The Los Angeles Dodgers have dominated the National League over the last decade and are the defending World Series champions. What would it mean if they went back-to-back in the Fall Classic and beat the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2025 World Series?
In the eyes of Colin Cowherd, such an outcome would merit “greatest of all-time” consideration.
“The Dodgers are historic. … they’re the only team in baseball history to have MVPs batting one-two-three in the everyday lineup: Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. I said if the Dodgers win this series, No. 1, they’re officially a dynasty, and No. 2, I’d argue they’re the greatest team, the most talented team ever,” Cowherd asserted on Friday’s edition of “The Herd.”
The Dodgers’ run has seen them host a Wild Card Series and proceed to sweep the Cincinnati Reds, beat the Philadelphia Phillies in four games in the NL Division Series and sweep the No. 1-seeded Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Championship Series. Their 93 wins were the lowest in a full season since 2018, but L.A. still won the NL West for the 12th time in 13 years, with it being nine times in 10 seasons under manager Dave Roberts (since 2016).
Couple their dominant run in with the fact that they had five players crack the NL roster for the 2025 MLB All-Star Game (Ohtani, Freeman, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, catcher Will Smith and left-hander Clayton Kershaw) and it’s not hard to see why Cowherd doubled down on his take.
“I think if the Dodgers win, having dominated and swept the Reds, dominated and swept the Brewers [and] soundly beaten the Phillies, if they do the same to a Blue Jays team that cruised through the [New York] Yankees [in the American League Division Series], there’s an argument [that they’re the] greatest team ever, top to bottom,” Cowherd said.
In the regular season, the Dodgers were second in runs (825), home runs (244) and slugging percentage (.441), fifth in on-base percentage (.327) and seventh in hits (1,384). Ohtani, the 2024 NL MVP, shined from start to finish, hitting 55 home runs, stealing 20 bases and posting a .622 slugging percentage in the regular season. This month, outfielder Teoscar Hernandez has anchored the offense, blasting four home runs and driving in a team-high 11 runs.
Are the Dodgers already one of the best teams ever?
While Cowherd’s praise is understandable, one weakness for the Dodgers worth noting has been their bullpen, which tied for 20th with a collective 4.27 ERA in the regular season and currently owns a 4.88 ERA this postseason.
One bright spot from that aspect, though, has been right-hander Roki Sasaki, who moved from the starting rotation to the bullpen late in the regular season. In eight playoff innings pitched, Sasaki has surrendered just one run with opponents hitting .115 against him.
Overall, their starting rotation has been solid, posting a combined 1.40 ERA and 0.75 WHIP while holding opponents to a .132 batting average in 10 playoff games. Yamamoto threw a complete game in Game 2 of the NLCS; Ohtani recorded an unreal 10 strikeouts while tossing six shutout innings and hitting three home runs in the decisive game last series. Blake Snell, their Game 1 starter against Toronto, has recorded an 0.86 ERA and 0.52 WHIP in 21.0 innings pitched (three starts).
The Dodgers’ march towards a potentially historic championship will begin Friday night when Game 1 of the 2025 World Series begins at 8 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app.
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