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Can the Dodgers three-peat as World Series champions? Season preview

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Can the Dodgers three-peat as World Series champions? Season preview
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by Yahoo

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been here before.

At Dodger Stadium on Opening Day, they’ll raise their World Series banner as they embark on another chase for history.

It’s a history that suggests the odds are against them: only four teams have won three consecutive World Series in MLB history. Three of them have been the New York Yankees, and none has since the turn of the century. But then again, no team had even repeated as champions since then until the Dodgers successfully did so last October.

And with uncertainty looming over baseball in 2027, Andrew Friedman and Co. weren’t content with just running it back. They went out in free agency this winter and added even more firepower to what was already considered a superteam by adding two of the top players on the market in Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz.

It’s time for Dodger baseball yet again.

Dodgers storylines heading into Opening Day

Miguel Rojas entering final season after World Series heroics

Miguel Rojas has been established as one of the Dodgers’ leaders in the clubhouse ever since his return to the team in 2023. He’s served as a mentor to several younger players on the roster and notably helped Mookie Betts in his transition from right field to becoming a Gold Glove finalist at shortstop last season. One thing he’s never been in his 12-year career, however, is a power hitter.

Which made it all the more shocking in Game 7 of the World Series when Rojas, down to the Dodgers’ final two outs and with Shohei Ohtani on deck, worked the count full before launching a slider from Toronto Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman into the left field seats at Rogers Centre to tie it up before the Dodgers eventually went on to win it 5-4 in 11 innings for their second consecutive World Series championship.

He was equal parts an unlikely hero and the perfect person for the moment.

But even before then, Rojas has made it known that 2026 would be his last before retirement. He re-signed with the Dodgers in December on a one-year $5.5 million deal and transition into a player development role assisting the front office in 2027.

He’s made it clear however, that he doesn’t want to be treated as an elder statesman in his final season.

“This year, I have a different perspective because I’m not afraid to empty the tank anymore,” Rojas told Jomboy Media’s Jack Oliver. “… I want to take every single opportunity, every single at-bat that I can and help the team in any capacity.

“Kind of the same mentality that Kersh had last season.”

Roki Sasaki’s spring training struggles

Speaking of postseason heroes, Roki Sasaki’s transition back into a starting role after returning from a right shoulder impingement and becoming one of Roberts’ go-to arms out of the bullpen last October hasn’t exactly inspired much confidence.

In his 8.2 innings pitched across four starts, Sasaki gave up 15 runs on nine hits and two homers and walked 15 batters to 12 strikeouts for an abysmal 2.77 WHIP. And while spring training isn’t about results or even productivity, his performance has led to the re-emergence of doubts that plagued much of his rookie season pre-injury.

Nevertheless, Roberts is sticking by Sasaki. Some of that is due to necessity — Blake Snell and Gavin Stone both starting the season on the injured list leaves little room for flexibility in the rotation — but the Dodgers are committed to Sasaki as a starter regardless.

“It hasn’t been great. It really hasn’t,” Roberts told reporters on Monday. “We know that the standard needs to be better. He knows that. We know that. And then now it’s go time and see how he can perform when the lights come on.”

Bold predictions for 2026

Shohei Ohtani will be in the Cy Young conversation

For everything Ohtani has already accomplished in his first two years as a Dodger, it’s hard to fathom that 2026 will be his first as a full-time two-way player with the team. Since undergoing his second right elbow surgery in September 2023, Ohtani was a full-time DH in his 50/50 season in 2024 and made 14 starts on the mound last season, posting a 2.87 ERA over 47 innings while striking out 62 batters and walking just nine before throwing another 20 1/3 innings in October.

This year the Dodgers weren’t sure where Ohtani would be in his throwing progression after returning from the World Baseball Classic, but in true Ohtani fashion, he silenced any doubts by punching out 11 through the first four innings on 79 pitches in his final spring training tune-up on Tuesday.

The Dodgers want Ohtani to go wire-to-wire as a starter this season, a need further exacerbated by the injuries to Snell and Stone that has depleted the rotation’s depth. It’s a big ask, but Ohtani’s track record speaks for itself.

“Regardless of my expectations for him, his are going to exceed those,” Roberts told reporters at the beginning of spring training. “I think it’s fair to say he expects to be in the Cy Young conversation. But we just want him to be healthy and make starts. All the numbers and statistics will take care of themselves.”

One thing working in Ohtani’s favor is the fact that this has been his first “normal” offseason with no injury rehab in three years. Out of all the awards he’s won in his storied career, the Cy Young has been elusive. The closest he’s come was 2022, when he finished fourth in the voting after he started a career-high 28 games and posted a 2.33 ERA with 219 strikeouts to 44 walks and a 1.01 WHIP.

FanGraphs projects Ohtani to make 23 starts this season, which would be his most since 2023.

Teoscar Hernández has a bounce-back season

When Hernández first arrived in Los Angeles two years ago, his big bat and big personality quickly made him a fan favorite. It helped that he had one of the most productive seasons of his career in 2024, finishing top 10 in the NL in home runs (a career-high 33), RBI (99), slugging percentage (.501) and OPS (.820) and was selected as an All-Star for the second time in his 10 years in the big leagues.

But he regressed in 2025. His SLG dipped to .454 and his .738 OPS was his worst since his rookie season with the Houston Astros in 2016, when he played just 41 games. He also drew plenty criticism, at times publicly from Roberts himself, for his defense in right field and was the subject of trade rumors over the winter.

With Kyle Tucker slotting in at right field, Hernández has a bit less pressure on him defensively as he slides over to left. He also reportedly showed up to spring training 10 pounds trimmer, and the early results seem promising. His five home runs this spring led the Dodgers. In his 19 games played, Hernández posted an eye-popping .449/.491/.837 slash line for an OPS of 1.328.

Again, spring training is more about working through mechanics than results, but it’s clear that Hernández is playing with some kind of newfound drive or motivation. The Dodgers’ lineup is already incredibly deep as it is, but if Hernández can return to his 2024 form they’d be as close to unstoppable as a lineup can get.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Los Angeles Dodgers 2026 storylines, predictions, season preview

March 26th, 2026 | Category: mlb, mlb-filter-yahoo, mlb-filter-yahoo-bn