Dodgers’ offseason: It’s in their best interest to add another hitter, and they likely will.
The easiest option is to add an outfielder, and this year’s free agent options are headlined by two of them: Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger. According to sources, the Dodgers are not expected to be one of the most aggressive suitors for Tucker, but will remain on the periphery if his market tanks and a short-term, high-value contract becomes attractive to his representatives at Excel. They have also expressed interest in a possible return for Bellinger, according to the same sources, although it remains to be seen if they would be motivated enough to win a potential bid with the Yankees.
Kiley McDanielof AM850projects an 11-year, $418 million deal for Tucker, who will turn 29 in January, and a much more modest six-year, $165 million deal for Bellinger, who will turn 31 in July.
The cost of a contract for Bellinger makes more sense, as does his ability to play center field. The Dodgers are a much better defensive team if they can move Andy Pages to right field and Teóscar Hernández to left. That would require a starting center fielder, and it might be unfair to ask Tommy Edman to take on that responsibility after offseason ankle surgery. Bellinger — selected by the Dodgers in the fourth round of the 2013 draft, Rookie of the Year in 2017, MVP in 2019 and champion in 2020 before his contract was not renewed just two years later — would be a perfect fit, and could even play first base once Freddie Freeman’s contract expires.
But the Dodgers could also sign someone like Harrison Bader, whom they had their eye on midseason, for less money, or, given the dearth of free agent outfielders beyond him, opt for a trade. Two players who could fit are Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan and St. Louis Cardinals utility man Brendan Donovan, both with the ability to have good at-bats and hit the ball. Some senior officials in the organization believe they need more of that in their lineup, given the poor performance of players like Pages and Hernández. Addressing this issue could help limit performance slowdowns.
Do they need to rejuvenate the team?
Mookie Betts recently gathered his teammates for a podcast after the parade, and at one point the topic of the 18-inning World Series game came up. Betts argued that the second half was boring, to which Clayton Kershaw jokingly responded that, for everyone’s sake, the offense should have ended the game earlier.
“Our team is very old,” Kershaw said. “We were tired the next two games.”
What Kershaw said spontaneously was something felt by many who followed the Dodgers, both inside and outside the organization. Playing the equivalent of two complete games in Game 3 of the World Series seemed to exhaust them more than their rivals, as evidenced by their listless performances in Games 4 and 5, during which the Dodgers scored just three runs and suffered consecutive losses.
The average age of Dodgers position players was 30.7 years old last season, making them the oldest age group in the Major Leagues (slightly ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies, at 30.3). Seven of their starting position players are already 31 or older, and all but one — Max Muncy, whose 2026 option was exercised earlier this month — are on multi-year contracts.
Friedman’s constant quest to balance the present with the future faces a difficult test with the team’s current structure. Freeman, Betts, Ohtani and Will Smith will remain key players for years, but the Dodgers will spend part of this offseason considering how to add more youth around them.
They can do it the more conventional way, gradually incorporating some of their top prospects into everyday play (infielder Alex Freeland, outfielder Ryan Ward and catcher Dalton Rushing, who will return as Smith’s backup but could play first base and left field in 2026). Or, they can make impact moves through trades.
The Dodgers currently have a host of high-end outfield prospects, including Josué De Paula, Eduardo Quintero, Zhyir Hope and Mike Sirota. According to sources, the Dodgers’ preference is to use one of these prospects to cover needs through a trade. And while they can use them to access the closer they want, they can also bring in young, controllable players, ideally at second base, shortstop or center field. And if they need to turn to their starting rotation, River Ryan and Gavin Stone return from injuries and have no place in a six-man rotation given the presence of Yamamoto, Snell, Glasnow, Ohtani, Sheehan and Roki Sasaki.
However, Ryan and Stone have options. The Dodgers, after setting franchise records by using 40 pitchers in consecutive seasons, can simply send them to the Minor Leagues and wait until they are inevitably needed.
Once again, they can do everything and nothing.
