The Los Angeles Dodgers have a serious challenge in 2026 during the regular season — balancing out their three-peat ambitions with seeding considerations.
The Dodgers’ roster has a nice balance of youth and veterans on the pitching staff, but the lineup is more veteran-heavy, so rotation and fringe major league talent will be important.
Los Angeles has been through multiple consecutive playoff runs, playing well into October year after year, which can be taxing and training, physically and mentally.
The Dodgers will need to balance ramping up gradually to stay healthy and peak at the right time, while also making sure they stay out of Wild Card jeopardy as they did in 2025.
The 2025 team suffered multiple injuries across the roster, a slump throughout the lineup, and a bullpen that failed to deliver.
In the regular season, a bullpen is arguably the most important part when all other facets of the team are equal, and it let them down in 2025.
However, with bounce-back performances and health, along with Edwin Diaz, Katie Woo of The Athletic believes 2026 will be a season when Dave Roberts gets creative with his bullpen.
The Dodgers’ 2026 mindset
In her mailbag for The Athletic, Woo laid out that the Dodgers will be aiming for one of the top two seeds, avoiding the Wild Card round through an aggressive use of their bullpen.
“I do not see the Dodgers taking the complacent route. I expect them to compete for the first-round bye — even if their rotation is not full strength to start the year,” Woo wrote.
“The Dodgers have enough organizational depth to take their time. They won’t rush Snell or Edman back. They’ll be thoughtful about Ohtani’s and Yamamoto’s early-season usage. They’ll be patient with Sasaki.
“But I do think they’ll push this year, particularly in the late innings. That’s made possible by the addition of Edwin Díaz. It’s been several years since the Dodgers used a true closer — even when they signed Tanner Scott ahead of last season, they didn’t anoint him closer.
“But Díaz will definitely have the ninth this year, which will allow Roberts to better use his veteran setup men. If this bullpen takes form as the Dodgers hope it will, expect Roberts to manage more aggressively.
“Given the star power on this team and that the rest of the true powerhouse teams (outside of the New York Mets) are in the American League, it’s inexcusable for the Dodgers not to play for the bye.”
The Dodgers have the talent to push for well above 100 wins, though injuries will come, and it will be up to the organizational depth to step up and make a difference.
Some of those players include — but are not limited to — Hyseong Kim, Justin Wrobleski, Alex Freeland, Santiago Espinal, and River Ryan.
How many wins do you think the Dodgers will finish the 2026 season with?
