How precisely are Los Angeles Dodgers fans going to get enthused about the 2024 regular season?
Simply put, Shohei Ohtani. However, the Dodgers would not be guaranteed a different result in October even if they sign the two-way superstar as a free agency.
Not that it matters. The Dodgers almost took the summer off prior to Ohtani’s free agency announcement. Now they have to rewrite the story following yet another heartbreaking October letdown.
Starting pitching is what they most need. Ohtani will recuperate from elbow surgery and not pitch the following season. The Dodgers offense, which just scored 900 runs for the first time in seventy years, will not be significantly improved by him, even if his only job at first is to take J.D. Martinez’s spot as designated hitter.
The 29-year-old Ohtani is also not the solution to the Dodgers’ postseason problems. Not if he hits like Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman did, going a combined 1-for-21 against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the postseason. And not if Walker Buehler, who will be recovering from his second Tommy John surgery, is the sole established starter in the Dodgers’ 2024 rotation.
The aforementioned concepts hold significant relevance when viewed through the lens of team building. However, the Dodgers can’t limit their offseason concerns to basic roster building. This team more than any other, despite their success in the regular season, needs to offer its supporters a cause to be enthusiastic.
Fans of the Dodgers will probably purchase tickets to see Betts, Freeman, and teammates in the upcoming season even if Andrew Friedman, the president of baseball operations, does nothing. For the last ten complete seasons, the Dodgers have had the highest attendance in the league. This season, they had the highest average attendance in the majors by almost 7,000, with 47,371.
However, if you’re a Dodgers fan, you’re undoubtedly starting to feel a little over October.
Although your team has qualified for the postseason in the previous eleven years, it wasn’t until the 2020 season that it finally won the World Series.
In the last four complete seasons, your team has won 100 games or more, yet they have only once gone past the Division Series.
In the last three years, your team has experienced three of the six biggest upsets in postseason history, according to a comparison of regular-season records!
It may be argued that the real litmus test for a club is its capacity to produce teams that, like the Dodgers have done, can routinely dominate the 162-game regular season.
It makes sense to argue that a team requires a lot of luck to win the World Series in a period when clubs compete in at least three and occasionally four rounds of the playoffs.
There are plenty of ways to justify it, but many Dodgers supporters won’t want to hear it. Their team is the Atlanta Braves of this generation; in the 1990s and early 2000s, they won 14 straight division titles but only one World Series, in a 1995 season that saw 144 games due to a player’s strike. Moreover, enough is actually enough.
At $20 million for a single season, Clayton Kershaw was the Dodgers most expensive signing. Next, at $13 million for a year, was one of the season’s biggest busts, Noah Syndergaard. After Martinez, who made $10 million in a single year, followed a few smaller moves, one of which involved Jason Heyward and turned out to be rather successful.
Amed Rosario, Kiké Hernández, Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly, and other signings made by Friedman at the deadline were largely inconsequential, but the Dodgers lost out on a possible game-changer when Eduardo Rodríguez turned down a trade with the Detroit Tigers. What will be a relatively thin free-agent market was hinted at by the thin trading market. However, the Dodgers are aware that they cannot afford to wait for all of their young pitchers to develop at once and practice self-control for a second consecutive winter.
Ultimately, the team’s rotation was too exposed due to Kershaw’s bad shoulder, injuries to Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, and Buehler, as well as Julio Urias’s absence. The team’s Opening Day starter, Urías, was accused of domestic assault following a fight with his wife in early September. He was placed on paid administrative leave by Major League Baseball and did not play in the remaining games of the season.
The Dodgers and all other clubs would be better off signing Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a free agent who will turn 25. However, the Rays also have pitcher Blake Snell, who was picked by Friedman, available. The same is true for Sonny Gray and Aaron Nola, among others.
The need to strengthen the rotation is made even more urgent by Kershaw’s uncertain status, and Ohtani fits into that plan—if not for ’24, then maybe beyond. After a second Tommy John surgery, Ohtani is not a sure thing, which will undoubtedly make his market more difficult. However, he has an amazing work ethic. It appears that his character is as well. He’s still an ideal match because of the offensive and marketing boost he will bring.
Yes, this is about winning, but the Dodgers have shown themselves to be quite skilled at it. They should once more be the team to beat in the NL West, even if they are unable to sign Ohtani. I’ve been there and done that for almost ten years now. Nobody should undervalue Friedman’s achievements. Fans may have expected more, though.
Ohtani would supply the sizzle as well as the meat. Perhaps in October, dessert lovers will also be desiring it.