How the Los Angeles Dodgers are Actually Building Their 2026 Roster

The Los Angeles Dodgers didn't have many needs during the offseason but they aggressively adressed those by signing the two best players who were available in Edwin Díaz and Kyle Tucker.

They joined a Dodgers roster already loaded with talent as the team looks to pull off a rare three-peat. No MLB team has won three World Series in a row since the 1988-2000 New York Yankees, and it's never been accomplished by a National League lcub.

In order to win the 2026 World Series, the Dodgers roster is taking shape with familiar core principles in place.

Keys for Dodgers roster

Star power

While the age of the Dodgers roster has come into focus, there remains plenty of reason to believe in the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Max Muncy and Tucker.

There also is an expectation within the Dodgers that Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernández will both bounce back from respective subpar offensive seasons. Manager Dave Roberts voiced confidence that Betts will play his way into the conversation for the NL MVP Award.

Betts was plenty frustrated with how 2025 unfolded on a personal level but is confident an offseason spent "re-wiring my body to do what I wanted it to do" will pay dividends.

Similarly, Hernández focused inward with his workouts and lost weight while fully recovering from a nagging left groin injury.

Even if one or both of Betts and Hernández gets off to slow start this season, the Dodgers lineup should manage to withstand that. Particularly with the addition of Tucker, who also is healthy after dealing with a hairline fracture in his right hand.

Although role players ultimately made an impact in the World Series, the Dodgers need their star players to again shoulder the load.

Balanced pitching staff

An overlooked aspect of the Dodgers' back-to-back World Series titles is the manner in which they were won. In 2024, the Dodgers essentially ran out of healthy starting pitchers and heavily leaned on their bullpen.

They hoped to rectify that last year by signing Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki. Both pitchers dealt with a shoulder injury during the season and Sasaki's biggest contributions came out of the bullpen. Snell returned and combined with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Ohtani to produce historic starts for the Dodgers during the postseason.

For 2026, the Dodgers hope to receive balanced contributions throughout their pitching staff. The addition of Díaz should aid what was an inconsistent bullpen last season, and more improvement could come with Tanner Scott getting back on track.

“I think in some ways it was a game of Whac-A-Mole. In 2024, we’re riding our bullpen and that’s the strength. So we address our rotation, feel really good about our bullpen, but then that pops up (in 2025). So now we’re hoping to sync both up together,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said during the offseason.

Postseason experience

Friedman, general manager Brandon Gomes and manager Dave Roberts have often referenced a "high bar" the Dodgers have when it comes to player acquistion, and that was again proven true this past offseason.

Rather than explore the addition of outside candidates, the Dodgers re-signed Miguel Rojas and Kiké Hernández to complete their bench. L.A. did also sign Andy Ibáñez but an attempt to sneak him through waivers failed.

The Dodgers greatly value the intagibles Rojas brings, and are comfortable if Hernández's biggest contributions don't come until October. The duo will need to repeat some of the impact seen from the 2025 World Series as the Dodgers didn't truly address their bench.