Los Angeles Dodgers: Team preview and prediction for 2020 season
By Sean Basile
A shortened season could prove to be just what the Los Angeles Dodgers ordered. Could the most consistent franchise finally break through and win it all?
It was an untimely departure from the 2019 postseason for the Los Angeles Dodgers after a terrific 106-win season as they ran into an unstoppable force in the eventual world champion Washington Nationals in the NLDS.
It was one of many recent failures for the Dodgers to secure a world championship on the back of a great regular season, but nevertheless, this has been one of, if not the most consistent franchise in baseball the last five-to-ten years and I would expect nothing less out of them in 2020 than another World Series run.
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The Dodgers come into 2020 with seven-straight 90+ win seasons and seven-straight NL West titles as a result. And on top of that, they’ve won the NL West nine times in the last twelve years.
So, you could make an argument that (without the championships of course), the Dodgers are the biggest dynasty in baseball currently with the amount of winning they do on a consistent yearly basis.
And by the looks of it, this franchise doesn’t seem to be slowing down, which is why 2020 could indeed be their year. This is a team that not only has one of the best (probably the best) roster in the game right now, but it also has a pretty large ax to grind since both of their World Series losses in 2017 and 2018 are under dispute for actions taken by both the Astros and Red Sox en route to those championships.
This is a team that is going to be playing with a humongous chip on its shoulder, to say the least, and as far as narrative is concerned, they have the best story behind them.
Looking at their stacked roster, it’s hard not to think they have the best one in all of baseball. They lost quite a bit in the offseason on the pitching side, but they also gained a tremendous amount on the offensive side including former AL MVP Mookie Betts.
The Dodgers are now one of a small handful of teams with two MVPs in their lineup with Cody Bellinger‘s MVP performance last year. Bellinger and Betts will be one of the best 1-2 combos in all of baseball and the rest of the Dodgers lineup will most likely follow suit with both guys contending strongly for NL MVP.
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On top of those two superstars, their lineup is littered with great secondary stars like Max Muncy, Justin Turner, and Corey Seager. They’ll also be trotting out Gavin Lux, the number two prospect in all of baseball, to a starting second base role, as well as Will Smith at the catcher position after a strong 2019 rookie campaign.
And through the debacle which was the initial Mookie Betts trade, they managed to hold on to Joc Pederson after originally shipping him off to the Angels. 1-8 in the Dodger lineup is about as good as you can ask for. And they have a great bench with two super-utility guys in Chris Taylor and Kike’ Hernandez and a very underrated left-handed power bat in Matt Beaty.
After that, the Dodgers also have some very nice prospects on the come-up such as DJ Peters, Zach McKinstry, Luke Raley, and Keibert Ruiz, so this Dodgers offense is juiced to the gills.