2025 World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Toronto Blue Jays

The Los Angeles Dodgers are back trying to become the first team since the 1998 through 2000 Yankees to repeat.

We have not had a World Series repeats champion in a quarter of a century.

But they are well positioned to do it.

They have the best player on the planet.

Some would say the best player to ever play baseball.

Yes, even more so than Babe Ruth.

Shohei Otani, he led off Major League Baseball with 146 runs, scored, slashed 282, 392, 622 for a 1,014 OPS.

He was second in the National League on base percentage and led the National League in slugging percentage and OPS.

He was also second in the NL in home runs with 55, had 109 walks.

He was second in that as well.

He was fourth in the NL in triples with 9.

Tied for 5th with 172 hits and 6th in the NL with 102 RBIs.

But if you're able to get him out, you still have to deal with Freddie Freeman.

He slashed 295, 367, 502 for an 869 OPS.

He finished in the top 9 in all of those categories.

He was 3rd in the NL in doubles at 39.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg as to who these Los Angeles Dodgers are.

We have a lot of familiar names that we have grown accustomed to already.

Will Smith, Max Muncy, Tommy Edmund, Kike Hernandez, Teoscar Hernandez.

I mean, just the list goes on and on in the lineup.

But then you get to the pitching, and you still have Clayton Kershaw, but he will retire after this year.

He's a formidable member of the rotation, but he's taken out of it for the playoffs.

And the man that everybody will know at the end of this World Series if they didn't know him already, although I can't imagine you didn't know him based on all the hype surrounding him, Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the best pitcher for the Dodgers.

He was 12-8 on the year.

had a 2.49 ERA that was second best in the National League, but then he gets even deeper.