Dodgers postseason primer: Where do Shohei Ohtani and everyone else stand as they go for a three-peat?
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ quest for a three-peat begins in earnest on Saturday with Game 1 of the NLDS, as they seek to become the first time since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees to complete a trilogy of titles.
Up to this point, the path for L.A. hasn’t been entirely straightforward. There have been times when the Dodgers have looked a bit rickety, and that’s to say nothing about everything happening off the field. They are also arguably the most talented team in the playoffs and are coming off another 100-win season.
No matter how you slice it, this is a club with more than its fair share of questions. Let’s get into them, starting with the easier ones.
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Who are the Dodgers playing in the NLDS?
The Dodgers will face the NL East champion Atlanta Braves, who defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in a three-game wild-card series. The Dodgers went 1-5 against Atlanta in the regular season, getting outscored 26-15.
The winner of the best-of-five series gets the victor of the other NLDS between the Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres.
When do the Dodgers play?
Here’s the full NLDS schedule:
Game
Date
Time (ET)
Channel
Location
1
Oct. 3
4 p.m.
Fox
L.A.
2
Oct. 4
8 p.m.
FS1
L.A.
3
Oct. 6
6 p.m.
FS1
Atlanta
4*
Oct. 7
6 p.m.
FS1
Atlanta
5*
Oct. 9
8 p.m.
Fox
L.A.
*if necessary
What will the Dodgers’ postseason lineup be?
The Dodgers finished the season shuffling their lineup depending on the handedness of the opposing starting pitcher, and it stands to reason that they will continue doing so in the postseason.
Here’s how they could line up against right-handed pitchers:
-
Shohei Ohtani, DH
-
Mookie Betts, SS
-
Freddie Freeman, 1B
-
Will Smith, C
-
Kyle Tucker, RF
-
Teoscar Hernández, LF
-
Max Muncy, 3B
-
Andy Pages, CF
-
Tommy Edman, 2B
Shohei Ohtani has never hit in a batting order position other than leadoff in his MLB postseason career, but lately he has been hitting second against left-handers while Mookie Betts takes his old position atop the order.
Here’s L.A.’s left-handed unit:
-
Mookie Betts, SS
-
Shohei Ohtani, DH
-
Freddie Freeman, 1B
-
Will Smith, C
-
Teoscar Hernández, LF
-
Kyle Tucker, RF
-
Andy Pages, CF
-
Max Muncy, 3B
-
Tommy Edman, 2B
Both of those orders alternate left-right all the way down to Edman, a switch-hitter at the bottom. It’s entirely possible the Dodgers go a different route, too.
What will the Dodgers’ postseason rotation be?
That’s fairly settled. The Dodgers will trot out the quartet of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. The order in which those arms are utilized remains to be seen, though the Dodgers have every reason to maximize innings for Yamamoto after what he did last year.
How has this season gone for the Dodgers?
It has gone well, by the standards of any other team.
By the standards of the Dodgers, well, there are a few dynamics at play. This is a good baseball team. They probably should’ve been better this season, and not just because they have the largest payroll in history, at a projected $410 million, per Roster Resource.
A two-time World Series champion filled its two biggest roster holes by giving two players, Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz, the highest salaries in the history of their positions. Entering the season, the Dodgers were estimated by the usually conservative PECOTA projections from Baseball Prospectus to win 104 games, and that didn’t take into account acquiring a two-time reigning Cy Young Award winner in Skubal and more at the MLB trade deadline.
So in that sense, 100 wins is a disappointment. One of the most talented teams in MLB history (on paper at least) had more than its fair share of injuries, underperformances and mistakes. There was a point when the club seemed on the verge of letting the NL West become a race, as the Arizona Diamondbacks halved a division lead from 14 games to seven in the span of about a month between July and August, but then the D-backs got mired in their own slump and the Dodgers got hot again.
Overall, the Dodgers’ issues boiled down to an offense that slumped hard in July and August, rough days for starting pitchers who will not be starting games in the playoffs and an epically bad bullpen night here and there. The first of those got better in September, though, which you can read more about here.
There is also the Dodgers’ 38-37 record against teams with winning records this season, as their worst stretches of the year coincided with some of their toughest road trips and homestands, and that can leave an impression. Of course, it’s a bit silly to worry about a team handling its business against good teams when it’s going for a three-peat.
How does this team compare to last year’s?
It’s easy to remember the 2024 and 2025 Dodgers as juggernauts, but both of those teams had flaws that easily could’ve been fatal.
The 2024 Dodgers entered the postseason with a three-man rotation of Yamamoto, Walker Buehler and Jack Flaherty, with Clayton Kershaw, Glasnow, Dustin May, Gavin Stone, River Ryan and Emmet Sheehan among the starting pitchers on the injured list.
That team was so desperate for starting pitching help that it went full bullpen game while facing elimination at the hands of the Padres in the NLDS. It was only through the grace of a deep and competent bullpen that L.A. triumphed.
The 2025 team had the opposite problem. No one was doubting a rotation of Yamamoto,
Source: sports.yahoo.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.