How the Dodgers can threepeat: Four keys for Los Angeles to win a third straight World Series

The star-studded Dodgers are going for history. After a heartstopping seven-game Fall Classic, Dave Roberts' crew can call themselves the first repeat World Series champions since the 2000 Yankees. Those Bombers, in fact, won three in a row from 1998-2000. Now the Dodgers will try to do the same.

Wouldn't it be something if there was a stretch with no repeat champions from 2001-23 bookended by threepeat champs? That's what the Dodgers are setting out to make happen in 2026. 

The only teams in MLB history to threepeat?

• 1936-39 Yankees (four straight)
• 1949-53 Yankees (five straight)
• 1972-74 Athletics
• 1998-2000 Yankees

Man, think how much the "Dodgers are ruining baseball!" people will have their minds blown when they realize the Yankees won five straight once and baseball somehow emerged intact. 

Anyway, there's an easy and obvious answer to "how can the Dodgers threepeat?" They've already won two and need to win this year to make it a third. They are the best and most talented team heading in and the favorites to win the World Series (+225, per  BetMGM). Just take care of business. 

What does that look like? 

1. Stay healthy on offense

The Dodgers start with three MVPs in Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Though Betts is coming off a down year and Freeman is 36 years old, it's reasonable to believe all will remain very productive this season. Kyle Tucker could be an MVP candidate with a full season of his best work. Will Smith is one of the best offensive catchers in baseball. Teoscar Hernández has two 30-homer seasons and four more with at least 25. I just named six players and that didn't include Max Muncy, who has a 138 OPS+ in the last two seasons. 

The Dodgers have depth, too, but what could take them down here would be a rash of major injuries to the key players. For example, that lineup doesn't look nearly as bulletproof if Ohtani, Freeman and Hernández all went down while Betts and Tucker struggled. 

That's awfully extreme, though. It's hard to count on. They just need to stay relatively healthy and they'll be a great offense.

2. Slow play rotation until late

Their starting pitchers are very talented and played a major role in winning the World Series last October. Ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto worked 173 ⅔ innings in the regular season and then 37 ⅓ innings in the playoffs. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow famously haven't carried big-time workloads in the regular season very often. Ohtani only pitched 47 innings in the regular season last year in his return from major surgery and, remember, he's pulling double duty as a full-time DH. Emmet Sheehan has never been a full-time MLB starter. Roki Sasaki didn't last long in the rotation last year and was the closer in the playoffs once he returned from injury.

What the Dodgers will do this season is play musical chairs in conserving the long-term stamina of each pitcher. Snell is on the IL to open the season. It's not hard to predict that Glasnow and Sasaki will spend time there at different points and maybe even Yamamoto as well. There's a chance they skip Ohtani several starts on the mound, too, just without one of those phantom IL stints since they don't need one and can just DH him.

The bottom line here is that last year was the perfect formula for the Dodgers as built. They got through the regular season without overextending any of those guys and then had four ace-like starters in the rotation for the entirety of the playoffs. They'll try to line that up again. 

3. Get the bullpen figured out early this time

The bullpen did need salvaging last season and Sasaki's late return was a key in getting the job done and winning it all. This time around, they've signed Edwin Díaz. Tanner Scott is capable of a bounce-back season. Returns later in the season of Evan Phillips and Brusdar Graterol could be helpful, too. 

This all helps. It looks like at least two late-inning studs will be available. The main item that matters here is not having to scramble like last season. The Sasaki thing just fell right into their laps, but can they really count on something like that clicking at the last second again? That's what spurred the Díaz signing.

4. Have things break right in October

It might've looked relatively easy in winning the championship two straight seasons, but so much has to go right. Think of how many inches they were away from losing Game 7 last October.

Remember, the Rangers played the Diamondbacks in the 2023 World Series. The 100-win Dodgers were swept in three games by the 84-win D-backs. In 2022, the sixth-seeded, 87-win Phillies won the National League pennant. The Dodgers won 111 games that year and didn't even make the NLCS. In 2021, the 88-win Braves were the worst playoff team, by record, and won the World Series. In 2019, the 106-win Dodgers were slayed by the wild card Nationals in the NLDS. Those Nats won the World Series.

It's absurdly hard to win the World Series and it's exponentially tougher to do it three times in a row. There's a reason it's hardly ever happened and why it's only happened once in the Wild Card Era.