Los Angeles Dodgers not satisfied with just one title

After eight consecutive postseason appearances, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally won the World Series. Now they want more.

Spring training is a time when a fan’s mood can swing back and forth between boundless hope and deep despair. The following is a debate between the optimistic me and the pessimistic me regarding the 2021 Los Angeles Dodgers.

Opti-me: This should be rich. You’re going to tell me why Dodgers fans should be worried about the 2021 season. As if!

We’re the defending World Series champs. In 2020 we won 72 percent of our games, which happens to be the best winning percentage in 20 years. We’ve basically got an All Star or potential All Star at every position, including the entire rotation.

We’ve won the division every year since 2013. Literally, every analyst capable of stringing a coherent sentence together picks us to win the NL West, and probably the World Series again. Plus, we’re from LA, the city of champions. So bring it on, Mr. Negative…what could you possibly have.

Pessi-me: Thank you for providing the best possible lead-in to my fears. Yes, over-confidence is exactly the first thing that could do in the Dodgers.

It took a short season for you to roll up those regular season numbers. Over 162 games, even the Dodgers would have had to fight off a slump. You won the NLCS by scoring one more run than the Braves – one. Then you won the World Series because Kevin Cash believed in the pregame plan more than his own eyes and took Blake Snell out early.

So the close calls and questionable decisions went your way in 2020. Don’t count on that happening again.

Opti-me: What close calls? In the regular season, the Los Angeles Dodgers played 10 one-run games. Those 10 split exactly evenly, five and five. Sounds like the breaks fell about even.

As for the post-season, we swept the Brewers and Padres, and out-scored them 30-11 in the process. Those series lasted 45 innings, and we trailed for two and a half of those 45. The Braves took us to the brink – no question – but they’re a good team, too. Just not as good as the Dodgers.

As for the Rays, don’t be so hard on Cash. He was desperate, he knew the Dodgers had the better team and he had to do some unorthodox stuff to have a chance. He tried and it backfired. You may recall the Dodgers outscored the Rays 32-22 in those six games, so why anybody would assume Tampa Bay would have won Game 7 makes no sense.

Pessi-me: You’re also battling history. Even great teams don’t win the World Series two years in a row. Stuff happens.

The last team to do it was the Yankees, and that was more than 20 years ago. Only two teams have done it since the 1970s. Yes, last year you had the best winning percentage since the 2001 Mariners. They went out to the Yankees in the ALCS.

The Dodgers won the World Series six times before 2020. They have never, not even once, repeated. The last two times were 1981 and 1988; in 1982 and 1989 you didn’t even make the playoffs.

What could go that wrong? The mind boggles. Injuries, for one.  Lose Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger, or Corey Seager for an extended period and see what happens.

Age, for another. Clayton Kershaw’s been great, probably even Hall of Fame level. But he’s over 2,300 innings, he’s 33 now so a decline wouldn’t be a surprise.

Then there’s the matter of simple year-to-year performance changes. The Dodgers are counting on Max Muncy, but he hit .192 in 2020. Bellinger also had a bad season offensively. Maybe they don’t bounce back as much as you expect. Betts hit .389 with two outs last year, and he also hit .389 with runners in scoring position. The odds say those stratospheric numbers return to earth in 2021, and when they do your team production returns with them.

Opti-me: Any one of those things could happen. But the Dodgers are so deep, so talented and so efficient that they’d all have to happen to threaten this team’s standing. Let me remind you that the Dodgers ranked first in runs per game in 2020, second in OPS, first in runs allowed and first in ERA.

The reason this team is slump-proof is that pitching staff. Kershaw’s a big piece of it, but only one piece…one superbly performing piece, I might note.

There isn’t a team in baseball with as deep a staff of sensational young arms. Walker Buehler is 26 and a proven star. Julio Urias is 24, he made 10 starts last season, never lost, and closed out the World Series. Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin are 23 and 27, they made 18 starts, combined for 103 innings and both had ERAs around 2.50.

And just to top it off, the Dodgers signed Trevor Bauer. They’re also bringing back David Price, who can start or relieve.

In the pen, Brustar Graterol is the next flame-thrower you’ll be talking about. He’s got a 99 mph sinker…let that roll around in your mind for a while. In 2020 batters actually had a negative launch angle against Graterol; they couldn’t help but beat the ball into the ground.

Pessi-me: I totally get why the Los Angeles Dodgers are preseason favorites. If I were in Vegas, I’d bet on them too. Just don’t get your hopes up too high. The Dodgers are already facing a situation where they either win the World Series again in 2021 or the whole season is a failure.

The Padres made a lot of improvements this winter. Take them for granted and Dodger fans may be in for a very unwelcome surprise. And if the Dodgers fall out of first, winning one of those two wild card spots could be a challenge. Remember, the NL Central is weak this season. Those teams will be playing a lot easier schedule than LA.

That isn’t to predict the Dodgers missing the playoffs. But it could happen.

Opti-me: And pigs could fly, but don’t hold your breath. Obviously, this is the year of a Dodger repeat. But go ahead and play the season out anyway, if only for the entertainment value of it.