Who will win the 2025 World Series… assuming there is one? There are 30 teams in MLB. There’s a million-dollar pot for the winner. Do you take the Dodgers or the field? Of course, I am rooting for the Dodgers to win, but if there’s a million dollars at stake, I have to take the field! No question!
Now, if this was how baseball used to be constructed: The American League Regular Season winners played the National League Regular Season winners for the World Series. It ain’t like that anymore! At least twelve teams will be in the playoffs, all fighting for the opportunity to win the World Series. And… like I talked about a couple of weeks ago, some players and/or teams will believe in magic.
The saying “belief can carry you a long way highlights the power of faith and conviction in achieving goals and overcoming challenges. It emphasizes that a strong belief in oneself and one’s abilities can be a powerful motivator and driving force. I call it “believing in magic,” and all it takes is to sustain that belief for a week or two. BANG! You are in the World Series.
It’s a long season – the Dodgers have 160 games to go. I am leaving for California on Saturday and going to the Dodgers-Braves game on Tuesday, then going on a cruise to Mexico, so I don’t know how much I will be posting, but I will be around. I am putting my money on the field… while rooting for the Dodgers.
Today, starts the regular season (stateside), and Blake Snell starts against Tarik Skubal. Betts, Edman, Pages, Teoscar, and Smith are all RH bats to thwart Mr. Skubal. Look for some thunder from them. Play Ball!
What it will take for the best roster ever assembled to reach its goal–total domination and a world championship:
Ohtani: Another MVP season
Betts: Health
Freeman: Stay team’s best bat
Teo: Remain a legit threat
Muncy: HR, OBP & defense
*Smith: Offensive production
Conforto: 120 games played
*Edman: Full season in blue
Pages: Defense & good at-bats
*Key contributors
Yamamoto–Pitch like an ace
Snell–30 starts
Glasnow–Pitch in October
Sasaki–Keep head on straight
May–Hold on until reserves come
IMO Dodger starting pitchers will pitch 150 innings or less and 25 starts or less to be ready for October baseball. The Oklahoma City shuttle will be fully operating with the quality of choices there.
You might be right.
Dodgers entered last season with focus on one thing- a WS win. They did not really care about regular season win total. The entire season was managed about this one thing- nothing more. Roberts and the entire team needs to maintain this focus for the season and not get caught up in the hype. It is too easy to burn out as the dog days grind.
Really hope they carefully manage the pitching so we have a healthy rotation come October.
Looking forward to a fun season.
With a six-man rotation, the SPs that stay healthy should have about 26 starts each. If Snell records 6 innings per start, he’d finish with 156 innings.
But I doubt that any pitcher will reach 150 innings
Rather, I expect Roberts, in consultation with the brass, will slow play just about everybody in hopes of having the healthiest and most talented team ready for the playoffs.
The ideal season, to me, would feature Shohei returning to the mound at the top of his game. He won’t try for 50-50–been there, done that, and shouldn’t risk injury. But he could go 50 HRs, 30 SBs, and 10 wins and 110 Ks in 100 innings pitched.
One scribe predicted that the Dodgers will have seven players hit at least 20 HRs.
That sounds right to me–and a platoon in CF could produce another 20.
Dodger’s 26 man Domestic Opening Day Roster:
Starting pitchers (5): Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May
Right-handed relievers (4): Blake Treinen, Kirby Yates, Ben Casparius, Luis García
Left-handed relievers (4): Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia, Anthony Banda, Jack Dreyer
Catchers (2): Will Smith, Austin Barnes
Designated hitter (1): Shohei Ohtani
Infielders (4): Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas
Outfielders (3): Michael Conforto, Andy Pages, Teoscar Hernández
Infielder/outfielders (3): Tommy Edman, Kiké Hernández, Chris Taylor
Casparius going to have a big year.
Weird
OF COURSE my heart says, “Dodgers!” but my head says literally ANYthing can happen so the “Field” is a smarter bet……except I don’t bet so screw it, THE LOS ANGELES DODGERS!
Health is an issue with every team and there’s not much argument the Dodgers’ roster is aging. AF/BG have undoubtedly been monitoring that closely and have contingency plans depending who gets hurt and who shows obvious decline vs. vs. a long slump. Plus there are off field issues none of us knows about, maybe even management doesn’t know about.
PS: I will attend Opening Day. If you have a ticket Mini Plan they no longer give your usual seats for that one day. Oddly, this year they gave me seats that are slightly BETTER than my usual ones!
7:10 PM ET ESPN
Tigers (86-76) (0-0)
Dodgers (98-64) (2-0)
SP Tarik Skubal L
0-0 .00 ER
SP Blake Snell L
0-0 .00 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
DH S. Ohtani L
SS Mookie Betts R
RF T. Hernandez R
1B F. Freeman L
CF Tommy Edman S
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
2B Miguel Rojas R
LF Andy Pages R
65° Wind 8 mph Ou
Kiki out of the lineup with a stomach bug. Hopefully he didn’t catch it from Mookie.
03/27/25 Los Angeles Dodgers transferred RHP Emmet Sheehan from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Right elbow surgery.
03/27/25 Boston Red Sox traded RHP Noah Davis to Los Angeles Dodgers for cash.
03/27/25 Los Angeles Dodgers optioned RHP Noah Davis to Oklahoma City Comets.
Noah Davis… another AF Project. He has 51 IP in the majors with a 7.71 ERA. He’s been in the Colorado and Boston orgs.
He’s 29 and has a 90-92 MPH sinking fastball.
He tops out at 95 MPH and relies more on movement than velocity.
He has fringe-average command and average control.
If he learns another pitch from the same slot, he might be devastating!
IF… BIG IF!
Yes, iffy… but the track record on such projects is remarkable.
Noah Davis must be thrilled.
I will take the Dodgers. Flat out no questions asked. As I do every single year. Since I don’t have any skin in the game, it’s a no brainer for me. When the boys repeat I’ll take the cool million. It’s great to a fan of the biggest, baddest and best sports franchise in a long time!
Book em
Bob Nightengale
@BNightengale
The Dodgers open the 2025 season with 11 pitchers on the injured list:
Tony Gonsolin, RHP (15-day IL)
Brusdar Graterol, RHP (60-day IL)
Michael Grove, RHP (60-day IL)
Edgardo Henriquez, RHP (15-day IL)
Kyle Hurt, RHP (15-Day IL)
Clayton Kershaw, LHP (60-day IL)
Michael Kopech, RHP (15-day IL)
Evan Phillips, RHP (15-day IL)
River Ryan, RHP (60-day IL)
Emmet Sheehan, RHP (60-day IL)
Gavin Stone, RHP (60-day IL)
In alumni news, Miguel Vargas and Jacob Amaya started for the White Sox. Vargas played 3B and batted lead-off, with two hits including a bloop double against the luckless Angels.
Nice to see Trey Sweeney and Zach McKinstry playing for the Tigers. Sweeney helped the Dodgers get Flaherty, and McKinstry was traded for …. Chris Martin, right? Two front-office moves that worked out well.
Watching Dodgers highlights now….
Pages had a bit of adventure making that play on the warning track in LF. No harm, no foul…. Has he been getting too much practice in CF?
Kopech (shoulder) said Thursday that he feels good and is ramping back up his throwing program, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.
TOMMY TANKS!
Teo, Tommy and Ohtani with HR’s, Snell gets the win, Treinen with a cardiac 9th gets the save. Colin and Tom Hanks in attendance. The Left Arm of God was also sighted. Giants and Padres both won late. Cubs playing the D-Backs, Steele against Gallen.
So that’s three wins in the book, with just 159 to go.
A really nice win against Skubal, arguably the best pitcher in the game right now.
The lineup was interesting, adjusted to put more pressure on Skubal. It wasn’t just that Teo batted third–a move that really paid off. Also, instead of putting Pages in CF as expected, Roberts kept Edman out there and put Pages in LF in favor of Conforto. So Rojas played 2B and Conforto sat–something of a surprise based on Roberts’s comments during spring training suggesting that Conforto would handle LF full-time.
Moreover, Roberts batted Edman fifth, ahead of both Smith and Muncy. Another move that paid off.
Will this strategy be deployed against lefties in general? Will Conforto be platooned?
My guess is that it was tailored especially for Skubal. Or maybe Conforto wasn’t 100% healthy.
I think Conforto will start most games in LF, but site against tough LHP.