LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 The party\u2019s over and now the Los Angeles Dodgers are turning to 2026 with designs on winning a third consecutive World Series.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s better than two?\u201d manager Dave Roberts asked at the team\u2019s rally at Dodger Stadium on Monday. \u201cThree \u2014 three-peat! Three-peat!\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts said he\u2019d gotten permission from his friend Pat Riley to use the phrase that the Miami Heat president trademarked in 1988.<\/p>\n
Soft-spoken and rarely seen team owner Mark Walter vowed to be \u201cback next year\u201d for another championship celebration.<\/p>\n
First baseman Freddie Freeman told a sold out crowd, \u201cJob in 2024, done. Job in 2025, done. Job in 2026 starts now.\u201d<\/p>\n
With three titles in the last six years, the Dodgers next will attempt to equal the New York Yankees, who were the last team to win three consecutive championships from 1998-2000.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m already thinking about the third time we\u2019re going to do this,\u201d two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani said.<\/p>\n
It certainly seems possible. The team brings back all of its biggest names, alternately striking fear and grudging admiration in the hearts of baseball\u2019s other 29 teams.<\/p>\n
Andrew Friedman, president of baseball operations, has already referred to this time as \u201cthe golden era of Dodgers baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throw in five National League pennants in the last nine years and 12 NL West titles in 13 years and, well, the word dynasty is becoming synonymous with the Dodgers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think definitionally it\u2019s a dynasty,\u201d Friedman said. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s still evolving and growing and we want to add to it and we want to continue it and do everything we can to put it at a level where people after us have a hard time reaching.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Dodgers won the title last year mixing and matching their relievers. This season, the starting rotation survived a string of injuries to return in time to pitch the team to its ninth World Series title in franchise history.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really an exceptional, exceptional staff,\u201d Phillies president Dave Dombrowski said after his team lost to the Dodgers in the NL Division Series. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to beat them, you\u2019re really going to have to do everything right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ohtani was brought along slowly in his return to the mound this season after rehabbing from elbow surgery in December 2023. He produced another NL MVP-worthy season at the plate and with no restrictions on the mound next year could do things few think possible.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers have seven free agents, although three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw officially retired when the World Series ended.<\/p>\n
The two most prominent are Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez and Game 7 hero Miguel Rojas, whose home run tied the game in the ninth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers figure to make a push to bring Hern\u00e1ndez back. He was a regular starter in the postseason where some of his biggest exploits have occurred. Rojas has been valuable off the bench the last three years and his ability to play all three infield positions helped the team withstand injuries to Max Muncy and Tommy Edman. But he\u2019s 36 and the Dodgers may want to acquire youth off the bench.<\/p>\n
The other four free agents are Michael Conforto and pitchers Andrew Heaney, Michael Kopech and Kirby Yates. None of them made any of the team\u2019s postseason rosters.<\/p>\n
Conforto hit .199 and never lived up to his $17 million, one-year deal despite spending most of the season as the starting left fielder. Yates, who came in on a $13 million, one-year deal, had a 5.23 ERA in 41 1\/3 innings pitched. He had three stints on the injured list and at 38 has hinted he might retire.<\/p>\n
Kopech was part of a dominant bullpen that helped carry the Dodgers to their 2024 championship. But he began this season on the injured list and later had knee surgery. He was relegated to pitching in 14 games before his season ended in September with another IL stint.<\/p>\n
Heaney signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in August and got called up on the next-to-last day of the regular season. He made one appearance, but more memorably he was the 62nd player used by the team, setting a franchise record.<\/p>\n
Kershaw has been offered a job with the team by Friedman, so he may be a continuing presence around Chavez Ravine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know they\u2019re going to get one more next year,\u201d he told the fans, \u201cand I\u2019m going to watch just like all of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston in Philadelphia contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/p>\n
Beth Harris, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 The party\u2019s over and now the Los Angeles Dodgers are turning to 2026 with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,77,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-261261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-international","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}