Can the Los Angeles Dodgers go back-to-back in 2025?
The Los Angeles Dodgers won it all in 2024 as they defeated the New York Yankees in six games in the World Series.
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Los Angeles Dodgers celebrating the 2024 World Series triumph after beating the New York Yankees (Image via LA Times)
The Los Angeles Dodgers had an amazing 2024 campaign. The National League West side first added some top names like Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. They then went on to win the World Series by defeating the New York Yankees.
In the past few years, the Dodgers had emerged as a top team to defeat. With some huge names on the squad, they were heavy favorites to land the Commissioner’s Trophy in each of the last four seasons. However, they suffered some big defeats in the playoffs, leading to many trolling them.
The Dodgers did win in 2020 but that was a COVID-shortened year. Despite winning the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, several people made fun of their win and called it “Mickey Mouse ring”.
In the 2023 offseason after getting swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks, they landed Shohei Ohtani on a massive 10-year $700 million deal. At that time, it was the biggest deal in MLB history. Once again the Dodgers were marked as favorites to win the World Series.
In 2024, they actually did that. After topping their division, they came back from 2-1 down and eliminated their division rivals, San Diego Padres from the National League Division Series. Following this win, they knocked out the red-hot New York Mets in 6 games in the National League Championship Series.
During the World Series against the New York Yankees, they took a 3-0 series lead, gave up some runs in Game 4 and then mounted another comeback in Game 5 to finally give the city of LA, the parade they had been waiting for.
The big question now is, can they do this all over again and go back-to-back in 2025?
What does the history say?
Winning any sports championship title is difficult. Defending that title is more difficult. In over 100 years of MLB history, there have only been 14 instances where a team has won back-to-back World Series titles. However, some teams have done it on multiple occasions, which brings the total number of teams to have achieve this feat to 7.
Unsurprisingly, the New York Yankees have done this several times. They are the Yankees afterall, the most successful team in this league. They are even the most decorated sports team in North American sports history with 27 championships to their name.
The Bronx Bombers have repeated as World Series champions on six separate occasions. The first such instance came in the years 1927 and 1928. At that time Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were at their peak. They won four straight from 1936 to 1939. Then they won five straight titles from 1949 to 1954.
The team repeated this process in 1961 and 1962 season. In 1977 and 1978 they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers twice to win. In fact they are the last team to win back-to-back crowns. From 1998 to 2000, they won three in a row and then somehow lost the title to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001.
Apart from the Yankees, the Toronto Blue Jays (1992-93), the Cincinnati Reds (1975-76), the Oakland Athletics (1972-74), the A’s again (1929-30), the New York Giants (1921-22), the Boston Red Sox (1915-16), the Athletics (1910-11) and the Chicago Cubs (1907-08) have done this before. So winning back-to-back is possible.
Dodgers have added some more firepower to the squad
After winning the World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers have strengthened their squad even further. They have super busy in the offseason and have made some big name signings, leading to huge backlash from others.
The first big offseason signing they did was of Blake Snell. The team landed the two-time Cy Young Award winner on a 5-year $182 million deal from free agency. They have also landed Roki Sasaki, a top Japanese star on whom many teams had set their sights.
The other moves saw the Dodgers sign Michael Conforto, and Hyeseong Kim and Tanner Scott. The team also brought back stars like Teoscar Hernandez, and Blake Treinen from free agency. On top of that, they extended the contract of utility man Tommy Edman.
As per recent reports, they have also agreed terms with Kirby Yates. The luxury tax payroll of the Dodgers which was already going beyond $375 million, is now likely to go even higher.
The team has made a statement regarding this moves. They have signaled their intention of creating a dynasty and to win several more championships. For that, they need the top players in their team and at the moment, they have several.
Which rivals can challenge the Dodgers?
While the Dodgers have grown stronger, some of their rivals have gone a bit weaker. There is one team though in the National League, who can give them a run for their money – the New York Mets.
The Mets shattered sports record when they landed Juan Soto on a 15-year $765 million deal. This is the biggest deal in sports history. The Mets want to compete and their team owner Steve Cohen is not backing away from spending.
The New York based side also have some experienced players in their lineup. They are still in talks about re-signing power slugger Pete Alonso. If they do add him again, the Mets could be the one who could challenge the Dodgers for the title.
As for their division rivals, the San Diego Padres are yet to make a big move this offseason. As for the San Francisco Giants, they have made some moves but on paper they still lack some power compared to their Californian rival.
Whereas in the American League, the Yankees have added former MVPs and some top arms to challenge for the title again. But as mentioned above, the Dodgers look highly power than the 29 other teams on paper at the moment.
Conclusion
Can the Dodgers actually do it? Yes they can. Given their squad, their experience and the state of the opposition, not winning the World Series in 2025 will be considered as a failure of a season even if the team breaks the wins record and ends up losing in the final game of the Fall Classic.
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Vinay Dave
(1775 Articles Published)