Dodgers already looking to improve for 2025

People who work in baseball often say there is no offseason.

A better way to describe the offseason is the time of the year when there are no games being played. Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes is a perfect example.

The Dodgers won the World Series a week ago Wednesday by beating the New York Yankees in Game 5 at Yankee Stadium. They traveled home to Los Angeles on Thursday then had a two-pronged celebration the following day that included a downtown parade and an event at Dodger Stadium.

On Sunday, Gomes and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman,m among other Dodgers front office personnel, prepared to fly to San Antonio for the start of the MLB GM Meetings on Monday. However, their flight got cancelled.

On Monday, the Dodgers contingent’s flight was diverted to Houston because of severe thunderstorms. They spent the night there then finally got to San Antonio on Tuesday morning. They then flew home Thursday morning.

“Thankfully, we’re still running on adrenaline,” Gomes told Draft Nation with a smile before the end of the meetings.

The Dodgers are enjoying the high of winning their second World Series in five years but first in a full season since 1988. Their other title came during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

Yet the Dodgers are already looking ahead to 2025 and trying to become the first team to win consecutive World Series since the Yankees won three in a row from 1998-2000. Amazingly, no National League has won back-to-back Fall Classics since the Cincinnati Reds in 1975 and 1976.

A big reason why winning back-to-back championships has become uncommon is the expansion of the postseason. The Dodgers had to win 11 games to capture the Commissioner’s Trophy and that’s even with earning a bye into the Division Series round.

“Every year, you’re first priority is getting through the regular season and hopefully winning the division,” Gomes said. “Then each step of the playoffs, when you think about what goes into it just to get back to that point never mind go ahead and win it, that doesn’t get lost. It’s part of the emotions that go into each round. It takes so much just to get through them.”

The physical toll can also be significant.

First baseman Freddie Freeman won the World Series MVP but played through ankle and rib injuries. Two-way star Shohei Ohtani, the presumptive NL MVP, made it to the finish line despite tearing the labrum in his left shoulder in Game 2. And the Dodgers had just three healthy starting pitchers when they reached the postseason.

Teams who play through the end of October have one full month less of offseason recovery time than teams that don’t qualify for the postseason.

So how do the Dodgers combat the hangover that has affected every defending World Series champion in this millennium?

“What you can control is putting together the best team possible and the most talent possible and a staff and group of players who focus on each goal, the first one being winning tonight’s game,” Gomes said. “You focus on that, and it creates a division title, and it goes from there. You’re looking at the picture but when it comes down to it, it’s really about how myopic you can be.”

The Dodgers have decided to make a significant change for next season by moving star right fielder Mookie Betts back to the middle infield. Betts had been a career-long outfielder until 2023 then was the Dodgers’ starting shortstop this past season until sustaining a broken hand in June.

The move with Betts puts the Dodgers in position to make splash moves in free agency after spending over a billion dollars on Ohtani, right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto and left fielder Teoscar Hernandez last winter.

With right field open, the Dodgers are expected to make a play for Juan Soto, the top free agent on the market. They are also planning to pursue shortstop Willy Adames, whose signing would push Betts to second base.

The Dodgers still have plenty of money despite last winter’s spending spree after Ohtani deferred $680 million in his 10-year, $700-million contract.

The Dodgers won it all this year despite using 40 pitchers and finishing the season with 15 of them on the injured list. So, it seems logical that they will pursue a starter on the open market, a strong possibility being 23-year-old Roki Sasaki, a sensation in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. They also would like to retain Jack Flaherty, their Game 1 starter in the World Series, and Game 3 starter Walker Buehler.

Yamamoto figures to front the rotation and the Dodgers are confident that Tyler Glasow, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May and Clayton Kershaw will be healthy by the start of spring training. Then there is Ohtani, who will eventually rejoin the rotation after not pitching this year while rehabbing from Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery.

“We went into last season with 12 starters and finished with three, so we’ll definitely be exploring the pitching market,” Gomes said.

“We’ll pursue every avenue to put together the best team possible. The goal is always to have a better team than you had the year before. That never changes whether you win the World Series or not.”