Dodgers’ 2025 Season: A New Chapter Begins

Dodgers’ 2025 Season: A New Chapter Begins

GLENDALE, Ariz. — It feels like just yesterday that Mookie Betts was making his grand entrance into the Los Angeles Dodgers’ clubhouse, rallying his new teammates with a message that was as clear as it was ambitious: master the details now, and the championship glory will follow. Fast forward five years, and Betts is back at it, delivering a similar sermon as the Dodgers gear up for another season filled with sky-high expectations.

On a Tuesday that marked the unofficial start of the Dodgers’ 2025 campaign, Betts was all about keeping things grounded. “We can’t keep thinking about being champions again,” he said, as players underwent their preseason physicals. “We haven’t even played Game 1. We have to take care of spring training, and then when Game 1 comes, then Game 1 comes. But we can’t keep talking about the World Series.”

It’s a sentiment that resonates deeply with a team that, not too long ago, seemed cursed to play out a Greek tragedy on the baseball diamond. The Dodgers were the perennial regular-season juggernauts, only to falter when it mattered most. But last fall, they flipped the script. Despite a roster ravaged by injuries, they overcame the formidable San Diego Padres, outlasted the scrappy New York Mets, and made quick work of the error-prone New York Yankees to capture their first title since 2020, and their first in a full season since 1988.

In the offseason, the Dodgers doubled down on their star-studded roster, committing nearly $400 million to nine players, including Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, and Teoscar Hernandez. The list goes on with Michael Conforto, Kirby Yates, Hyeseong Kim, Roki Sasaki, Enrique Hernandez, and the legendary Clayton Kershaw, whose deal is expected to be finalized by Wednesday.

With a competitive balance tax payroll projected at $385 million for 2025, the Dodgers are far ahead of the pack, outspending the second-place Mets by about $65 million, according to Spotrac. This financial muscle has made them a lightning rod for criticism. Owners point to the Dodgers’ spending as a reason to push for a salary cap, while fans and executives alike have grumbled about their use of deferrals, especially in the case of Shohei Ohtani, who has $680 million earmarked for his retirement.

But as Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy puts it, “People are always going to find something to complain about. We’re just trying to take care of our business and put ourselves in a good spot to make the postseason.”

History is not on their side, as Major League Baseball hasn’t seen a repeat champion since the Yankees’ three-peat in 2000. Yet, the Dodgers are well-positioned to break that streak. Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA projects them to win 104 games in 2025, at least 11 more than any other team.

• The Dodgers’ rotation is stacked with talent, including Snell, Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and eventually Ohtani and Kershaw.
• Their lineup, featuring Ohtani, Betts, Freddie Freeman, Hernandez, Muncy, Will Smith, Conforto, and Tommy Edman, is one of the fiercest in history.
• The bullpen, already a strength, has added Scott and Yates to a group that includes Michael Kopech, Blake Treinen, Evan Phillips, and Alex Vesia.

Despite the potential for a dynasty, the Dodgers are cautious. Their past playoff disappointments have taught them the unpredictability of baseball. “The thing about this sport is, it doesn’t matter what kind of roster you have — time after time, teams have shown that you get into the playoffs, anything can happen,” Muncy said. He pointed to the Diamondbacks, who reached the World Series with 84 wins, as a prime example of baseball’s capricious nature.

As the Dodgers prepare for the season, they’re focused on the present, not the possibility of breaking records or building a dynasty. Most of their infielders, except for Freeman, who is rehabbing his ankle, have been taking ground balls at Camelback Ranch. Their pitchers have also started their throwing programs early, anticipating a regular season that kicks off on March 18 in Japan.

Muncy sees this as a sign of the team’s hunger. “We didn’t win last year because we were talking about the World Series every day,” Betts said. “I think we won last year because we talked about the task at hand. I think we have to continue to talk about the task at hand and not worry about the end goal. We have an end goal, of course, but you have to take steppingstones to get there and not worry about getting there. We’ll get there when we get there.”