The Los Angeles Dodgers put together a historic offseason that saw them add the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow, while also re-sign Clayton Kershaw, among others.
Kershaw is back to play a 17th season with the Dodgers, although he will be sidelined until some time in the second half of 2024 while recovering from left shoulder surgery.
Kershaw’s return nevertheless added even more star power to a Dodgers roster that includes fellow MVP Award winners Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani.
With that, the 2024 Dodgers are the sixth team in MLB history to have at least four former MVP winners on their roster in one season.
The Dodgers can lay claim to three of the teams to feature at least four MVP Award winners in a single season, with all of them coming since 2021.
The last Dodgers team to accomplish this feat was in 2022, when Betts, Freeman, Kershaw and Cody Bellinger appeared in a game that year. L.A. set a franchise record with 111 wins during the 2022 season but suffered an early playoff exit at the hands of the San Diego Padres.
The Dodgers also had four MVP Award winners play in a game for them in 2021, with Betts, Bellinger, Kershaw and Albert Pujols holding the distinction. That team won 106 games during the regular season and was eliminated by the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series.
The only other teams to have four MVP Award winners appear for them in a season are the 1996 Boston Red Sox, 1982 Los Angeles Angels and 1978 Cincinnati Reds. None of the aforementioned teams with four MVP Award winners won a World Series.
2024 PECOTA projections for Dodgers
The 2024 PECOTA projections from Baseball Prospectus have the Dodgers winning another NL West title by finishing the season 101-61, good for the top record in MLB.
PECOTA also expects the Dodgers to lead MLB in runs scored while having a top pitching staff in terms of runs allowed.
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