MLB.com “Dodgers Likely to Win the NL West… There is No Competition”
SF and SD, which recruited Lee Jeong-hoo and Go Woo-seok, are undervalued… “Can’t narrow the gap”
It is predicted that the Los Angeles Dodgers will dominate the American Professional Baseball (MLB) National League (NL) West Division for the third consecutive year.
On the 25th (Korean time), MLB.com selected the Dodgers as the team with the highest probability of defending the title among the six teams that won the district championship last year. 바카라사이트
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers, who recorded the most wins (111 wins, 51 losses) in the club’s history in a season in 2022,
won 100 wins (62 losses) last year and rose to the top of the NL West Division.
MLB.com explained, “The Dodgers have won the district championship 10 times in the past 11 seasons,” and “regardless of how they spent this off-season,
they have the highest chance of defending the title.”
The Dodgers’ aggressive move to recruit free agent (FA) players one after another,
including Shohei Ohtani, gave strength to this outlook.
The Dodgers signed Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto for 12 years and $325 million and also had top starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow.
In the batting lineup, long hitter Teoscar Hernández was recruited to add firepower to a lineup that included Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
MLB.com
MLB.com said, “Last year, the Dodgers beat all of their competitors in the district,
but their performance improved through the off-season.
There is no clear competitor in the NL West, he analyzed.
He also said, “That does not mean that the competing teams in the district have narrowed the gap with the Dodgers much,”
pointing out the situations of the San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, and Arizona Diamondbacks.
MLB.com said, ” “San Diego is without Juan Soto (who left for the New York Yankees) and is likely to lose (free agent) Blake Snell,” he said, adding, “San Francisco had to watch Ohtani and Yamamoto choose the Dodgers.”
It is a cold assessment that leaves a bitter feeling for Lee Jeong-hoo (San Francisco) and Go Woo-seok (San Diego),
who will wear the uniforms of both teams starting in the 2024 season.
Regarding Arizona, the media said, “Although they made it to the World Series last year,
the gap with the Dodgers in the regular season was 16 games.”
Excluding the Dodgers, the Atlanta Braves (NL East), Houston Astros (AL West), Minnesota Twins (AL Central), Baltimore Orioles (AL East), and Milwaukee Brewers (NL Central) were predicted to have a high chance of defending the title in that order.