Dugout

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. If you told me five years ago that right now we would ‘ be discussing whether the Dodgers could win their third consecutive World Series, I would have laughed. How fortunate we are.

Opening day is Thursday, with the flag ceremony that day and the ring ceremony Friday. So, let’s take a look at the opening day roster, barring an injury or implosion by someone.

Catchers

Will Smith — Some Mariners fans took umbrage that I said Smith was the best catcher in the game with Cal Raleigh second. Consistency lifts Smith to No. 1. If Raleigh has another season like last season, he could move up. And did you notice who started the key games for the U.S. in the WBC? Smith, not Raleigh.

Dalton Rushing — An important season for Rushing, who failed to impress last season. Far too early to throw in the towel on him. Can he become a consistent hitter while playing twice a week? Would Ben Rortvedt have made the team instead of Rushing?

Infielders

Mookie Betts — Remember, last season he was very sick around opening day and lost 20 pounds in two weeks. And he’s not exactly a physical giant to begin with. He then had to come back and learn a new position on the fly. It’s possible he never reaches the MVP heights of the past, but it’s also possible he hits much better than last season.

Santiago Espinal — Hitting .372 this spring and played steady defense, more than earning his way onto the team. Hasn’t had a good season on offense since 2021, but is a career .291 hitter against left-handers, so expect to see him against lefties.

Alex Freeland — He won the utility job over Hyeseong Kim despite having a terrible spring in which he went five for 45, though with 13 walks. There must be something about Kim the Dodgers do not like, though they say they sent him down so he can get consistent daily at-bats. Freeland will get a big opportunity here. Can he deliver?

Freddie Freeman — Here’s betting he becomes a .300 hitter again this season and that his mobility improves at first now that his ankle has had more time to heal.

Max Muncy — Everyone knows what Muncy will provide each season between stints on the IL, and there’s no reason to believe he won’t provide it again.

Miguel Rojas — Shohei Ohtani asked him not to retire. He will be the defensive glue for the infield, will get some key hits, and will help everyone on the infield become better defensively.

Outfielders

Alex Call — Exactly what you want in a fourth outfielder: Good defense with the ability to get on base and spell someone in the lineup without a huge dropoff in quality.

Teoscar Hernández — Says he never felt quite right after his injury early last season. Judging by his spring numbers (.468 with five homers), I’d say he was correct.

Andy Pages — Dave Roberts says Pages is his “pick to click” this season. Considering he hit 27 homers last season, you have to wonder what his numbers will be if he does click.

Kyle Tucker — Will the pressure of a big contract cause him to start slow as it has so many others?

Two-way player

Shohei Ohtani — Just think, Ohtani could hit 40 homers this season and be accused of having a disappointing season.

Tommy Edman will be back at some point, and Kiké Hernández will be back around the midpoint of the season, perhaps sooner.

Rotation

Yoshinobu Yamamoto — There are certain guys who should never be booed later in their playing career after what they have done in the past for the team. Fernando. Orel Hershiser. With his 2025 postseason, Yamamoto has claimed a spot on that list.

Tyler Glasnow — Fans still like to call him Glass-now. Pitched only 90 1/3 innings last season. Has pitched in 100 or more innings in only three of his 10 major league seasons. It would be a miracle if he makes 25 starts this season, but when he does pitch, he’s usually very good and the Dodgers will protect his arm as much as they can to make sure he can pitch in the postseason.

Shohei Ohtani — Will Ohtani win the MVP and Cy Young Award? The only time he came close was in 2022 with the Angels, when he was second in MVP voting and fourth in Cy Young voting. Last season he made 14 starts and pitched 47 innings. My prediction is he receives votes for both, but doesn’t win both as some pitcher will put up better or similar numbers in more innings.

Roki Sasaki — One of the big mysteries of the season. Can Sasaki harness his ability? His emotions seem to overwhelm his ability at times. But he’s only 24. When I was 24, I had just started working at The Times and my emotions overwhelmed my ability at times. It’s easy to forget these are men, not machines. However, after a disastrous start Monday against the Angels, giving up four runs in the first inning, you have to wonder if he will indeed start the season in the majors.

Emmet Sheehan — Went 6-3 with a 2.82 ERA last season before he was moved to the bullpen for the postseason and pitched terribly (8.59 ERA). When Blake Snell is ready to come back, hopefully in May, either Sasaki or Sheehan will either move to the bullpen or get sent down. They are in effect using April to battle for a permanent spot in the rotation.

Bullpen

Ben Casparius — He can be a starter, a short guy, a long man, an opener. He’s a jack-of-all-trades, or, a Ben of all trades. Has walked nine in 7.2 spring innings, so that’s something that can’t continue.

Edwin Díaz — The closer job is his. Mets fans say Dodgers fans should get used to Díaz walking a tightrope when he pitches. We’ll have to wait and see, but as of right now, this is a terrific signing.

Jack Dreyer — Had a solid rookie season and pitched four scoreless innings in the postseason.

Edgardo Henriquez — An electric arm that hasn’t always translated to electric results. He bounced back and forth between the minors and the Dodgers last season and could again this season.

Will Klein — Sometimes one outing transforms a player from being an average player to being a good-to-great one. Was Game 3 the pivot point for Klein, who has a career 5.16 ERA? He has been great this spring. And apparently Klein jerseys have become a top seller, so there will be a lot of people pulling for him.

Tanner Scott — He is in the second year of a four-year, $72-million deal, and he was terrible in Year 1 of the deal. The comment for Treinen below applies to Scott as well. Will the Dodgers use Scott and Treinen as their first non-closer option in high leverage roles at the start of the season?

Blake Treinen — Will the Treinen of 2024 return, or will it be the Treinen of 2025? And if it is the Treinen of 2025, how much leash will the Dodgers give him before giving up? Those will be two key things to watch early in the season.

Alex Vesia — After what he and his wife went through, is anyone rooting against this guy? He will wear his emotions on his sleeve as always and will neutralize left-handers.

Justin Wrobleski — Can give them some length out of the bullpen, plus can step into the rotation if Sasaki or Sheehan prove too unreliable before Snell returns.

Some teams say the Dodgers have an unfair advantage, because Ohtani being a two-way player means the Dodgers can carry nine relievers while most teams can carry only eight. Funny how those teams never complained about this when Ohtani was with the Angels.

At some point, Snell, Brusdar Graterol, Evan Phillips and Brock Stewart will be back.

Also keep in mind that last season the Dodgers used 40 pitchers, so there will be a lot of churn among that part of the roster. They will start April with these 14 pitchers, but it’s unlikely the same 14 reach the end of April, or maybe even mid-April.

They used 25 position players last season, but it seems like the opening 13 will stay together for a little bit, at least until the first injury.

How many games will the Dodgers win?

It’s that time of year where I ask you how many games the Dodgers will win, and this year I will also ask if the Dodgers will win the World Series again?

So, how many games will the Dodgers win this season?

They will finish under .500 (this will tell me how many Padres/Giants fans subscribe to the newsletter)

They will win 81-90 games

They will win 91-95 games

They will win 96-100 games

They will win 101-110 games

They will win 111-116 games

They will set the record with more than 116 wins

Click here to vote in this survey and the World Series survey. Results will be announced Thursday.

The experts say

Most experts point to the fact the the Dodgers are favorites to win it all among oddsmakers. If you look around at the various oddsmakers, the Dodgers are given about a 28% chance to win the World Series, far ahead of any other team (Seattle usually is second).

But, look at it another way. You could also say there is a 72% chance the Dodgers won’t win the World Series. We have been spoiled the last two seasons. Really, compared to most teams, we have been spoiled ever since Guggenheim bought the team. Winning a World Series is really difficult, even if you have the best team during the season.

I’ll give my predictions on Thursday. In the meantime, Bill Plaschke gave his prediction, which you can read here.

Andrew Friedman speaks….

President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman sat down with our new Dodgers reporter, Maddie Lee (we’ll meet her officially soon) and answered some questions. You can read the whole thing here. A couple of highlights:

Q: It’s such a cliche to say you can never have too much pitching, but with this group, are you close?

Friedman: I’ve learned my lesson to never say that we have enough pitching. But I do feel like we are breaking camp with the most talented one through 20 arms — which gets at, obviously, who we’ll break with, and then depth behind it — that we’ve ever had.

Q: The Dodgers are very much caught in the middle of CBA posturing with the current agreement expiring this year. You hear a lot of players saying the Dodgers are doing it the right way and other teams could be doing something similar. On the other hand, the league appears to be floating a salary cap, and plenty of fans are accusing the Dodgers of “ruining baseball.” What’s it been like to see those conflicting narratives?

Friedman: Obviously see it, come across it, hear it quite a bit. But we’re just not that focused on it. We’re a really healthy organization, and the partnership we have with our fans is our guiding light. And we’re doing everything we can to put a team out there that our fans really connect with, and that they feel that partnership with all that they pour into us, and don’t really think about it in any other terms.

And so obviously, there’s a lot of narratives that get extrapolated from that. But our sole focus is on ourselves and the partnership we have with our fans and the rest of it to us, it’s kind of just noise.

The Q&A, which covers several topics, can be found here.

In case you missed it

Swanson: The Dodgers are chasing a three-peat. They can take some cues from the 2002 Lakers

Why the Dodgers are preaching patience as Roki Sasaki continues development

NL West preview: The Dodgers should be heavy favorites, but the Padres could surprise

Ohtani. Yamamoto. Sasaki. A 12-story ‘cultural bridge’ between L.A. and Japan to debut in Torrance

Alex Freeland edges Hyeseong Kim for a Dodgers opening day roster spot

For two-time defending champion Dodgers, the goal is simple: ‘They want to keep winning’

Plaschke: The Dodgers and their fans are geared up for a three-peat. Why the quest will fall short

Yoshinobu Yamamoto smooth in his final spring start before Dodgers opening day

Q&A: Andrew Friedman on team culture, the upcoming season and ‘noise’ around the Dodgers

And finally

Shohei Ohtani hits three homers and strikes out 10 in Game 4 of the 2025 NLCS. Watch and listen here.

Until next time….

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Today we continue our series looking at the NL West, position by position.

NL West, the third basemen

Let’s look at the third basemen and shorstops, ranked from best to worst. Click on the player’s name to be taken to their full stats page.

San Diego
Manny Machado
Last season: .275/.335/.460, 33 doubles, 27 homers, 95 RBIs, 118 OPS+
Career: .279/.338/.486, 94 OPS+, 124 OPS+

Though, as Yogi Berra famously said, “Nobody likes Manny Machado,” you have to give the devil his due. Machado is one of the best third basemen in the game, not just the NL West. He hits for average and power and is a defensive stalwart at third. It has already been eight years since he was with the Dodgers.

San Francisco
Matt Chapman
Last season: .231/.340/.430, 23 doubles, 21 homers, 61 RBIs, 120 OPS+
Career: .240/.330/.458, 119 OPS+

Similar to Max Muncy offensively, Chapman gets the nod because he is a five-time Gold Glove winner at third and stays in the lineup more consistently.

Dodgers
Max Muncy
Last season: .243/.376/.470, 10 doubles, 19 homers, 67 RBIs, 136 OPS+
Career: .229/.354/.474, 124 OPS+

There will come a time this season when Muncy will go on one of his notorious cold streaks. Some will say the Dodgers should dump him. Nonsense. He is one of the 10 best third basemen in the league and is a steal at only $10 million this season.

Arizona
Nolan Arenado
Last season: .237/.289/.377, 18 doubles, 12 homers, 52 RBIs, 87 OPS+
Career: .282/.338/.507, 119 OPS+

He finished third in MVP voting in 2022, but has been in decline since then. Can a new team help him recapture some former glory?

Colorado
Kyle Karros
Last season: .226/.308/.377, 4 doubles, 1 homer, 9 RBIs, 58 OPS+
Career: .226/.308/.377, 58 OPS+

Yes, he’s the son of former Dodger Eric Karros. Don’t let those offensive numbers fool you, they were in limited playing time. He is one of the Rockies’ top prospects and has a bright future. He is only 23.

Shortstop

Dodgers
Mookie Betts
Last season: .258/.326/.406, 23 doubles, 20 homers, 82 RBIs, 104 OPS+
Career: .290/.369/.512, 135 OPS+

I’ve been writing this newsletter for 12 seasons now, and sometimes I get things very, very wrong. I was against moving Betts to short. But I was wrong. He’s already Gold Glove level there, and here’s guessing his bat rebounds to elite levels this season, because one thing I have learned is to not bet against Mookie Betts.

Arizona
Geraldo Perdomo
Last season: .290/.389/.462, 33 doubles, 20 homers, 100 RBIs, 136 OPS+
Career: .253/.348/.374, 101 OPS+

If his new level of offense reached last season is for real (his previous high in homers was six), then he could easily move up to No. 1 on this list.

San Francisco
Willy Adames
Last season: .225/.318/.421, 22 doubles, 30 homers, 87 RBIs, 111 OPS+
Career: .244/.321/.440, 109 OPS+

He signed a seven-year, $182-million deal with the Giants before last season, then got off to a horrible start, dampening his overall numbers, which were pretty good despite that. There are a lot of good shortstops in the NL West.

San Diego
Xander Bogaerts
Last season: .263/.328/.391, 30 doubles, 11 homers, 53 RBIs, 99 OPS+
Career: .287/.350/.446, 114 OPS+

Still a good fielder, but his offense has regressed, as he has been below average the last two seasons.

Colorado
Ezequiel Tovar
Last season: .253/.294/.400, 18 doubles, 9 homers, 33 RBIs, 83 OPS+
Career: .258/.291/.429, 88 OPS+

Tovar has never met a pitch he wouldn’t swing at, but when he does connect he hits it hard. He won the Gold Glove in 2024, but last season was a setback for him, in part due to injuries.

In case you missed it

Andrew Friedman on team culture, the upcoming season and ‘noise’ around the Dodgers

Shohei Ohtani pitches effectively in first spring training start. ‘He expects perfection’

‘It wasn’t just my name.’ Why Miguel Rojas was bothered by erroneous suspension report

And finally

Max Muncy hits an important home run in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series. Watch and listen here.

Until next time….

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Today we continue our series looking at the NL West, position by position.

NL West, the first basemen

Let’s look at the first and second basemen, ranked from best to worst. Click on the player’s name to be taken to their full stats page.

Dodgers
Freddie Freeman
Last season: .295/.367/.502, 39 doubles, 24 homers, 90 RBIs, 141 OPS+
Career: .300/.386/.511, 142 OPS+

Freeman’s ankle never seemed 100% last season, and he still put up solid numbers. He has said he wants to hit .300 again after failing to do so the past two seasons. There are only three current players (minimum 2,000 plate appearances) with a career batting average of at least .300: Freeman, Luis Arráez (.317) and Jose Altuve (.303). The top 10 in career batting average among active players:

1. Arráez, .317
2. Altuve, .303
3. Freeman, .300
4. Trea Turner, .297
5. Yordan Alvarez, .297
6. Bo Bichette, .294
7. Mike Trout, .294
8. Aaron Judge, .294
9. Mookie Betts, .290
10. Yandy Díaz, .290

San Francisco
Rafael Devers
Last season: .252/.372/.479, 33 doubles, 35 homers, 109 RBIs, 140 OPS+
Career: .276/.349/.506, 129 OPS+

Devers was acquired at the trade deadline from Boston. Oracle Park didn’t seem to dampen his numbers as much as it does to others, as he hit 11 homers there and 20 overall with the Giants. He’s not exactly Wes Parker at first base, but he is a solid run producer.

San Diego
Gavin Sheets
Last season: .252/.317/.429, 28 doubles, 19 homers, 71 RBIs, 105 OPS+
Career: .236/.301/.397, 94 OPS+

Sheets was a big surprise for the Padres last season, hitting better than he had in four seasons with the White Sox. He will get the majority of starts against right-handers, but could sit against tough lefties.

“The big thing for me has been controlling the strike zone, getting walks and being disciplined,” Sheets said about his improved hitting this spring. “You get swings like this and you build off the two of those things, you can really put the two of those things together.”

Arizona
Carlos Santana
Last season: .219/.308/.325, 11 doubles, 11 homers, 54 RBIs, 77 OPS+
Career: .241/.352/.425, 112 OPS+

How old is Carlos Santana? He was signed as an amateur free agent by the Dodgers in 2004. He was traded to Cleveland in 2008 for Casey Blake, who retired in 2011. He was a solid player for the then Indians, twice finishing in the top 20 in MVP voting, but he is well into his decline stage now.

Colorado
Edouard Julien
Last season: .220/.309/.324, 10 doubles, three homers, 12 RBIs, 76 OPS+
Career: .232/.336/.382, 99 OPS+

Julien finished seventh in rookie of the year voting in 2023 when he hit .263/.381/.459 for the Minnesota Twins in a little over half the season. It has been all downhill since then. The Twins traded him to Colorado in January, and the Rockies get to see if they can unlock whatever was working for him three years ago.

Second base

Arizona
Ketel Marte
Last season: .283/.376/.517, 28 doubles, 28 homers, 72 RBIs, 145 OPS+
Career: .281/.351/.472, 121 OPS+

He has won back-to-back NL Silver Sluggers, finished third in 2024 NL MVP balloting and had an OPS+ of 145 last season. He is the key to the Diamondbacks’ offense and one of the more underrated players in the game.

San Diego
Jake Cronenworth
Last season: .246/.367/.377, 20 doubles, 11 homers, 59 RBIs, 108 OPS+
Career: .247/.335/.406, 107 OPS+

Cronenworth is one of those guys who don’t make the headlines but quietly puts up steady production every day. Every team needs a player or two such as Cronenworth, a guy you can pencil into the lineup every day and not have to worry about him.

Dodgers
Miguel Rojas
Last season: .262/.318/.397, 18 doubles, seven homers, 27 RBIs, 100 OPS+
Career: .260/.314/.362, 86 OPS+

He apparently had some sort of big hit in the World Series last season. I must have missed it. Hyeseong Kim and Santiago Espinal could also get playing time at second until Tommy Edman is able to return.

San Francisco
Luis Arráez
Last season: .292/.327/.392, 30 doubles, eight homers, 61 RBIs, 99 OPS+
Career: .317/.363/.413, 115 OPS+

How valuable is a guy whose value lies almost entirely in his batting average? Arráez has won three batting titles, three years in a row, with three different teams. He is with a new team again this year. He has mild power, draws few walks, is terrible on defense. But he can get line drive singles all day long.

Colorado
Tyler Freeman
Last season: .281/.354/.361, 20 doubles, two homers, 31 RBIs, 92 OPS+
Career: .247/.324/.342, 85 OPS+

It appears, according to MLB.com, that Freeman has edged out Willi Castro for the job. Either one can play multiple positions and will probably get plenty of time everywhere on a team that is expected to lose 100 games again.

In case you missed it

Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s lead-up to Dodgers opening day ‘hard to put into words’

‘There’s endless possibilities.’ Mookie Betts embraces Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s training methods

And finally

Freddie Freeman hits the walk-off homer in Game 3 of the 2025 World Series. Watch and listen here.

Until next time….

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

MIAMI — The victors erupted onto the field and into multiple dogpiles. Some wore national flags around their shoulders. Within minutes, the Venezuelans wore T-shirts that read: “The Best Baseball in the World.”

The players from the United States watched from their dugout. Within minutes, they trudged back onto the field so a silver medal could be draped around their necks. Not every player wore the medal all the way back to the dugout.

You can say all you want about how the World Baseball Classic has matured into a must-see event for fans and a must-play event for the game’s elite players. You can salute Venezuela for a spirited and thrilling victory, and the Venezuelan fans for nine innings of joyful delirium.

But you also can say this: A U.S. team billed as featuring a killer lineup could not hit, and the U.S. could not use its best pitcher because the San Diego Padres said so. The result: For the second consecutive World Baseball Classic, the U.S. lost the championship by a 3-2 score.

U.S. captain Aaron Judge looks across the field after striking out against Velezuela at the World Baseball Classic Tuesday.

(Lynne Sladky / Associated Press)

“I’m not OK with winning silver,” Bryce Harper said. “I don’t want to win silver.

“I want to win gold, just like anybody else. But, at the end of the night, they did it, they won, all the congratulations to them. They fought hard. I’ve got nothing but respect for them.”

By the time the eighth inning rolled around, the mighty U.S. offense had not gotten a runner into scoring position on Tuesday, and had gone scoreless for 18 of its previous 19 innings. With two out in the eighth, and Venezuela up 2-0, Bobby Witt Jr. walked, and Harper followed with a 432-foot home run, so monstrous that Venezuelan pitcher Andres Machado could only watch the flight of the ball and smile.

Harper stood and watched too, then he flipped his bat toward the dugout. At third base, he stopped to give a salute, then spotted the cameraman trailing him around the bases and pointed to the American flag on his left sleeve.

“Just enjoying the moment,” Harper said. “Super grateful for it.”

With the game tied 2-2 entering the ninth, the pitcher trotting in from the U.S. bullpen should have been Mason Miller, who had not given up a hit in the WBC and struck out 10 of the 14 batters he had faced.

Before the game, U.S. manager Mark DeRosa had said Miller would be available. After the game, DeRosa said he and Miller’s employers, the Padres, had agreed Miller would only be used to protect a lead.

Once the game entered the ninth, Miller would not be able to protect a lead, since the U.S. was the home team and there could be no save situation for him. DeRosa nonetheless declined to use Miller.

“Honoring the Padres,” DeRosa said.

This is not on DeRosa, but that is nonsense. If a closer cannot be used three times in five days — with another week to ease into the regular season by throwing bullpens or in structured B games, or taking a few days off, or whatever — then he should stay home.

Venezuela scored the winning run in the ninth off Garrett Whitlock, on a walk, stolen base and RBI double by Eugenio Suárez.

In its final five WBC games — after routs of Brazil and Britain — the U.S. scored more than five runs once, with a two-run win, a two-run loss, a two-run win, a one-run win, and a one-run loss. In the semifinal and final, the U.S. combined to bat .159 and strike out 25 times, and every run came on a home run.

That — not any attempt at small ball — is American baseball. And the U.S. was outslugged by six other teams, including Australia and Italy. For glory, as the U.S. team hoodies said.

“A lot of pop ups, a lot of just-missed pitches,” U.S. captain Aaron Judge said. “I wouldn’t say we tensed up. We just didn’t execute when we needed to.”

Said DeRosa: “I mean, surprised because of the names at the back of the jersey, but not surprised because of where they’re at in spring training.

“Yeah, that’s my answer. I really don’t have a rhyme or reason to why. I just think you’re either hot or not in a seven-game blast like this.”

American Bryce Harper celebrates at home plate with teammates after hitting a two-run home run during the World Baseball Classic Tuesday in Miami.

(Lynne Sladky / Associated Press)

The WBC absolutely was a blast. The Venezuelan fans delivered concert-level noise all night long, without needing a silly stadium host or scoreboard command to do so. The WBC allowed fans to bring in 16 “permissible instruments,” including bongos, cowbells, maracas and trumpets.

“There’s bands playing,” Judge said. “There’s chants going on. You don’t usually hear that too much in the World Series games. That’s amazing. So much fun.”

More Americans watched the U.S.-Dominican Republic semifinal than watched last year’s NBA All-Star Game, according to Fox. The championship game almost certainly will have drawn more viewers than at least one game of last year’s NBA Finals.

In the 10 minutes I spent along the concourse before Tuesday’s game, I counted fans wearing the jerseys of many national teams and 17 MLB teams, plus the late and greatly beloved Montreal Expos. Japan did not qualify for the final four, but I nonetheless counted 11 fans in Japan jerseys with Shohei Ohtani’s name on the back. The advertisers believed too: DeRosa spoke in front of a banner displaying the logo of nine corporate sponsors, eight of them Japanese.

After such a lively event, can these players get fired up to go back to spring training, and then for the grind of a 162-game season?

“I’m always fired up for the Yankees, but I’m still pissed about this,” Judge said.

“I’m looking forward to the next time we get a chance to throw on the red, white and blue and take care of business.”

That would be the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, where Dave Roberts has expressed interest in managing Team USA at Dodger Stadium. The major leaguers are almost certainly coming, even if the details are still being worked out.

See you there, Bryce Harper?

“I hope so,” he said. “I really do.”

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Today we start a series looking at the NL West, position by position, and we meet our new sports columnist.

NL West, the catchers

It seems like a good time to look at the starting lineups for all the teams in the NL West. The Dodgers are prohibitive favorites to win the division, with some prognosticators thinking they will be the only team in the division to finish above .500.

Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA projection has the NL West finishing like this.

1. Dodgers, 105-57
2. San Francisco, 81-81
2. San Diego, 81-81
4. Arizona, 79-83
5. Colorado, 61-101

It seems to me at least one other team will finish above .500, but, that’s why they play the games. A lot of projections had Toronto not even making the postseason last year. So take it with a grain of salt.

Now, let’s look at the catchers, ranked from best to worst. Click on the player’s name to be taken to their full stats page.

Dodgers
Will Smith
Last season: .296/.404/.497, 20 doubles, 17 homers, 61 RBIs
Career: .264/.358/.476, 128 OPS+

Smith, who turns 31 on March 28, is the best catcher in baseball and he is a steal at only $14 million a season through 2033. Of catchers who started at least 81 games last season, he was eighth in caught stealing at 25.5%. Some will argue that Cal Raleigh or Alejandro Kirk are better, but when you consider the total package, I put Smith first. Of course, if Raleigh’s huge step up in offense that he took last season is for real, then he could certainly slot ahead of Smith.

Arizona
Gabriel Moreno
Last season: .285/.353/.433, 12 doubles, nine homers, 40 RBIs
Career: .281/.349/.404, 108 OPS+

Moreno has inflammation in his right elbow, but it appears he will be ready for opening day. He has had quite a few injuries the last couple of seasons.

Colorado
Hunter Goodman
Last season: .278/.323/.520, 28 doubles, 31 homers, 91 RBIs
Career: .248/.292/.482, 102 OPS+

Goodman was one of the few bright spots for the Rockies, who lost 119 games last season. Last season was his first good season at the plate. He was an All-Star and won the Silver Slugger award. Earlier this spring training, he had this to say about his defense: “I mean, last year for the whole first half, was kind of like I was in fight-or-flight mode the whole game behind the dish. So just trying to get to where I’m comfortable on the plate and working to get these guys strikes and call better games and stuff like that.”

San Francisco
Patrick Bailey
Last season: .222/.277/.325, six homers, 55 RBIs
Career: .230/.287/.340, 78 OPS+

Bailey is solid defensively, and has proven to be a master at when to challenge a ball/strike call under the new Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System (more on that in a future newsletter). Bailey has also focused on his swing in the offseason and has been a much better hitter this spring.

San Diego
Freddy Fermin
Last season: .251/.297/.339, 13 doubles, five homers, 26 RBIs
Career: .264/.309/.376, 91 OPS+

The Padres acquired Fermin from the Royals at the trade deadline last season, and loved how he handled the pitching staff, much like the Dodgers with Ben Rortvedt. He will be backed up Luis Campusano, who hit .336 in triple A but isn’t exactly Johnny Bench behind the plate.

Meet our new columnist

We have a new columnist at The Times, Mirjam Swanson. She will be covering all sports, but here’s guessing she will be writing quite a bit of opinion about the Dodgers. So, let’s get to know her.

Q. Welcome to The Times. What was the road that led you here?

Swanson: Thank you! Oh, it’s been a long and windy road, scenic let’s say. I grew up in Southern California, so it was always my dream to work for the L.A. Times. But journalism is a tough business. And I know I’m not the only mom out there who has turned down and/or taken jobs based on what was best for her children. Plus, I’ve always had this problem of getting really into whatever I’m covering, whether it was action sports or local politics or World Series runs. So while the dream of working at the Times persisted, I was also always happy with what was right in front of me, never desperate to move on. But here I am now, finally, better for the journey, I think.

Q. You will be an all-sports columnist, but we’ll focus on the Dodgers since this is a Dodgers newsletter. Do you have a favorite moment in Dodger history?

Swanson: The moment in Dodgers history that will stick with me most is …

… hmm. The Dodgers’ history books could fill a library — where to start?

I was in the backseat of the family car on a freeway somewhere in Southern California listening to Kirk Gibson put his signature on the improbable 1988 season with his impossibly clutch pinch-hit home run in Game 1 of the World Series. And I was in the ballpark when Gibby met Freddie in 2024, feeling the stadium shake and watching on a TV in the overflow media workspace, feeling awe and angst. Freddie Freeman with grand timing that night, right on deadline.

Watched Shohei Ohtani turn Game 4 of the 2025 NLCS into a Little League game with 10 strikeouts and three home runs. There might never be a greater individual game — or there might be. Put nothing past Ohtani, including the inconceivable.

And I won’t forget my L.A. neighborhood erupting over Miguel Rojas’ “no-way!” ninth-inning solo shot in Game 7 of last season’s World Series.

But all of that is a long and windy way to arrive at this: It’s Andy Pages’ catch.

That’s not recency bias, either. It’s that the play was so confounding, so unexpected, the plot twist no one saw coming. Violent and athletic and hilarious. A whole movie in 10 seconds.

We might not have expected it to be Rojas to hit that season-saving home run, but our brains are trained to accept seeing a home run in such a moment. But an outfielder coming out of nowhere, running down and over his own teammate to make an improbable, impossible season-saving catch for the final out in the ninth inning of Game 7? Wasn’t on my bingo card.

I think about that play daily, it was so cool.

Q. What do you see as the biggest obstacle for the team this season?

Swanson: The answer is health, of course. But the Dodgers are so deep, they’ve done as much as a club can to fortify itself against inevitable injuries and ailments throughout a season, so it feels like less of a concern than it’s supposed to be.

So it’ll be mental. Having to handle the weight of trying to three-peat, of everyone either desperately wanting to see them do it or rooting desperately against them doing it. Every other team is going to treat their games against the Dodgers like it’s the World Series. That should make for good baseball, but it also will test these guys’ psychological stamina.

Manager Dave Roberts said the other night that he felt more pressure to repeat than three-peat, and that at this point, the Dodgers are playing with house money. That might be true, but there’s no ignoring the historic opportunity, either. Heady stuff for a team that’s set up as well as a team can be to do it if players can keep their edge.

Q. I get quite a bit of email from fans saying Roberts is overrated and that anyone could manage this team to the World Series. What are your thoughts on Roberts as a manager?

Swanson: I know some of these people.

And I hope they’re on no one’s jury, because evidence evidently means nothing to them.

A guy I know, an otherwise relatively rational dude, told me after the Dodgers repeated: “The only bad thing about this is Dave Roberts is going to be around longer.”

As if there was any bad thing for fans of the team about the Dodgers’ repeating. You really have to want to be unhappy about something if you’re anti-the manager who has won three World Series crowns in six seasons.

As if it’s automatic to pilot a team with so many talented players, to keep them happy and motivated and locked in, to manage these millionaires with understandable egos. That’s actually so much harder to do than to coach up a team of prospects with modest expectations.

And to pull so many of the right levers along the way, too?

Yeah, Roberts is elite at what he does. And apparently his haters are elite at what they do too.

Q. Is a lockout inevitable after the season, and does baseball need a salary cap?

Swanson: Sigh.

Yes, probably.

No, probably not.

All the salary cap is going to do is save the smarter-than-you Dodgers’ ownership group money while everyone keeps chasing them. It won’t level the playing field, but it will give owners cover for not paying their players as much as they could — and possibly cost us all priceless opportunities to watch Ohtani play baseball while the owners and players arm wrestle over finances offstage.

Sigh.

Q. Lastly, how many games will the Dodgers win this season?

Swanson: Fewer than 100.

Yes, they’re the most talented team money could buy. But every other team is going to give everything it has in every game against the Dodgers. And the Dodgers aren’t going to match that energy every time out — or 117 times out, if you’re hoping the major league record + World Series three-peat combo is on the menu.

The regular season isn’t what it’s really about for the Dodgers. They’ll be conservative with their approach, they won’t push anyone to do anything that could diminish their performance in the postseason. They’re going to play it cool … until they’re not.

And it’s going to drive observers along the way nuts, because it will cost them some games. But let’s try not to fret too much, Dodgers fans. Try not be too hard on Roberts.

Because only one number really matters: Three.

Dodger Stadium has a new field name

The Dodgers agreed to a deal granting Uniqlo naming rights to the field at Dodger Stadium. Though not officially announced by the Dodgers, the name likely will be Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium.

Uniqlo is a Japan-based clothing brand. This is just another example of the revenue the Dodgers are generating because of Shohei Ohtani.

But here’s guessing that no one will call it Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium.

Opening day starter will be…

Dave Roberts said Monday that Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be the opening day starter on March 26 against Arizona at Dodger Stadium. It will be the second straight opening day start for Yamamoto, and after all he did in the postseason last year, it is much deserved.

And the number is….

Some of you who haven’t seen any spring training games have asked what numbers the new Dodgers are wearing.

Edwin Díaz is wearing No. 3, last worn by Chris Taylor and also worn by such Dodger luminaries as Steve Sax, Willie Davis and Billy Cox. He becomes the 40th Dodger to wear No. 3.

Kyle Tucker is wearing No. 23, last worn by Michael Conforto (I hope that’s not a bad omen) and also worn by, among others, Adrián González, Eric Karros, Kirk Gibson, Jim Wynn, Claude Osteen and Don Zimmer.

In case you missed it

Yoshinobu Yamamoto named Dodgers’ opening-day starter for second straight season

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani apologizes for ‘shortcomings’ in Japan’s early exit from WBC

Dodgers reportedly agree to deal with Uniqlo for naming rights to Dodger Stadium field

Swanson: Yoshinobu Yamamoto might not wear a cape, but he has super powers

‘Bigger than baseball.’ Why being in Puerto Rico for WBC meant so much to Kiké Hernández

Blake Snell throws first bullpen session of spring training, taking key step forward

Dodgers prospect James Tibbs III attempts to show staying power after multiple trades

And finally

Kyle Tucker hits his first home run with the Dodgers. Watch and listen here.

Until next time….

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.