Dodgers Enter 2021 Atop MLB’s Power Rankings, Unsurprisingly
The Dodgers were the best team in baseball last season, and they might have gotten even better over the winter.
As if winning the World Series wasn’t enough, the front office went out and added the best pitcher on the market, a slew of bullpen arms, and are still returning the vast majority of the team that took them all the way last season. All things considered, this team is absolutely stacked, and the rest of the league knows it.
After holding the title of best team in baseball for the entire 2020 season, the Dodgers looked primed to do it all again. And according to MLB’s final Power Rankings before the season gets underway, the Dodgers are still the creme of the crop.
Related: Dodgers single-game tickets to go on sale this Friday
Player to Watch: Kenley Jansen
The lone “weakness” on the Dodgers will be the closer role, and even that is debatable. MLB highlighted Kenley Jansen as the player to watch on a stacked roster after a less than stellar season in 2020, but he may be turning that around.
It’s worth noting that Jansen had a fantastic spring training, racking up 13 strikeouts and a 1.23 ERA across 7.1 innings pitched. The velocity on his cutter hasn’t been as high as the team would like, but the movement and placement have been near perfect all of spring. If his performance this past month is any indication, the Dodgers may not have to worry about finding a new closer just yet.
Final Thoughts
For the second season in a row, the Dodgers will head into Opening Day as the consensus best team in baseball. And while they’ll certainly have a target on their backs from the start, this team is more than capable of winning it all once again.
Get a good night’s rest tonight, Dodgers fans, because the journey to another title starts tomorrow.
NEXT: Dodgers Set Opening Day Roster
Daniel, you worded that Perfectly!! Our Dodgers were the best team in baseball for 2020..And Our Dodgers will be the best team in baseball and Thank goodness the season has been extended to 160 games!! WATCH OUT everybody here comes The Los Angeles Dodgers!! World Series Champions 2021!! Lets Go Dodgers?
just 2 corrections: it’s a 162 game season, and Let’s Go Dodgers! no question!! 🙂
The bench may leave a bit to be desired, not counting the back up catcher, 3 of the 4 are LH and if Lux doesn’t start and CT3 is at 2nd then there’s 4 LHB on the bench. And not having the DH means one less hitter in the lineup while the pitcher has to bat. But these games must be played and for 162 games we will see some other players most likely will be added throughout the season, while some may be sent down so wss.
you gotta count the back-up catcher! and besides, a number of our LH can hit lefties. Zach seems to be doing great out of the gate! and no DH is no big deal, since the other team has no DH either! Kersh had 2 hits!
From what I saw in yesterdays game Kenley is nothing more than an inning filler in a game your getting blown out, manager let him hang out there in the wind and fail, wonder what lesson Roberts was delivering but manager gave it away not the player if a message was sent I hope all involved got it …