This year couldn’t have gone much better for the Dodgers.
They won their first full-season World Series championship since 1988 and second title in the last five seasons. They were transformed on and off the field by Shohei Ohtani, who lived up to every expectation in the first season of his 10-year, $700-million contract. And as the new year approaches, they will pursue dynasty status, trying to become the fifth franchise in MLB’s live ball era to win three championships in a six-year span.
Already this offseason, they’ve begun positioning themselves with several important moves. They signed two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell. They retained slugging outfielder Teoscar Hernández and top reliever Blake Treinen. They even extended key utility man Tommy Edman. As a result, at this early juncture, they are the clear-cut favorites to win the World Series next season.
More moves remain to be made before the team reports to spring training in early February. As the calendar flips to 2025, here are four New Year’s resolutions for the club.
When Craig Counsell was lured away from the Milwaukee Brewers by the Chicago Cubs last offseason, it set a new benchmark for managerial salaries. Five years, $40 million.
This winter, Dave Roberts might be poised to break it.
The Dodgers are expected to negotiate a lucrative contract extension with their longtime manager, ahead of what would be the final year of the three-year extension he signed in 2022. And barely a year after Counsell reset the expectation for top manager contracts, Roberts has the credentials to reestablish the market.
Roberts’ nine-season tenure in L.A. has been marked with highs and lows, but his résumé speaks for itself: eight division titles, four National League pennants, two World Series titles and the highest winning percentage in MLB history (outside of the Negro Leagues).
Last season might have been Roberts’ most impressive feat, as he helped the Dodgers navigate a litany of pitching injuries and a fraught postseason pitching plan to join franchise icons Tommy Lasorda and Walter Alston as a winners of multiple World Series. The question now: How handsomely will the Dodgers reward him?
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