Los Angeles Dodgers 2025 Opening Day roster projections 1.0

Top to bottom of the best teams on paper we've ever seen.
World Series - Los Angeles Dodgers v New York Yankees - Game 5
World Series - Los Angeles Dodgers v New York Yankees - Game 5 / Jim McIsaac/GettyImages
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On paper, the 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers are about as stacked as any team we've ever seen in baseball. They loaded up an already championship-caliber roster with Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki, Tanner Scott and more additions, and are already heavy favorites to win the NL West title and hoist another World Series Trophy in November. With Opening Day for L.A. against the Chicago Cubs coming just over a month and a half, the world will witness this juggernaut in action. It all starts with this absurdly talented roster constructed with pinpoint precision.

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Dodgers Opening Day starting rotation (5)

  • Blake Snell
  • Yoshinobu Yamamoto
  • Tyler Glasnow
  • Roki Sasaki
  • Tony Gonsolin

With Shohei Ohtani not likely to return to the mound by Opening Day, these are the five I'm penciling into the starting rotation. The Dodgers' rotation is stacked from top to bottom, offering teams little hope that they can compete. The addition of Snell was a monster splash at the start of the offseason, and winning the Sasaki Sweepstakes was icing on the cake.

The Dodgers also have plenty of depth to pull from in Dustin May, Bobby Miller, Tony Gonsolin and Landon Knack. Even scarier to realize is that the Dodgers have one of the top farm systems in baseball — consisting of six top-100 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline — so trading for even more talent is also an option.

Dodgers Opening Day bullpen (8)

  • Dustin May
  • Alex Vesia
  • Anthony Banda
  • Evan Phillips
  • Michael Kopech
  • Blake Treinen
  • Kirby Yates
  • Tanner Scott

Again, just overloaded with talent. The top five relievers in the Dodgers' bullpen — Phillips, Kopech, Treinen, Yates, and Scott — are all good enough to be closers on another team. Instead, they all play for L.A., who, any day one of their starters goes at least five innings, can slam the door shut mostly every night from there on out.

The addition of Scott gave this team one of, if not the best, bullpen on paper going into 2025. Then, they snatched Kirby Yates to add insult to injury for the rest of the league that was still looking for a backend bullpen arm. The Dodgers have several arms capable of closing games, and if you thought their bullpen was a strength last year, it will be almost comical how good they will be this year.

Dodgers Opening Day lineup and bench (13)

1. Shohei Ohtani, DH
2. Mookie Betts, SS
3. Freddie Freeman, 1B
4. Teoscar Hernandez, RF
5. Will Smith, C
6. Max Muncy, 3B
7. Michael Conforto, LF
8. Tommy Edman, CF
9. Hyeseong Kim, 2B

Bench: Austin Barnes, Chris Taylor, Miguel Rojas, Andy Pages

This lineup, rotation and bullpen don't have one weak spot in them. The Dodgers are an obvious choice to be the No. 1 offense in the league. They should also have no problem, barring injury, being one of the most dominant rotations we've ever seen. This team is set to be a dynasty reminiscent of the 1960s Boston Celtics.

For any non-Dodger fan looking at the lineup and roster, the thought is mutually the same: The Dodgers are ruining baseball with how much they've deferred. The sport has teams, good teams, and then the Dodgers all by themselves. Nobody has stopped other teams from doing what the Dodgers have done. Owners can spend more; if they choose not to, they are more part of the problem than anything L.A. has done.

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