LA Times Columnist and ESPN analyst Bill Plaschke said he doesn’t think the Los Angeles Dodgers will win the World Series in 2026.
The Dodgers won their second consecutive World Series in 2025, taking down the Toronto Blue Jays in a thrilling seven-game series, and have only gotten better in the offseason after adding two of free agency’s biggest stars, but Plaschke isn’t convinced.
“This is suddenly an older team,” Plaschke wrote. “They’re seasoned, they’re savvy, but they’re increasingly vulnerable. Too much age can knock you flat with injuries and fatigue. Hangovers are a young person’s game. Hangovers are hell on the old timers.”
The Dodgers have the oldest core of position players heading into the 2026 season, but that didn’t stop them last year. While age and injury seem to correlate heavily in this league, the Dodgers still managed to keep a healthy team on the field due to their extensive depth.
Age wasn’t the only issue Plaschke wrote about, though, as LA’s recent struggles with injury throughout the regular season and their bullpen problems towards the tail end of last season also caught his eye.
“Yes, they added the best free agent reliever in closer Edwin Díaz, and the fans will go wild at the first notes of Timmy Trumpet, but will the Dodgers have enough middle relief to get to him?” he wrote.
“Tanner Scott is back. Blake Treinen is back. Potential chaos is back. The Dodgers will need more revelations like Will Klein and Justin Wrobleski to survive.”
On top of those issues, Plaschke worries about the abilities of Dodgers with poor 2025 seasons to step up while they chase their three-peat. Among the names he listed were Dalton Rushing, Andy Pages and Mookie Betts.
The final issue he listed is something the Dodgers aren’t in control of: Luck.
“Even the Dodgers admit that there were many key plays in the last two postseasons that could have gone the other way and changed history forever,” Plaschke wrote. “Seemingly every one of those breaks broke for the Dodgers. How can this keep happening?
“Is Aaron Judge going to drop another fly ball? Will Gerrit Cole forget to cover first base again?
“Bottom line, can any team create that many breaks three years in a row?”
Do you think Plaschke’s concerns are warranted? Or will the Dodgers walk their way to the World Series?
