MLBRT 11/31/2024

 

   

The questions and discussion…  

The Los Angeles Dodgers captured the eight title in franchise history by finishing off the New  York Yankees in a Game 5 thriller by a 7-6 score…

With that in mind…

1) What is your opinion of this year’s World Series? Why? 

For this World Series to be mostly favoring one side and only going five games, this was a very entertaining and interesting World Series. Each game was close for most of the game, including Game 4 until the eighth inning hit and the Yankees pulled away, almost putting the game completely out-of-hand. However, each game featured home runs and a lot of offensive output.

You saw two old rivals, both originally rivals from New York, on a West Coast v East Coast battle with two of the biggest fanbases in the game today. We saw Aaron Judge (despite his awful performance) and Shohei Ohtani go up against each other. We saw two huge payrolls go up against each other. We saw battles each game. 6-3, 4-2, 4-2, 11-4, 7-6. Each game was close and was anybody’s game with a swing of the bat. This was a fantastic World Series for it ending in only five games. 

I don’t think this World Series was one of the best ever played but I also don’t think it was one of the worst ever played either. It was somewhere in the middle leaning towards being a pretty good Series. The problem was the Dodgers were just too good of team this year and I think most fans (including myself unless it’s my team doing the winning in the Series) like a Series that goes the full seven games rather than a short Series. It just makes for more exciting and suspenseful baseball.

However this Series definitely did not lack for star power or power hitting or HRs. Overall it was a decent World Series that was won by the better team.  

2) Freddie Freeman, who homered in four straight games and tied the record for most RBI in a single World Series was rightfully voted as the World Series Most Valuable Player…

How do you rate Freeman all time among all World Series MVPs? Why?

Freddie Freeman had one of the best World Series’ performances of all-time. He hit a home run in six consecutive World Series games, including the first four of this series. He drove in 12 runs, which ties a World Series record, and a championship win probability added of 29 percent. He was unstoppable and the leading catalyst for the Dodgers who started off the World Series with a walk-off Grand Slam in Game 1. His performance was absolutely unbelievable, and this was, hands-down, one of the best World Series performances ever.

We witnessed history. 

Here is a small sample of what Freeman did to justify winning the World Series MVP…

His first HR of the Word Series was a walk-off grand slam in Game 1, the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history.

His game four HR made Freeman the first player to hit a HR in each of the first four games of any World Series ever.

His 12 RBIs tied a World Series record that Bobby Richardson set in 1960. He did it in five games while Richardson did it in seven.

I’m going to say that overall Freeman’ historic performance in this year’s World Series ranks among the top five ever in. World Series history.

3) What’s next for the Los Angeles Dodgers… what do they need to do to have their team back in the playoffs in 2025 and a possible return to the World Series? Why?

What’s next for the Dodgers is maintaining their offense. Getting everybody healthy, taking this all in and going for it again. They need to get Shohei Ohtani on the mound. They need to bolster up their starting rotation a little bit more. Just get more solid all-around.

Keep crushing the ball. They have one of the best offenses in baseball. If they want to be the favorite coming into next season by a long-shot, they should go after Juan Soto, which they’ve been noted as going to be very involved in this offseason. Getting starting pitching and more pitching depth is going to set them apart. They already have a one-through-nine line-up of hitters. Maintain that and add pitching. 

First and foremost about the  Dodgers is that their minor league development system is one of the best in MLB and is why they are able to pull of deals by adding in an extra player where other teams can’t add that extra touch/piece to finish off trades for key players.  

Second, the Dodgers owners are willing to spend and not only spend but they are very willing to go the limit and beyond by out spending every other MLB league, including the Yankees, if it comes down to being the move to close the a deal for a player that they want.

With that in mind…

The Dodgers certainly have the look of a team that could dominate the game for years to come especially when talking about the team’s offense… led by their three-headed monster of sorts in  Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman the Dodgers will lack for no small amount of firepower at the top of their order then in no particular order they follow those three players with Max Muncy, Will Smith, Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández making for a heck of powerful lineup that tends to destroy opposing pitcher by having almost no weak spots in their everyday lineup. They can easily get by next season with that lineup as it now exists but if the Dodgers truly want to become the new Evil Empire in MLB then they could put Juan Soto, the star free agent of the upcoming off-season, on their shopping list. Adding Soto would make this Dodger deadly line up even more devastating than ever to opposing teams and their pitching staffs.

Teoscar Hernández is a free agent, but the Dodgers GM and his agent should be able to get a deal done quickly this off-season and I would be surprised to not see that get done. But they should try to get it done sooner rather than later so it doesn’t wind mucking up things when trying to close other deals to fix up perceived weak spots.

But what will most likely make the Dodgers an even better team next season than they were this season is to shore up their starting pitching. Too many times the Dodgers relied on bullpen games as their fifth starter during the season and their fourth starter during the playoffs. They have a potential Cy Young winner in Tyler Glasnow leading off for their starters and then potentially have Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw to follow him up in their rotation. But for that rotation to be effective those three guys need to stay healthy for the entire season.  

So if the Dodgers want to make the 2025 edition of the team to be better than the 2024 edition then they need to target at least one of the top free agent starters if not two of those free agents among these pitchers… Corbin Burnes (2.95 ERA/1.11 WHIP),  Jack Flaherty (3.27 ERA/1.07 WHIP), Max Fried (3.42 ERA/1.19 WHIP) and Blake Snell (3.12/1.05 WHIP).

 They do that and they could be almost unbeatable next season.  

4) And…

Is this Dodgers’ win in this year’s World Series the beginning of a new dynasty in MLB? Why or why not?

I think this is the beginning of a new dynasty for the Dodgers.

Not only do they have one of the best offenses in baseball, but they have Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani as a huge offensive trio. If they add Juan Soto, this offense is going to be unstoppable. They would have non-stop killers at the top half of the line-up, which would cause absolute nightmares for even the best pitchers in the game.

Right now, the Dodgers can only improve and get better. They have the money. They’re willing to spend it. They’re in the right market. They’re going to come back stronger next season and go for a second consecutive title. And, over the next five seasons, I think they’re going to get a couple more World Series trophies to add to their case. 

See my answer for Question three.

And I would add that if this Dodgers team can keep this team as it presently is with the improvements I suggested in that answer then…

Yes, this could be the beginning of a new and very impressive dynasty in MLB.

5) What’s next for the New York Yankees… what do they need to do to have their team back in the playoffs in 2025 and a possible return to the World Series? Why?

What’s next for the New York Yankees is to bolster up their offense and ensure Juan Soto stays in New York. The difference he made for the Yankees was the reasoning on why they got to the World Series.

The other problem the Yankees are facing is the utter disappearance of Aaron Judge when the time he needs to awaken the most appears. Not only did he have a big error, in a slew of errors that allowed the Dodgers to get back in the game and tie it up during Game 5, but Aaron Judge was absolutely awful. Seven strikeouts, four hits, 18 at-bats. For the championship win probability added measure I gave for Freddie Freeman, Aaron Judge came in a negative one. Yes, negative one. For an MVP candidate who is a monster hitter during the season. For him to be this awful the entire playoffs is not going to launch the Yankees back to hoisting the World Series Trophy.

And, they need to keep adding offense. If the Dodgers present this type of line-up game in and game out, the Yankees’ goal should be to match it. They came close, and they know they need some more offensive firepower to offset Aaron Judge’s hiding during the postseason. Yankees have the money to do it. But first thing’s first, re-sign Juan Soto. Immediately. Pay him whatever he wants. Then bolster up the offense and strengthen the supporting cast. 

Signing Soto is probably number 1 on the Yankees to do list but it should not be done to the point where it interferes or overwhelms the team’s negotiations for players to fix  other holes in their everyday lineup.  

Then they need to decide if Jazz Chisholm  is their everyday third baseman. If not then they need t ogo out and get one either by trade or through free agency.

Then they have to also decide is Gleyber Torres going to be able to fix his sometimes defensive hiccups at second and if he can put together two half seasons of consistent top of the order offense or if they need to shop around for his replacement now rather than taking a gamble he can fix his defense and be their top of the order guy.

And then first base is also an issue…  has Anthony Rizzo seen his best days as a MLB player? Or can he stay healthy for a full season as well as having his  bat looking more like it did during his days in Chicago than it has in his last two seasons in a Yankees uniform.  Or do they move Chisholm over to first and let Rizzo go? And if they move Chisholm then they definitely need a third baseman.

And then they need to shore up their rotation…

Ace Gerrit Cole can opt out of his present deal, but if he does, the Yankees can void his decision by adding another year at $36 million. Yes, he is coming off a an elbow injury and when he first came back he battled some inconsistency but Cole in my opinion is worth the “gamble” and the Yankees need to resolve his contract situation one way or another.

Then, as with the Dodgers, the Yanks need to go after one, if not two, of the following freeg agent starters… Corbin Burnes (2.95 ERA/1.11 WHIP),  Jack Flaherty (3.27 ERA/1.07 WHIP), Max Fried (3.42 ERA/1.19 WHIP) and Blake Snell (3.12/1.05 WHIP).

The Yankees do all that and they should be more than good to go for next season and have a better than decent shot at repeating as the AL team in next year’s World  Series.

Extra Innings…