And they are off and running! The 2026 MLB season is officially on its way. The Dodgers open at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks and begin their pursuit of a third straight Championship. Miggy Ro is in the starting lineup despite there being a right hander starting for Arizona.
We will get our first look at the powerful first eight of Ohtani, Tucker, Betts, Freeman, Smith, Muncy, Teo and Pages. Yoshi coming off of his World Series MVP performance, is the opening day starter. Yoshi has done very well against the D-Backs in his career, 3-1 in 6 games with a 1.93 ERA. He has allowed just 2 homers to them. They have added Arenado at third.
Gallen on the other hand, has a 2-5 record against LA in 15 starts with a 3.90 ERA. He has allowed 8 homers to the Dodgers. He is 1-4 in his career at Dodger Stadium. The game was televised on NBC and on Peacock. So, you did not get the full pre-game ceremony that you would have gotten on Sportsnet LA.
Freddie and Miggy Ro driven into the ballpark by Will Farrell with the two World Series trophies. Ownership raised the Championship pennant in CF, which looks entirely different now. Garvey and Jamie Jarrin revealing the 2025 sign. Magic Johnson throwing out the first pitch to Ohtani.
The game started off slow. Yoshi got the first two hitters and then Perdomo singled but was thrown out stealing. Ohtani singled in the Dodger half. Tucker hit into a force play, Betts struck out and Freeman grounded out. Except for a Muncy walk in the 2nd, that was the Dodger offense through four.
Perdomo slugged a 2-run homer in the top of the 4th. One of five hits Yoshi would allow in his 6 innings of work. He struck out 6 and did not allow a walk. The Dodger bats came alive in the bottom of the 5th. Muncy singled, Teo beat out an infield dribbler. Pages then hit a 3-run homer deep to left.
Rojas then singled and Ohtani walked, that chased Gallen. Tucker and Betts flew out. Freeman walked loading the bases. Smith then hit a shot down the line that Santana knocked down, but could not make a play on, Ohtani scored the 4th run of the inning. Muncy struck out to end the inning.
Az went down in the 6th, and so did the Dodgers. Treinen came in to pitch the 7th. He gave up a 1-out single to Arenado, but that was all. Dodgers put the game away in the bottom of the 7th. With Clarke pitching, he hit Ohtani. Tucker doubled to right-center scoring Shohei. Betts singled to center scoring Tucker. Freeman flied out deep to left, and Smith then hit a 2-run shot to left. 8-2 LA.
Klein pitched the 8th and got Arizona 1-2-3. LA loaded the bases as Pages singled, Rojas and Ohtani made outs. Tucker walked and Betts was plunked by Hoffman. Freeman then grounded out sharply to end the inning.
Scott came in to pitch the 9th. Carroll flied out to Teo in foul territory. Perdomo grounded out Muncy to Freeman. Moreno popped out to Betts ending the game. Dodgers had 10 hits and walked 5 times and had 2 hit batters. Yoshi got his 1st win of the year. Dodgers struck out just 4 times, and they were 3-7 with RISP.
After the 4th inning, it was all Dodgers. Yoshi, Treinen, Klein and Scott kept Arizona from any kind of rally. My player of the game was Pages with his clutch 3-run homer and a couple of excellent plays in center. One down, 161 left to go. Win was Dodgers fifth opening day win in a row. Since 1884 they are 75-64-4.
Orel was in the NBC broadcast booth along with Luis Gonzalez and Kershaw gave commentary from next to the dugout.
In my lifetime, I have never seen such a Big Blue Wrecking Crew!
Doc is going to run this like a Country Club until mid-September and then “flip the switch”.
This is going to be a fun and wild ride. There has never been a better time for Dodger Baseball… and to talk Dodger Baseball. Welcome back, Jeff and LADC readers.
R.I.P. Harold!
Best team of my lifetime. I know how this season started but don’t know how it will end. Let’s try to enjoy the ride.
Most talented roster for sure. The 2019 team won 111 games. Best in franchise history.
What other lineup in baseball has a player like Pages batting 8th? Or Muncy andvTeo batting 6th and 7th. The depth is insane!
So fun having Kersh on the broadcast. He’s a natural!
Well played game on both sides of the ball by the Dodgers. Impressed that they only struck out 4 times.
AZ hitting two Dodger stars. Anybody think there’s going to be repercussions?
Regardless, a great start to the season.
If this was the 50’s, yep, there would be some retaliation. Not in this generation with the fact that warnings can cost you a pitcher.
Top of the division by a game. Will we be headed this season?
The National League West Division is extremely weak with major flaws on all the teams.
2026 NL West Win-Loss Projections (PECOTA)
The PECOTA Projections for the 2026 season favor the Los Angeles Dodgers to dominate the division, projecting them for over 100 wins.
Team Projected Wins Projected Losses
Los Angeles Dodgers 103.9 58.1
San Diego Padres 81.7 80.3
San Francisco Giants 81.4 80.6
Arizona Diamondbacks 78.4 83.6
Colorado Rockies 61.0 101.0
Yamamoto wasn’t even that sharp last night! Dodger pitchers did not issue a walk last night! Not even Trienan! Not Scott! Only blemish was an 0-2 pitch by Yamamoto that caught too much of the plate. Klein was nice!
Arenado still can pick it at third!
Is Will Smith the most under valued player in baseball? He’s so damn good!
There’s a different look in Andy’s eyes. He may be much better than last season!
Ohtani hits the ball so hard it’s scary!
Mookie looks like he’s been playing shortstop since he started walking!
Tucker looks like he’s loving being on this team! #2 in the lineup? WOW!
Too bad Miggy is 37. He can’t still pick it at second!
It was interesting to hear Clayton say that Teo was pretty dang fast! He doesn’t look that fast. But he looks healthy and happy!
Really excited for River Ryan to be in this rotation! It probably won’t be too long.
Sure gonna miss # 22 taking the mound! Sounds great on TV! But I’m sure it’s hard for him to sit so close to the dugout and not be in the dugout!
The Mets look as if they could be an explosive offensive team. I guess we’ll just have to wait on Soto to ruin the chemistry!
Haven’t looked at the pitching matchup for tonight yet. I’m assuming it’s Glasnow. He has some of the best stuff in baseball! Hopefully he can stay healthy. He’s something special when he’s on!
Changing lanes a little. Arizona looked amazing last night! No not the Dbacks! The wildcats. They are my pick to win it all. I’m an ACC guy, but man the Cats look unstoppable. Nice to see Calipari take an -ss whippin! Now Duke needs to give Petino one! It’s hard for the ole boys to win now that teams are closer in talent. Legal cheating is now the thing!
Emmet Sheehan is the expected starter for tonight’s game.
If Treinen, Klein, and Scott can pitch like that, they may never lose a game.
This team could “accidentally” win 120 games.
That was nice to see
“Shohei Ohtani gifted all of his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates $4,000 Seiko watches at their lockers on Opening Day 2026. Each watch was accompanied by a handwritten note that read, “Let’s three-peat,” encouraging the team to win their third consecutive World Series title”.
“It wasn’t the only gift Dodgers players received. Manager Dave Roberts also gave each player on the team a bottle of Traveller whiskey”.
From SI:
Complete list of most popular MLB jerseys right now
1. Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
2. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Aaron Judge, New York Yankees
4. Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners
5. Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers
6. Nolan Arenado, Arizona Diamondbacks
7. Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers
8. Pete Alonso, Baltimore Orioles
9. Roman Anthony, Boston Red Sox
10. Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs
11. Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies
12. Kiké Hernández, Los Angeles Dodgers
13. Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies
14. Juan Soto, New York Mets
15. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Toronto Blue Jays
16. Francisco Lindor, New York Mets
17. Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta Braves
18. Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates
19. Josh Naylor, Seattle Mariners
20. Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers
Kike “Freaking” Hernandez?
I have Shohei, Yama, Betts, and Freeman from that list. No Kiké …yet. Kershaw, Seager, JT, Ethier, Buehler, Bellinger, and Wood are others hung deep in the closet. My next one will be Glasnow, but I will not get that until June 9, my birthday. I just have to convince my wife to get me the new gold edition jersey.. My wife has Smith and Cey.
Good lord, how impressive for Kike!!
I have 1 jersey: # 42. I can’t imagine wanting another one, but if I did, it’d have to be Shohei for when I travel outside America.
I have a military edition Seager, Robinson 55 Series, Koufax, Gibson 88 series, Bellinger road, Freeman home, a blue Russell Martin, Kershaw road uni, Adrian Gonzalez home.
Arenado at 6th?
Thank you Jeff for all the hard work and financial support you put into LADC. It’s a shame that it had to end the way it did. Kudos to Bear for all his well written and researched articles that help to round out a terrific blog.
I appreciate Mark welcoming everyone back. To quote Yogi “it’s Deja vu all over again”
And, it’s great that Jeff will continue keeping all of us informed of all the Dodger prospects. He always seems to find a player that no one is aware of and after reading his analysis we become a fan of the player and envision him on the Dodger roster. No one does it better than Jeff!
I was going to comment on last night’s game and point out the many positive results made by so many Dodgers. But, above, Dodgerdad did it for me! As I was reading his comments I kept crossing off my list of things I wanted to
cover. Nothing much left to say after finishing his comments. Well done Dodgerdad.
A couple of players I wanted to highlight though.
Andy Pages – I think he is on his way to an All Star year and if can avoid the injury bug become a superstar for the Dodgers. They haven’t had a star position prospect since Will Smith arrived in 2019. Andy appears to be a good student of the game. He quietly had an outstanding offensive 2025 and vastly improved his CF defense. As for his poor postseason offensive output, he more than made up for it with his game seven catch that saved the WS victory for the Dodgers.
Will Klein – Damn he looked awesome last night! What a find by the Dodgers. Question as with all Dodger pitchers, will he stay healthy?
Blake Treinen – When he is healthy, he is so much fun to watch. Hoping for an injury free season.
Mookie and Teoscar – Both look healthy with Mookie back to his proper weight and Teoscar shedding some unnecessary weight. Expecting productive seasons from both of them.
Carry on.
A lot of people pooh-pooh Dodgers development for not developing “stars.”
I feel these same people wildly overlook Will Smith and Pages. For many Front Office regimes developing just one player like those would be enough to hang a hat on. But to have done both in addition to Busch is quite something.
Especially drafting at the end of the first round every year. No phenoms down there!
As I watched the game last night and saw how well Andy Pages played, I said a quiet thank you to Arte Moreno who squashed a trade that would have sent Andy and Joc along with Springer to the Angels for Luis Rengifo and a prospect. Mike Trout homered in the Angels opening day win. He also stole a base.
Jackson Ferris has had quite an interesting path through the minors (Cubs and Dodgers.)
In 2023, at 19 years of age
A BALL (Cubs system) 18 Games and 56 innings
In 2024
Upper A (Dodgers system from here on) 20 Games and 98 innings
AND
AA Ball: 7 games, 98 innings.
In 2025
Full year in AA: 26 games, 126! innings.
Now it’s 2026 and his Age 22 season he is in AAA where the average age is 25
He is currently on the Tulsa Roster, but they don’t play until April 2. That could change…
Oklahoma City AAA Preliminary Roster
Starting pitchers (4): Cole Irvin, Ryder Ryan, Cristian Romero, Carlos Duran
Right-handed relievers (8): Kyle Hurt*, Paul Gervase*, Chris Campos, Keynan Middleton, Jordan Weems, Wyatt Mills, Antonio Knowles, Jerming Rosario
Left-handed relievers (4): Ronan Kopp*, Antoine Kelly, Logan Allen, Garrett McDaniels
Catchers (2): Eliézer Alfonzo, Seby Zavala
Infielders (4): Ryan Fitzgerald, Noah Miller, Nick Senzel, Austin Gauthier
Outfielders (4): Michael Siani*, Ryan Ward*, Jack Suwinski, Zach Ehrhard
Infielder/outfielders (2): Hyeseong Kim*, James Tibbs III
Injured list (2): José Rodríguez (60-day), Matt Gorski (60-day)
OKC starts tonight at home vs Albuquerque Isotopes (Colorado AAA affiliate). 32 year old LHSP Cole Irvin is scheduled to be the OD starter for the Comets. Albuquerque will counter with 28 year old RHSP Tanner Gordon.
The game starts at 5:05 PDT. I look forward to watching a couple of hours of OKC before the Dodgers game.
Lineup is up
Erhard is at AA Tulsa. Tibbs III is listed as the 4th outfielder. OKC plays Albuquerque tonight. Cole Irvin is starting for OKC.
Ehrhard is on the published preliminary roster for OKC. His assignment is just not official yet. Jerming Rosario and Logan Allen are also on the preliminary roster, but their assignments have not yet been officially reported either. The Affiliate’s roster page will not update the names until the assignment is officially reported.
MiLB rosters are constantly manipulated. Currently River Ryan is assigned to the ACL Dodgers. OKC will not need him for the weekend games, so no reason to add him now. ACL Dodgers roster will get multiple AAA, AA, A+, and A players added. ACL does not start until May 2. MiLB also has a Development List which is liberally utilized. They also utilize a 7-Day IL for all players rather than 10-Day IL (non-pitchers) and 15-Day IL (pitchers). Like MLB, they also have a 60-Day IL, but also have a Full-Season IL.
My guess is that the Dodgers have River Ryan at Camelback ramping him up if Sasaki does not fare well on Monday and a change is made.
Scott looks good in the mop up role. Let’s keep him there. Hopefully Treinen gains some confidence and we see the old Treinen.
Interesting stat. Will Smith is 5 postseason RBI’s from being the all-time leader at catcher in MLB history. That’s playing something like 45 or 50 games less than Posada. He has to be the most underrated player in the games. Quietly on his way to the Hall of Fame
He needs to better than mop-up
After one game? Seriously? Give the man time.
Sorry, my comment not only was missing a word but was ambiguous too.
I meant to say we need him to be better than a mop up option this year. He was great last night.
It was a joke. My emoji’s didn’t show up. I’m well aware they are paying him to be more. I will say he’s the lefty I trust 4th out of the pen until he shows me more. Of course I’m bias toward all former Hawkeyes
Ben Rortvedt has passed through waivers unclaimed and was outrighted. Rortvedt could refuse the outright assisngment and beoome a free agent, but would have to forfeit his $1.5MM guaranteed contract that he signed when he was with the Dodgers. I am guessing that the Dodgers thought they could slip Ben through waivers thinking no team would pick him up with that guaranteed contract.
The Dodgers are probably fine with Eliézer Alfonzo and Seby Zavala as their AAA catchers.
If they were willing to pay Rortvedt 1.5 mil this winter, they should have done it now by claiming him again.
I’m the first to admit that I’ve made Ben into way more than he really is, based on a fairly small sample size. That said, chances are pretty good that either Will or Rushing will spend some time on the IL this year and I’d rather spend that $1.5MM for Rortvedt than to have to call on Alfonzo or Zavala.
And yes, it ain’t my money, and it’s actually more than $1.5MM because of penalties which would be involved.
I’m sure the Dodgers would be willing to pay him $1.5m to help develop the AAA pitchers and be insurance for Rushing.
If they were they would have claimed him.
They would have had to put him on the 26 man roster then. If he elects free-agency the Dodgers could sign him to a minor league contract
For your convenience, at the top of the Home Page, on the black bar that goes all the way across, there is a link which says “MINOR LEAGUE AFFILIATES.”
They are all there.
If anyone has any better suggestions, I welcome it.
10:10 PM ET
Diamondbacks (0-1)
Dodgers (1-0)
SP Ryne Nelson R
0-0 .00 ERA
SP Emmet Sheehan R
0-0 .00 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
DH S. Ohtani L
RF Kyle Tucker L
SS Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
LF T. Hernandez R
CF Andy Pages R
2B A. Freeland S
68° Wind 8 mph Out
Wish the Dodgers could’ve drafted Arenado.
He was the 59th pick in 2009. With pick 56, we took some dude named Blake Smith.
Yes, that was back in the Ned Colletti days when Logan White whiffed on every pick that year. He turned a steak into a science experiment and ended up with a protein bar. Smith eventually switched to pitching before going away completely.
The Dodgers’ 2025 World Series ring ceremony is scheduled to begin at 6:20 p.m. PT tonight, Friday, March 27, 2026.
The ceremony takes place at Dodger Stadium before the second game of the opening series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, which has a first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m. PT.
Event Details
Ceremony Start: 6:20 p.m. PT.
First Pitch: 7:10 p.m. PT.
Gates Open: Auto and stadium gates will open early at 4:10 p.m. PT.
Entertainment:
Narrator: Actor Anthony Anderson will narrate the ceremony.
Music: The USC “Spirit of Troy” marching band will perform.
National Anthem: Country singer Brad Paisley is set to perform.
Dodgers trade OF Damon Keith to Milwaukee for cash considerations. I am glad for Damon. He had no chance with the Dodgers.
https://x.com/CyrtHogg/status/2037626350593352045?s=20
Nice. I like when they give guys opportunities. He’s about 20th on tbe OF depth chart with us.
Guys, why was River Ryan sent to the Arizona Complex League?
When a pitcher like River Ryan shows up in the Arizona Complex League (ACL), it usually means the Dodgers are treating him like a high-end sports car coming out of the shop: slow test laps before opening the throttle.
The Arizona Complex League is basically a controlled-environment baseball league. with warm weather, predictable conditions, short outings, easy to manage pitch counts, immediate access to team trainers and pitching coordinators, and most importantly, low stakes and no travel grind.
It’s where teams send players to fine-tune mechanics and rebuild strength without the chaos of full-season competition.
And to limit innings pitched, to be available 2nd half of year. Stone may join him.
OKC Lineup:
1. Kim 2B
2. Ehrhard CF
3. Ward LF
4. Tibbs III
5. Senzel DH
6. Suwinski RF
7. Fitzgerald 3B
8. Miller SS
9. Zavala C
Irvin – P
First hit Hyeseong Kim on soft liner to RF. Went to 2B on errant pickoff throw, and scored on a Zach Ehrhard even softer liner to RF. Kim first run. Ehrhard first RBI.
Then Ehrhard overslid 3B and was out!
Ehrhard coming for Cheerleader Call’s job.
Clayton Kershaw has a new job: Dodgers Special Assistant.
He joins some other Special Assistants:
Chase Utley
Ron Roenicke
Joel Peralta
… and some others.
Duties include throwing out first pitch
1. Free tickets
2. Free Air Fare
3. Free Hotel
4. Free Food
5. Free Whatever…
The OKC Comets lost 3-1.
For one night at least, AF and BG made the right decision keeping Freeland on the big club
Freeland over Kim against my wishes. I’m beginning to think the Dodgers know more about baseball than I do!
Got to be great for his confidence. If I was an opponent I would be pounding the zone on whomever is batting before Ohtani so he should get plenty of pitches to hit.
Haha
Betts is back!
AF/BG free agent signings were on display tonight. Kyle Tucker another clutch run scoring hit and Edwin Díaz shuts down the Dbacks for his first LAD save. Alex Freeland and Mookie the big bats for the offense.
Sheehan had a mixed game.. A lot of K’s, but unfortunately he did not have command of his 4-seamer. He got a lot of swing and miss with it, but he also left too many over the plate. Too mnay 3-Ball counts and too many high pitch counts to multiple batters. He left with 2 runners on and a 2-run lead. Jack Dreyer relieved Sheehand and threw a flat slider almost middle middle to Alek Thomas to tie the score.
Tanner Scott in back to back games got out of a jam. Casparius, Vesia, and Henriquez shut down the Dbacks. And then Edwin Díaz comes in with Tatiana Tate playing Timmy Trumpet’s Narco live. Edwin called it electric. I know it is only two games, but the bullpen has a differeny look, and it starts with Díaz .
Tucker and Freeland didn’t just show up with their bats, they teamed up to throw a runner out at home and 3rd.
Again, I know, just 2 games. But this team looks locked in. I am sure that every one of the players is going to experience a lengthy slump. Maybe even 2-3 players at the same time. But the whole team? And yes, I do expect the entire team to go into a slump as they do every year. We just have to remember that they are too good to stay down long. And just as they have the last two years, look for them to be ready in October.; Until then, I am going to enjoy the ride.
OKC lost Game 1, 3-1 to Albuquerque (Colorado). The first three OKC hitters singled, and Hyeseong Kim scored the first run of the season on a Zach Ehrhard single, and their only run of the game. The Comets managed 2 additional singles for the remainder of the game. OKC SP, Cole Irvin, gave up 3 tuns in the 2nd, and the Isotopes held the score for the win. Paul Gervase, Antoine Kelly and Keynan Middleton pitched the final 4 innings allowing one base funner on a single. They also had 3 Ks.
I think all three of the OKC relievers will pitch in LA this year. Middleton has good MLB high leverage esperience. Not stellar, but at times very good. I am looking forward to watching both Middleton and Kelly develop under the Dodger pitching lab.