The Los Angeles Dodgers have established a dynasty with back-to-back World Series titles and three in the last six seasons, but despite their recent success, they haven’t slowed down.
Many teams often regress after winning a World Series, and some owners use the championship as a reason to lower the payroll moving forward, as they know their fans will be satisfied by the World Series victory. But the Dodgers have acted in the opposite way.
After winning the 2024 World Series, they signed two of the top free agents available, Blake Snell and Tanner Scott, to improve their roster. After winning the 2025 World Series, the Dodgers once again added two of the top free agents—Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz.
Fans across the league have argued the Dodgers are ruining baseball with their spending, and it has been reported that even some players around the league feel they don’t have a chance to compete with L.A.
But Jackson Merrill wants the San Diego Padres to ignore the outside noise related to the Dodgers and just focus on themselves as the season approaches, via 97.3 The Fan:
“No. I don’t really think anything about that. I don’t think that should be the focus. I think the focus should be winning baseball games against every team. I don’t think focusing on the Dodgers is going to help us win at all. I think if you focus on a certain team, when you get to play that team, you’re going to tense up, you’re not going to be the same team. We’ve got to go into that series like we’re playing anybody else, that’s how it is. Everybody has a good baseball team nowadays, nobody is bad, pitching is good everywhere. So they might’ve added a couple of bats and stuff, but we’ve got to go in, and we’ve got to play hard. That’s the only way we’re going to beat them.”
The Padres have been the Dodgers’ biggest threat in the National League West for the past few seasons, and the two teams have met up numerous times in the postseason.
The Dodgers eliminated the Padres in the 2020 NL Division Series before the Padres got revenge in 2022. The Padres also nearly eliminated the Dodgers in the 2024 NLDS, but the Dodgers prevailed in Game 5.
San Diego was unable to make it out of the Wild Card series in 2025, but still finished the season with 90 wins, the fifth-best record in the NL. They have taken a step back this season after losing Dylan Cease to the Toronto Blue Jays, among others in free agency, but still expect to be the second-best team in the NL West.
Dodgers delayed baseball activities
The Dodgers became the first team in 25 years to repeat as World Series champions, which guaranteed another shortened offseason for the second straight year. The club had just over three months to recover before pitchers and catchers hold their first Spring Training workout at Camelback Ranch on Thursday, Feb. 13.
Max Muncy shared that many of his teammates will still be ramping up when Spring Training workouts begin next month after spending increased time resting this offseason.
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