Los Angeles Dodgers' best-case, worst-case and most realistic scenarios for 2024
By Bill Felber
The Los Angeles Dodgers have the highest expectations entering 2024 of any of the 30 MLB teams. That's the curse of spending big-time.
Los Angeles Dodgers' Best-Case Scenario
The Dodgers’ best-case scenario is no secret: all-world domination. It involves winning the World Series, sweeping the MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year, setting an all-time record for victories, and maybe getting Mookie Betts elected president.
This is, after all, a team that won 100 games last season, then added the most prized free agent (Shohei Ohtani) and the most prized Japanese import (Yoshinobu Yamamoto).
Since the Series victory is more or less assumed, let’s do the math on the wins record. It’s 116, shared by the 1906 Cubs and the 2011 Seattle Mariners. That’s 16 more than LA won last season. Are the offseason pickups – Ohtani, Yamamoto, trade acquisition Tyler Glasnow and injury returnees Gavin Lux and (eventually) Walker Buehler worth 16 games? Who’s to say no to this juggernaut?
The more intriguing question might be whether the Dodgers can set a new all-time record for winning percentage. For teams playing more than 150 games, that’s held by the 1906 Cubs, who went 116-36 with two ties, a .763 percentage.
To hit .764 over 162 games and assuming no ties, the Dodgers would have to win 124 games, losing only 38. Even for a super-team, that’s aspirational.