LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers didn't just fall short of lofty expectations during the regular season. For a large chunk of it, they were basically mediocre. They began with a 23-10 record and ended, after a well-timed meeting by their manager, with 15 wins in a stretch of 20 games. But in between, from May 4 to Sept. 7, the Dodgers were 56-54, a mere two games above .500 in a 110-game sample. Their rotation was hurt, their bullpen was a mess, their lineup was inconsistent, and until the very end, they displayed scant signs of a team equipped to defend a championship.
Now they're a juggernaut.
The Dodgers have steamrolled through this postseason, winning seven of eight and going 4-0 away from home. They breezed past the Cincinnati Reds in the wild-card round, outscoring them 18-9, then faced a Philadelphia Phillies team widely considered the most talented in this playoff field and dispatched it in four games. They have since taken control of the National League Championship Series with back-to-back road wins over the No. 1-seeded Milwaukee Brewers.
Barring the unforeseen -- teams that have won the first two road games in a best-of-seven format have prevailed in that series 25 of 28 times -- the Dodgers will become the first club since the 2009 Phillies to return to the World Series a year after winning it. Six more wins and the Dodgers will become baseball's first repeat champions in a quarter century. Nothing is guaranteed, but that they're even in this position -- with Shohei Ohtani slumping offensively, no less -- is remarkable when considering recent circumstances.
The Dodgers were on a 91-win pace as they approached the final week of the regular season. Had that remained the case and had they not ended it on a five-game winning streak, they would've tied for the lowest full-season wins total since Andrew Friedman took over baseball operations at the end of the 2014 season. In other words, the team many believed might challenge the wins record was making a case as the franchise's worst in a decade. Friedman acknowledged that reality then, but countered by expressing his belief that this might be the best roster he has ever taken into October.
That has borne out, and there are four main reasons why.
The starting pitching has been dominant
The Dodgers' rotation hasn't just been dominant, actually -- it has been historic. Its postseason ERA stands at just 1.54, on pace to be the second-lowest all time among teams that played in at least eight playoff games. Only the 1983 Baltimore Orioles posted a lower mark.
In other words, the Dodgers' foursome of Ohtani, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow has been better -- so far, at least -- than the 1996 Atlanta Braves of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz. Better than a 1912 New York Giants staff, led by Christy Mathewson, which pitched in the dead ball era. Better than a 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks team that rode the dominance of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling to a title. Better, even, than a 1981 Dodgers rotation featuring Fernando Valenzuela, Jerry Reuss and Burt Hooton.
That '81 Dodgers team set a franchise record with 11 games of starting pitchers going at least six innings and allowing no more than three runs in their march to a championship. The 2025 Dodgers, despite existing in an era of heavy bullpen use, have already received seven such starts. The only time they didn't was in Game 3 of the NL Division Series, when Yamamoto's outing was abbreviated by a prolonged fourth inning. Six days later, he went to Milwaukee -- the place where he failed to escape the first inning on July 7 -- and threw the first postseason complete game in eight years.
"I don't know if you can write enough words in your stories about our starting pitching," Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said. "It really has been amazing. They seem to feed off each other."
Any complaints about the Dodgers' spending, and the perceived imbalance it has caused, begin with the rotation. During a 10-day stretch in December 2023, they signed Ohtani to an unprecedented contract ($700 million guaranteed, with $680 million deferred), acquired and extended Glasnow (for more than $130 million over five years) and lavished Yamamoto with the largest deal ever given to a starting pitcher (12 years, $325 million). Then, they won the World Series behind a patchwork rotation, targeted Snell and landed him on a five-year, $182 million contract less than 12 months later.
The Dodgers, who later lured Roki Sasaki from Japan and brought Clayton Kershaw back for one more season, began the year with thoughts of fielding one of the best starting staffs in baseball history. But Sasaki struggled, Ohtani's pitching progression played out methodically as he returned from a second elbow repair, and Glasnow and Snell missed extended time with shoulder injuries. It wasn't until around late August that the strength of the Dodgers' rotation truly revealed itself, and it did so emphatically.
Dodgers starters posted a 2.07 ERA over the last month of the regular season, by far the lowest in the majors, and have somehow reached another level ever since. Snell has limited the Reds, Phillies and Brewers to two runs on six hits in 21 innings. Yamamoto -- four earned runs on 13 hits in 19⅔ innings -- has been nearly as dominant behind him. Glasnow, the Game 3 starter, shut the Phillies out through six innings in L.A. Ohtani, the Game 4 starter, allowed three runs in six innings against them in Philadelphia.
The four have combined to limit Elly De La Cruz, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Christian Yelich, Brice Turang and William Contreras to six hits in 59 at-bats, with 23 strikeouts.
"It's just incredible," Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. "We said before this postseason started -- our starting pitching was going to be what carried us. And so far, it's been exactly that."
Sasaki went from disappointing starter to lights-out closer
There might not have been a bigger development in this Dodgers season than what took place at their Arizona complex in early September, when Rob Hill, their director of pitching, and Ian Walsh, their pitching performance coordinator, got Sasaki to flex his back leg to prevent his pelvis from tipping forward and thus recapture the life on his fastball.
As the regular season winded down and their title defense approached, the Dodgers found themselves with few answers late in games. Tanner Scott, the free agent splurge who was supposed to anchor the back end of their bullpen, had been a dud in his first season in L.A. Kirby Yates, another offseason pickup, wasn't much better. The likes of Blake Treinen, Michael Kopech and Evan Phillips, catalysts in their bullpen-fueled run last fall, were either bad, inconsistent or injured. By the end of the regular season, Dodgers relievers had combined for a 4.27 ERA and 27 blown saves.
Then, Sasaki closed out the wild-card round by overwhelming the Reds with a triple-digit fastball and gravity-defying splitter, capturing the imagination of a team that had grown desperate in its search for a ninth-inning solution. That he did it twice more in Philadelphia, recording the final out in back-to-back road wins to begin the NLDS, then pitched three perfect innings in the Dodgers' clinching victory over the Phillies in Game 4, only worked to solidify a crucial point:
The Dodgers' most glaring weakness had suddenly become one of their greatest strengths, all because of one improbable turnaround.
"Since coming back, coming in from the bullpen, he's honestly one of the best pitchers I've ever seen," Glasnow said. "His stuff is incredible. He's locked in around the strike zone. For him to start the season how he did and then come back now -- it's one of the craziest things I've ever seen."
The industry widely anticipated growing pains when Sasaki transitioned to the States, but they were more amplified than expected. He struggled through his first eight major league starts, then spent four months on the injured list with a shoulder impingement, went to Triple-A and was throwing his fastball in the low 90s. Hill and Walsh identified an important cue, but trainer Travis Smith worked diligently to help Sasaki add strength to his wiry frame, and Sasaki himself fully embraced a high-leverage bullpen role, exhibiting a poise that has inspired confidence in those around him. Now, so much seems to hinge on Sasaki's success.
If he remains dominant, the Dodgers look unbeatable. If he falters, their late-game model crumbles. Outside of Emmet Sheehan, another young starter who's still adapting to a bullpen role, Alex Vesia, who has been used a lot this season, and Treinen, who has been inconsistent, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts doesn't seem to trust anybody else to hold leads late. His hope is that Sasaki's wobbly ninth inning in NLCS Game 1 -- when he issued two walks, a double and a sacrifice fly before exiting -- was more an anomaly than the start of a troubling trend.
Sasaki was pitching four days after his nine-out, 36-pitch relief appearance, and his fastball velocity was slightly down.
The Dodgers certainly noticed.
"We're still in sort of uncharted territory with him," Roberts said. "We're still gathering information, and he's certainly doing everything he can to stay ready and be ready and be productive. But it's something that's certainly on our radar."
Mookie Betts learned shortstop and fixed his swing
Betts poured himself into the task of becoming a major league shortstop over the offseason -- taking ground balls daily, traveling to high school and collegiate fields all over Southern California, seeking input from infield coach Chris Woodward, close friend Ryan Goins and even former All-Star Troy Tulowitzki -- but whether he would be able to stick at one of the sport's most demanding positions remained an open question when games began to matter again. Even to him.
"I just didn't know," Betts said.
Seven months later, Betts has not only made it through an entire season at shortstop, a transition that, as a former right fielder in his 30s, was largely without precedent; he has somehow become an asset at the position. Betts contributed five outs above average during the regular season, tied with the likes of Geraldo Perdomo, Willy Adames and Francisco Lindor. His 17 defensive runs saved were tied with Taylor Walls for the major league lead at the position. On Wednesday, he was announced as one of three Gold Glove finalists.
But what really ignited the Dodgers was Betts getting back to who he has always been offensively.
Betts began the season with an illness that caused him to shed close to 20 pounds and navigated the worst four-month stretch of his career, slashing .240/.313/.369 by the end of July. Then his season took a drastic turn. In August and September, Betts slashed .294/.351/.478, once again serving as a catalyst between Ohtani and Freeman. In two wild-card games, he accumulated six hits in nine at-bats. Betts needed time not only to regain his weight and strength, but to sustain it while navigating the rigors of a season.
"I finally got all that back and was able to fix a couple of mechanics and didn't really have to try and add on power anymore," Betts said. "I could just swing and let it do its thing."
His mindset also helped.
On Aug. 8, Betts snapped a 23-game homerless drought and later made a declaration. "My season's kind of over," he said. It began with the debilitating stomach bug but also included a broken toe and the death of his stepfather. He admitted to spiraling at times. In his mind, the numbers would not be salvaged. Accepting that allowed him to focus on team-first at-bats and not get bogged down by his stat line. It was freeing.
"I think he was resolved to just let that go, play for the present and the future and play to help the team win," said Roberts, who shares a close relationship with Betts. "I think that just took a lot of pressure off him."
Betts has made every defensive play in this postseason, including a handful of difficult ones to his left. Playing shortstop now, he said, feels like playing right field, where he accumulated six Gold Gloves. He no longer has to think about it. And though his bat has slowed in these past two rounds -- he was 4-for-24 against the Phillies and Brewers -- the Dodgers can be confident it has more to do with the difficulty of hitting at this stage than it does Betts' own struggles.
They execute when it matters
Champagne and beer flowed inside a tarped-off batting cage after the Dodgers advanced to the NLCS on Oct. 9, the third such celebration in a span of two weeks, and Enrique Hernández was asked to reveal the secret behind the Dodgers' success.
"The talent we have," Hernández said, identifying the obvious -- but he added a caveat.
"Talent on paper is one thing, but in reality, that's not what wins games," Hernández said in Spanish. "What wins games is what goes on inside the lines. We've created an incredible culture here where we play baseball the right way. We play winning baseball. There's a lot of teams throughout the league that are super talented, but they don't play the right way. They don't do the little things."
Hernández didn't single out any teams. But he could have been talking about the New York Yankees, who fumbled away a championship with a comedy of errors in the fifth inning of Game 5 in last year's World Series, including a dropped fly ball, an errant throw and some ill-timed miscommunication. He could have been talking about the Phillies, whose 2025 season ended when one of their relievers, Orion Kerkering, threw wide of home in a pressure-packed moment. Really, though, he was talking about the Dodgers, who have been through so many of these games together that they seem more adept at navigating the pressure and the noise than most.
Never was it more evident than in the ninth inning of NLDS Game 2, when the Dodgers halted a furious Phillies rally by perfectly executing the wheel play on a sacrifice bunt to get the lead runner at third base, prompting their second of four straight road wins in these playoffs.
"A lot of our guys have been through things, and we don't panic," Roberts said. "We sort of stay the course."
Their offense might slump, their pitchers might struggle, even their defense might falter. But the Dodgers have seemingly become masters at managing the calamity that October tends to present. Hernández, with a postseason OPS 178 points higher than his regular-season one, stands as a prime example. Others -- Snell, Tommy Edman, Teoscar Hernandez -- have shown a knack for elevating their games in the playoffs. On the whole, though, a Dodgers team that was long defined by postseason failures has in recent years earned a reputation for doing the exact opposite.
It doesn't matter if their rotation is in shambles, or their bullpen is a mess, or their first baseman is hobbled, or their best player is in the midst of a prolonged slump -- they find a way.
"Two years ago we went through the worst, last year we went through the best," Enrique Hernández said, referencing a 2023 team that was eliminated in the NLDS for a second straight year. "When you go through the worst and you go through the best, you learn a lot about each other. You learn to care more and more about each other as teammates, as a team. We're just a team that -- we're gonna figure out how to win a ballgame."