Eagles just gave every MLB fanbase hope that the Dodgers are mortal after all

Before the Super Bowl, most of what I heard was that the Philadelphia Eagles wouldn’t be able to defeat Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Mahomes is inevitable, they claimed. The referees won’t let the Eagles win, they chirped. Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo clear Nick Sirianni and Vic Fangio, they said. The Chiefs will three-peat. I heard it all. We all heard it.

But the Eagles, despite being underdogs, had a roster full of young talent. They had a tremendous coaching staff, led by Sirianni, Fangio and Kellen Moore. They struggled to start the regular season, going 2-2, and eventually finished the regular season 14-3. They got by the Packers and Rams. They steamrolled the Commanders. Then, in Super Bowl 59, absolutely clobbered the Chiefs 40-22.

Watching this, I thought: I told you so! But I also thought, 'Can’t someone do this to the Los Angeles Dodgers, too?'

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If the Chiefs are beatable, so are the Los Angeles Dodgers

The Chiefs and Dodgers are both in very similar situations: they’re dominant franchises which feel like dynasties (the Chiefs are a dynasty; the Dodgers are emerging as one). Each year, they are expected to win championships. The Chiefs, led by Mahomes, have the best player in football. The Dodgers, led by Shohei Ohtani, have the best player in baseball.

The difference between the two teams is that the Dodgers have significantly more star power, with the roster featuring Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki, Will Smith, Tommy Edman and Max Muncy, among others. They are, without a doubt, the best roster in baseball, and quite possibly in baseball history.

But sports are played on the field rather than on paper. Injuries happen in the NFL all the time. They happen even more in baseball, where players are asked to play in 162-game seasons. That’s not even including the playoffs.

The Dodgers are always beatable, despite what their roster suggests

Last year, the Dodgers’ depth was tested, especially in the pitching staff during the regular season and even in the postseason. They overcame it, defeating the San Diego Padres and New York Yankees, among others, on their way to a dominant World Series victory. Their depth will surely be tested once again this season. It’s baseball. Whether or not the result will be the same is unclear.

Right now, most other teams are being written off or overlooked before the regular season even starts. But the Padres still have immense talent, even after a slow offseason. The Diamondbacks, two years removed from the World Series, added Corbin Burnes. The Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves and New York Mets’ rosters feature enough talent to beat anyone, even the Dodgers.

What the Super Bowl underscored is that no team should be overlooked. Not even the Eagles, who seemed to be on the verge of firing their coach after Week 5. So when you hear that the Dodgers are inevitable, that their spending isn’t fair to the 29 other teams in baseball … I hear you. We all hear you.

Even the Dodgers, for as deep and talented as they are and as favored as they are, are not unbeatable. And we certainly shouldn’t overlook one of the five other National League teams listed above.