Bullet point summary by AI
- The Los Angeles Dodgers look primed to secure a historic World Series three-peat by successfully overcoming major regular season hurdles.
- They boast the majors’ best road record at 31-17, dominate winning teams, and thrive despite extensive injuries to stars like Mookie Betts and Blake Snell.
- Proving they can win anywhere against elite opponents with a deep roster demonstrates they are built to endure and dominate high-stakes October baseball.
Three-peating in any sport is not easy, especially in MLB. There’s a reason no team has won three straight World Series since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000. Even with the difficulty of pulling off a three-peat in mind, the Los Angeles Dodgers are one World Series win away from joining a select group of teams to accomplish this feat.
The Dodgers sure look like a team capable of winning yet another World Series, and these three reasons are a big reason as to why.
Dodgers have proven they can win despite injury woes
You might not know it because they have the best record in the sport, but the Dodgers have dealt with as many injuries as any team in the league. Yet, it feels like they haven’t skipped a beat.
On the position player side, Mookie Betts missed over a month with an oblique strain, Tommy Edman missed nearly three months with an ankle injury, Teoscar Hernandez missed over a month with a hamstring strain, Will Smith will have missed at least two months by the time he returns from a neck injury, and Enrique Hernandez has missed all but two games with injury woes of his own. Those are five key players who have missed significant time, and yet, these don’t come close to as significant as the pitching injuries the team has dealt with.
Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell have combined to make just eight starts this season, and neither pitcher’s return appears to be particularly imminent (Snell just began a rehab assignment; Glasnow has yet to). Edwin Diaz has made just seven appearances. Evan Phillips just returned from a lengthy IL stint, Ben Casparius has been out since April, and Blake Treinen has missed a month. I haven’t even mentioned Shohei Ohtani having starts missed and/or pushed back due to various minor ailments.
Despite all of these injuries, the Dodgers haven’t missed a beat. In fact, Justin Wrobleski, a pitcher who was only thrust into the Opening Day rotation due to a Snell injury, has pitched so well that he was named an NL All-Star. Stars can miss time, and this team is so deep that it doesn’t even matter all that much. That matters, as the odds of them being fully healthy come October are obviously slim.
Dodgers have proven they can win on the road
In order to win a World Series, you’re going to need to win in tough road environments. Just last year, the Dodgers won Games 6 and 7 of the World Series, both on the road in a raucous environment in Toronto. The year before, they won two of three at Yankee Stadium to win the 2024 World Series and won two of three at Citi Field to give them a great shot at advancing to the Fall Classic. The Dodgers have proven they can win on the road once again this season.
Their 31-17 road record is the best in the majors. In fact, they’ve been even better on the road (31-17) than they have been at home (31-19) thus far, which speaks to how well they’ve played away from home, even with seemingly every other fan base rooting heavily against them. They’re set to have home-field advantage throughout the postseason, which is great, but they’re going to need to win on the road to win a World Series. Their ability to do that will come in handy come October.
Dodgers have proven they can beat the best teams
It’s one thing to have a good record while beating up on the bad teams. The Philadelphia Phillies, for example, are 11 games over .500, but are only 26-29 against winning teams. The Dodgers are 27-20 against teams at or above .500, which might not look stellar but is the third-best mark in the majors. This doesn’t even include winning eight of their last 10 against the San Diego Padres and the Minnesota Twins within the last month, teams that are two games and one game under .500, respectively.
The Dodgers have already won series against the Cubs, Brewers, and Phillies, three playoff teams in the NL, and one team that’s just 0.5 games back of the third Wild Card spot as of this writing, the Pirates. They’ve also swept a series from the Rays, the best team in the American League. They’ve even taken the opener of their three-game series at Yankee Stadium thanks to some late-game Max Muncy heroics.
It goes without saying that the Dodgers will need to go through the best of the best the league has to offer. Other than a series loss against the Braves (which even saw the Dodgers beat Chris Sale), they’ve been almost impeccable against the best teams in the league. That matters, and that goes to show that they’ll be ready to beat these very teams when the stakes are at their highest.
