Dodgers Territory - Dodgers Best Case & Nightmare Scenarios

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

Katie Woo and Clint Pasillas dive into the latest roster news for the Los Angeles Dodgers. (2:17) The club made several injured list designations and signed free agent pitcher Jake Cousins. What does Cousins bring to the team? Katie shares her thoughts on where things are heading into opening day (6:26) (14:48) With the start of the regular season upon us and expectations sky high for the Boys in Blue, what are the best-case and nightmare scenarios for this ballclub in its pursuit of a three-peat? All the things that can go right and things that can go wrong. (30:58) Plus predictions and more! Enjoy 50% off for life plus Free Shipping AND 3 Free Gifts at MenGoToMars.com Start your 7-day free trial today at FOXOne.com Check out DT merch at https://dodgersterritoryshop.comSupport Guidry's Guardian at https://guidrysguardian.orgFind Clint on YouTube at https://youtube.com/@alldodgersFollow Katie's work at The Athletic https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/author/katie-woo/ Subscribe to Dodgers Territory on YouTubeRate and review our podcast on Apple and SpotifySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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will make you want to get your overalls on, get outside, and get your hands in the dirt. You can get the stuff you should know think spring playlist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I told people probably about a month and a half ago, don't be shocked when we start to see some openers early in this season. despite all of the depth that we assumed the club had entering spring. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to a Wednesday edition of Dodgers territory, the final day before the regular season. We're excited about it.

My name is Clint Bacios. That is Katie Wu. Alana is out today. She'll be back tomorrow, me, her doing a post game after a Dodgers win. Katie, it's a calm before the storm. We do have Dodgers news to get into. but where's your headspace at? What are you feeling? First, can we, can we commend the work office? Yes, it's good, thank you.

I set out a goal. It's okay. It's not all the way done. You can see there's some picture frame. We'll hide it. Yeah, let's move my head. But no, shout out to my dad. We came over and set up this desk, was at the WG, WBC. We have a show hey plaque. Things are looking good. Nice. Papa Wu helping out. That's right. I'm excited. We got to do those three exhibition games, two at Dodgers Stadium. They kind of just feel like dress rehearsals. And it felt like we were so close to real baseball. I was joking around with a couple other reporters. Like once opening day hits, we just snap into a mode that doesn't exist in any other aspect other than the regular season. So for as boring as Dodgers camp was, this last couple of days have really brought some new wrinkles. I'm sure we'll get into it. But to be able to like really dive in on the most powerful. team and you know one of the most powerful teams in all of sports and to dissect their season and to be there every day i'm excited to uh to do the job yeah and guys she'll be around this season she'll be there every day so make sure you join the rocket ship subscribe help us get the 20 000

subscribers uh you could show up and watch either way but subscribing really helps us out it boosts our ego and it helps with sponsors and things like that but either way uh we got some dodgers news like you talked about let's get into it in the big ticket katy the opening the roster is pretty much set. We got some movement on the injured list side of things. Your colleague Fabian Ardaya reporting earlier today. We're going to break this down in a few different layers. They did add a reliever Jake Cousins.

They also play seven guys, if I'm good at math, which I'm not. Seven guys on the injured list, including Bobby Miller to the 60 day, which was a bit of a wrinkle. A lot to break down from this, but outside of maybe the Cousins edition and the Miller. It seems like maybe a little bit of the shocker is the Landon Knack move. What can you tell folks about Land and Nack going to the IL? Yeah, that's one that we weren't previously aware of. Every other name on that list makes sense. Even Bobby Miller seen him on the 60 day, knowing that he didn't really appear in spring with dealing with that shoulder issue.

That all kind of checks out. But Land and Nack is dealing with an intercostal issue of some sort. I don't know when that popped up, whether that was recent or something that had been kind of in the second half of spring. A little surprising, but, you know, if this is where the Dodgers stand as they are close to finalize in their opening day roster, and it's one player with a surprise injury while it's very unfortunate for Landon and NAC, I think the organization will take that as in, hey, it could be worse. So don't love it for Landa NAC, obviously. We'll get into the Dodgers bullpen and how that's all going to work out. But, and their overall pitching depth in general, this is kind of, I think, how we expected camp to break.

And Bobby Miller obviously creates an opening day or a spot on the 40-man roster. Yeah, Jake Cousins, we'll talk about that. You say the roster, the opening day roster pretty much set. I think it is set. Right now they've got 27 dudes. Jake Cousins will be added to the, at least a 15-day, but can, you know, be a 60-day option if needed. Here's what I've got. You should see it looking a lot prettier when Sujo and the Dube.

Dodgers put it out tomorrow. But like you said, no real surprises. I would still love to see maybe a Kyle Hurt on there. You'd love to see Gavin Stone have ended up healthy, but still a very good 26-man roster. And like we say too much, like I say too much, guys, opening day who's on that roster, it does not matter. It's about who's healthy and available and hopefully performing well come September and October. So is this fun? Is this ceremonial for sure? But it's far from a finished product

for this team. And Katie, you have some thoughts on that. We'll get into a little bit later with your latest column over at the athletic. Talked about Jake Cousins. Let's go back to Fabian's work here. Signed reliever, Jake Cousins, has a few years in the show recovering

from Tommy John surgery, most recently pitching for the Yankees before his eldest. elbow blew out. Yeah, what is this? This feels every bit like a low risk, high reward kind of move for the Boys and Blue. It's a very Dodgers-esque signing. Obviously, Jay Cousins coming back from Tommy John. The Dodgers are hopeful he'll be available somewhat in the second half. Bobby and our Daya reporting that this is less than a million dollar guaranteed signing. So low risk, high potential reward, just depending on Tommy John. But the Dodgers are really good at these kind of

on the fringe kind of roster signings. You have Evan Phillips. kind of in the same boat as well. He's looking more of a maybe around July kind of addition coming back from Tommy John. So it's just more depth. And this will be a big part of what we talk about for the Dodgers, especially in the first half, is their pitching depth overall. So banking on arms and hoping that, you know, you can catch lightning in a bottle in the second half.

Jake Cousins is a pretty safe bet. I like it. They're not spending a ton of money. Not that it matters anyway. This is the Dodgers after all. But yeah, when I saw the name, I thought, you know what? Yeah, that sounds very Dodgers. so this checks out.

Yeah, these are the type of moves they love to make, add somebody with some upside. You've seen it in the past with like, I could think of Tommy Canely coming back, back from Tommy John surgery, but having him, having Evan Phillips, looking at, again,

that second half of the season, some of the arms they could be adding back. Like right now, Katie, we were talking before going live, you're in a little bit of a worry kind of mode. Like, we entered spring training. Like, there's no questions.

There's nothing wrong with this team. you get 30 days, you know, and change later, there's kind of, it kind of feels like there's a lot of questions for this team, you know, where, what are your thoughts on where things are at heading to opening day tomorrow? So I have notably been a Roki Sasaki Apologist on this show. And I'm very much, you know, pump the brakes. It's only been a couple of starts. I have changed my tune a little bit. It did not look good yet again in his final tune up. I mean, 30 pitches about recording an out, disappointing Dave Roberts had said to reporters before Rokey's last start that he expected to see

Sasaki in compete mode and Sasaki just clearly didn't have it. And we can get into the arguments of if Sasaki should break with the camp or break camp in the rotation or should he be in AAA. Like I hear both sides of that. But the Dodgers have not wavered on their stance that he is going to break camp in the rotation and he's going to start the fourth game of the season. That is Monday against the Cleveland guardians. They have that six-man hybrid rotation piggyback role designated for Justin Robleski. They originally did that because they were unsure how Shohei Otani would look with his pitching progression after not pitching in the WBC. The good news first, I don't think we have much to worry about with Otani in that regard. He's looked fantastic. But that piggyback role is

no longer going to be kind of reserved for Otani. It's going to be reserved for Sasaki because because he has yet to show in six weeks that he can get through a couple of innings. I mean, you name it, he's been through it, the mechanical issues, missing arm side, really erratic fastball command. Who knows if that working into that third pitch into his arsenal is really played into his head. I see a lot of like mental, I don't want to say panic, but just kind of confusion. You don't really know what's going on. And Sasaki is such high talent for him to come out and have the spring that he did with so much hype

around him and honestly so much skepticism at the same time. It's kind of a worst case scenario for the Dodgers. We'll see they are aided by a very favorable schedule for off days in the first four weeks of the season. They can use Robleski in that piggyback role, but you also can't script ball games two, three days in advance. So I'm not in the whole like send Rogi Sasaki down camp, but he is very much on my number one worry. If I've changed my tune, it's a it's time to worry about Roki Sasaki. Yeah, I had texted you during the game. I was like, all right, I think we need to kind of change a little bit here.

I have firmly entered the worry camp, but yeah, we got to see what the dude can give us during the regular season. I don't know that I strongly agree with the statement I'm about to say, which is that he's earned it, but the Dodgers are going to give him that opportunity, every opportunity to figure out how to pitch at the major league level. You mentioned the mental there. David also mentioned the mental. He does seem a little, a little frightened on the mound.

He seems like he gets out. out beyond those bullpen gates and the lights get a little bright for him. We saw different moments of that last year. You know, even saw moments of that during the postseason when he did have a pretty dominant run. There was a couple of times where he sort of lost his way. And Dave, luckily, in those moments, was able to pull him. Now, you're talking about Rebleski and being a piggyback guy, you know, it's a much better role for him than break in case of emergency when there's an emergency every, you know, fourth or fifth day in that starting rotation. So hopefully this is one of those situations where you absolutely just put the spring training

numbers to bed and enter the regular season fresh. But if he can't, if he can't get on track, I mean, Roki Sasaki needs to have an extremely short leash and whether or not it's a River Ryan situation, maybe Landonac that coming back from that oblique issue, intercostal issue, whatever it is, Um, we know help isn't immediately on the way with Blake Snell or somebody like Gavin Stone, who's still bouncing back from, uh, his shoulder issues. So not as a hunky dory as we thought in Dodgerland coming out of spring training. You pen to column dropped today on the athletic, as I love to say, very stupidly. And you had, uh, suggesting you have your, your predictions here.

And we do have nooster dumb ass coming up in the show. A little bit later, the first edition in a while of it, in your first edition. Not that I'm calling you a dumbass, that is all me. But one of the things you have, not yet, you can, you can earn your way to it. But one of the points you made in your column was you think there could be a blockbuster at the trade deadline. Explain more of what you're thinking. Well, one, I do think it is quite ridiculous to hypothesize about the trade deadline on March 25th. But the athletics said be bold.

So here I am. I think when you look at how Andrew Friedman has has kind of monitored the trade deadline and how he's acted over the last few seasons, it's been more moderate. They don't really do the big blockbuster trades. They save those for the off seasons and the checkbook. But they have been so,

the Dodgers and rightfully so protective and particular about their minor league system and their depth. They are one of the few organizations in baseball that has the farm system to be able to swing a trade like this. But you overpay a lot at the deadline when you are looking to acquire talent. And the Dodgers have done a pretty good job of not doing that.

I do wonder, though, if that changes. And that's going to play into a lot of the starting pitching depth. We just talked about it. How is Roki going to look? How is Blake Snell? Gavin Stone coming back. Where is River Ryan at? That will kind of answer if the Dodgers go out

and kind of swing for a higher profile pitcher. And I'm not talking about Terx Scoobled. Let's pump the brakes there. I know. So I'm just clarifying. But I do wonder if this is the offseason where the trade deadline where the Dodgers is like, hey, you know what? Let's kind of see if we can go a little bit bigger at this deadline.

I actually think it's still a little unlikely because they would have to, I think, be really in danger zone in that division. I don't see them being that way. But it is worth monitoring because we don't know how this next CBA is going to look. The Dodgers have done an incredible job at taking advantage of the current collective bargaining agreement. I don't know what the next one's going to look like. Nobody does.

I would venture to say that it's not, you know, how baseball is being played right now might not be the same. There might be some different kind of rules and regulations that teams have to go through. So if the Dodgers are serious about going for their three Pete, which they are, and they are underperforming to their standards come July, maybe just maybe we see a change of strategy. Yeah, I think the biggest key is going to be health, and that's something we're going to be talking about shortly.

I think really the biggest key, the biggest player is going to be Gavin Stone. If he could bounce back, I mean, all of them, getting Blake Snell, having him that rotation, is going to be a massive boost and key for this team. But Gavin Stone, when he was healthy, most recently, he was nasty. But that was a while ago now. But you get him back, you get him doing Gavin Stone things. That's going to help this club. It's going to help everybody in that front office just, you know, calm it they weigh a little bit, just a little bit.

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Like packing a spare stick. I like to be prepared. That's why I remember 988, Canada's suicide crisis helpline. It's good to know, just in case. Anyone can call or text for free confidential support from a train responder anytime. 988 suicide crisis helpline is funded by the government in Canada. I just enjoyed watching your reaction in my small screen on the side. That was...

I once in a before. Yeah, that was... Somebody made that, our friend Derek Lewandowski, who is the host of Pinstripe Territory. And also the guy who came up with this segment that I stole from him that we're about to do right now, the best case and nightmare scenarios for the Dodgers in 2026. And I think we've talked a little bit around it already. Things that go right for the team, every baseball team, it's health. You've got to start with health.

it's not only keeping the guys that are on that 26 man to start the season healthy. It's getting these dudes back so we don't have to. We could make you a little bit of a, if I may, Noster dumbass about your bold prediction of a trade deadline because they already have all the dudes internal. Your thoughts on staying healthy, what it means for the club. That's key, right?

And that doesn't matter what your payroll is. If it's a Dodgers payroll, if it's a Rockies payroll, you have to stay healthy. And when you think about what the Dodgers starting lineup looks like and the just caliber of overall talent. There's, if you lose someone like a Mookie Betts or a Friday Freeman or, you know, any of those starters, you're already down a significant amount of talent that most teams don't have. So staying healthy is imperative. And we'll go back to the rotation because this is where I think the Dodgers are going to

get tested. Shocker, Dodgers and their, you know, several starting, all their starting pitching depth once again tested because I actually think that pitching depth is a little bit more thin than people probably proceed. Blake Snell is out. Gavin Stone is out. River Ryan looks fantastic in spring, but he's coming back from Tommy John. There's going to be an Indians limit. And especially with pitcher injuries being at their highest statistically in March and April, the Dodgers are going to be careful with his usage. It's the smart thing to do. But a lot of that kind of like second tier depth is some of it's already up.

Emmett Sheehan's going to start the year in the rotation. And, you know, again, it's only spring, but there are some below concerns. There's some concerns about the stuff. The next kind of layer of guys, you're looking at Ben, Casparius, Kyle Hurd, they're being used as traditional relievers. Bobby Miller for all of his woes. Still was an option to start until recently. Now he's not going to become a reliever and he's also on the IL. So outside of River Ryan and Justin Rebleski, who's being used in this piggyback role for now, I'm not sure where the Dodgers go.

Blake Snell and Gavin Stone take a little bit longer to get healthy. So that's already where we're looking at in terms of the health concerns. Best case scenario, these guys stay healthy. Blake snows back by end of, you know, middle of May, end of May, Gavin Stone can return to his 24 form. Worst case scenario, we're spending a lot of time talking about who can come up from AAA and spot start because the Dodgers have suddenly once again run into problems with their pitching depth. Yeah, I told people probably about a month and a half ago, like, don't be upset or don't be shocked when we start to see some openers early in this season, despite all of the depth that we assumed the club had entering spring.

And health plays into the next point on things that need to go right or will go right for the steam if they were to run it back and go for the three-peat. And you nailed it all there. You know, the starting rotation becomes what we thought it can be. When entering spring training, I had a graphic of, you know, nine or ten potential starting pitching options, including guys like Kyle Hurd, who I knew was most likely, to be destined for the bullpen, Casparius, as well.

But, yeah, quickly, very challenged because Blake Snell enters his shoulders barking a little bit. They have him shut down. Kyle Hurt is officially moved to the bullpen, Gavin Stone. Start makes one spring training start and is shut down, and we don't know. I've heard different sides of it. I've heard it could be very bad. I heard they have some concerns inside that shoulder.

And I heard, hey, he's going to be shut down for a little bit and could begin ramping up in about a month, which could lead to another shutdown. So I am always a tread with caution when it comes to shoulders. But thankfully, this is a ball club that has Shohei Otani that's gunning for a Sanyang and gunning to make 30 starts, maybe more. Yoshinobu Yamamoto coming off of a heroic postseason, our ace, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, looking to make another 30 start season. And Tyler Glasnow, I think this is the year. This is a career year for him. We're looking at 25 plus starts, which is a lot for him because his career high is 22 once made in 2024 with the Dodgers.

So that starting rotation becomes what we thought, what we expect, what this front office expected to be. Then it's going to be pretty smooth sailing 162 and beyond. I feel good about that. But we'll talk more about things that could go wrong shortly. We're staying positive right now, Katie, and we've got to talk about another guy you mentioned in your column. him you mentioned on Monday as well.

Teosker has a Teo, a 2024 kind of year. I think that's massive for this team, him hitting down the lineup and being a run producer, that's key. Teosker looks fantastic this spring. And it's funny how we kind of use like spring numbers when they're great, like they set him up for like, oh, he's going to have a great year. And when they're bad, you're like, oh, it's just spring training. But what has really stood out to me about Teosker is his mindset.

And obviously he came to spring training, noticeably Trimmer. I think he dropped at least 10 pounds. He was well aware of the discourse surrounding him that the Dodgers were kind of kicking the tires on a potential trade. He switched positions. He's more comfortable in right field, but he switched to left field because his play didn't warrant him sticking there. You have Kyle Tucker taking over right field. Now, to Oscar Hernandez wants to be a part of this club and an impactful part of this club. He's going to have to switch positions.

And players can take that a certain way when you're being connected to trade rumors, when a team is asking you switch positions so they can essentially put someone better in your old spot. And he responded by saying, you know what, I'm here to work. I want to be a Dodger. I'm going to show you how seriously I took the off season. And he had a really, really strong spring. And in the brief conversations I've had with T. Oscar, it sounds like he's in a really good place. You make up a good point about where he's hitting in the lineup. But sometimes we're going to see Tiosker hitting seventh maybe.

If he has the kind of 20, 24 offense from the seven hole, maybe we don't need to worry about pitching because the Dodgers will score 12 runs a game and everything will be great. But if you're looking for a position player to really click, you can. go through the list. You know, I'm obviously very high on Mookie Betts. I think Freddie Freeman is going to have another great year. But Tiyoska Hernandez is kind of my pick to be like, hey, you know what, I did not have a good 20-25. The offseason was, it was a real, a reality check. Let me go out and show how much I want to be a part of this repeat, how much I want to be a Dodger. I'm willing to do whatever, but I'm going to play as to a higher caliber. I think we're going to see that come

tomorrow. Yeah, Taya, going to have himself a big season. Mookiee Betts also. He, it seems like, He is absolutely locked in some of the work he's doing, working with, you know, Yada Sensei. This is a guy that does not want to have his mid and late 30s be him hitting 230 or 240. No, Mookie Betts wants to be Mookie Betts for the rest of his career. He wants to fill up both of those hands with rings if he can, and he wants to be a Hall of Famer that is a first ballot unanimous. Not even the one guy who didn't vote for Ichero won't vote for Mookie Betts. He's determined. He hated how poorly he played last year.

So if Mookie has himself a Mookie kind of year, the kind of stuff we've seen from him in the past, maybe even getting close. I hope he doesn't try to hit 40 homers, but we saw some Dinger Power in there a couple seasons ago. Mookie is among the things. If it goes right, he goes right, and the rest of it goes right,

we will be enjoying watching this team hoist another commissioner's trophy about, I'm bad at math, seven months from now or so. But the things that can go wrong and they all tie into everything we just talk about. That starting rotation doesn't ever get the full health. You don't see Blake Snowe come back. Rokey is, you know, a wolf and sheep's clothing that we kind of have seen so far this spring training. Gavin Stone doesn't come back. Needs more surgery. Health in general, Max Muncie is one of those guys who suffered with health, whether it's weird little things that grab on him or, you know, a knee injury.

that happened last year. There's a Kyle Tucker injury. You know, he missed some time last year. You know, losing Tay Oscar. Like, the health is a big one. We already touched on those, but the bullpen. This is where things can get a little bit scary. If the bullpen is bad again, Katie,

this is not going to be a lot of fun for Dodgers fans. No, and we're going to find out real quick the state of the bullpen. The Dodgers did an incredible job going out and getting Edwin Diaz. The best clothes are available. It's been a minute since they had a minute. since they had a true bona fide traditional closer in the ninth. But the concern is, can they get to him? Can they get to Edwin Diaz?

And a lot of the pressure is going to be on Tanner Scott and Blake Trinen as the veteran set up guys. In a perfect world for the Dodgers, you have Trinon available, you have Tanner Scott to take the lefty lane. You can kind of use them intermittently depending on matchup and it alleviates a little bit of the pressure off some of the younger guys like a Casparius or something.

If those two struggle, all of that pressure goes on Alex Bessia. And that's not to say that Alex Bessia can't be trusted. I think there's a lot of trust for so many good reasons in Alex Bessia, but he can't pitch every day. So to put the on on Tanner Scott, who needs to have a bounce back year and is aware of it. And for Blake Trident, who also knows the same thing, they are going to carry a lot of the weight and the responsibility to open the season. There's also going to be a little bit of it. I'm really interested to see how Dave Roberts manages this. It's going to be difficult to piece of the bullpen sometimes because in April, you're not pushing your starters to go seven, eight.

You know, they're especially, given what we just talked about with kind of the thinness of the starting rotation, Zoe Otani is not going to touch the eighth in his first start. Dave Roberts said that. Tyler Glass now, they're going to be, he looks great, but they're not going to push him to limits because they need him to cover innings. So the bullpen needs to step up. That's going to be even more difficult with Robleski in a designated role. And in a perfect role, he doesn't need to log four innings behind Roki Sasaki.

but you have to kind of reserve him just in case. And we talked about this earlier. You can't script games. You need to just be able to go out and play the game and let it dictate who can be used. If can the Dodgers do that with the way that things are currently constructed, a lot of it's going to depend on how the rotation looks and how Robleski is used, which puts more pressure on Tanner Scott and Blake Trinen to be effective in their roles to get to Edwin Diaz.

Great stuff there. Another wrinkle to that whole thing. even if they, you know, have to or need to pull from AAA, pull from the minor leagues, they have been barking about this for a number of years now. There is a serious roster crunch on that 40 men. They don't have a lot of pieces that they can move DFA to create space. If they need somebody mentioned in the chat right now, like Antoine Kelly. If they need to call up Kelly, he's not on that 40 men.

You're going to need to either DFA, somebody most likely, and it could be a Bobby Miller. it could be, I don't know who else, the guy they just signed, even though he'll be on the 60 days, so he won't even count. But people also clamoring for a Ben Roertvet return, he's out of options. He is not an option to return unless he gets DFA'd and they sign him to a minor league deal. But watch that 40 man, because there could be some very tough conversations to be had as a season trudges along. The final thing I've got, and this sort of lends itself to what I was trying to get across, to Dave Roberts when we sat down with them

about a month ago. But for people that have been watching this team for a while, you think back to 17, 18, 19, things did not always go the Dodgers way. Now you flash forward. 20 was different. 20 was, that was a very good baseball team. 24, 25, they win the World Series.

Things went their way. The Dodgers, it's a nightmare scenario. If the Ruck, the luck runs. out if you're saying the words correctly. If a Yankee's center fielder doesn't drop the easy fly ball, if Garrett Cole doesn't cover first base, if Orion Kirkring throws the first base instead of to the backstop, if ICF gets a slightly better secondary lead, Dodgers aren't winning back-to-back World Series and they're not winning a third if they don't have that kind of luck. So that's one of those things where it's not a tangible thing, Katie, but I'd rather be lucky than good when we're

when it comes to baseball. I also think that's kind of a testament to the Dodgers knowing how to win big games, though. Like, don't get me wrong, baseball, especially the postseason is a lot of luck and a lot of things going your way. But the mistakes that the teams make that the Dodgers are playing, the Dodgers often don't make those kinds of mistakes because they know how to win those big games. That's what makes them so hard to be in the postseason. There's no panic.

Think about the World Series. Think about any game and a crazy play that Dodgers made. It's because there's not a lot of panic, because they have the experience, because they've won like that before. That goes a long way, especially in those high profile games. Ryan Kirk Green had never been in that situation before. And for the Dodgers, the majority of that roster has been in that position multiple times. So it is a little bit of luck. There's always luck in baseball.

But I think a lot of the Dodgers are able to manifest their own luck because they have that experience. And that is one thing that's not going away in 2026. They are very experienced. They are going to be very good. they are the favorites to win the division. They're the favorites from the World Series. We'll talk about final predictions and all of that. But it's a good point.

At some point, like dominance does run out, but this experience isn't going anywhere. And that's what's going to be able to let them really kind of shine in those pivotal moments. Yeah, great, great addition there. And that's something that Alana and I preached a lot during the postseason last year. That experience will shine through against a team like the Milwaukee Brewers, against a team like the Philadelphia Phillies, even though they have a guy, a lot of due to have been there, done that. They don't have as many as the Los Angeles Dodgers.

So I love this chat. Sheriff Bart. They're going to need Rots of Ruck. Are the Dodgers? Guys, we got a little bit more DT coming up. First, a quick word. I'll be back with the dog and predictions. AJ, this episode is brought to you by our friends at Fox One.

Fox One is where you can watch AJ Pierzinski. And I get this email every week now, AJ, that says, what to watch this week on Fox One? They give you the weekly watch list, and now that it's going to be full of Saturday MLB games with a little bit of you, a little bit of Ken Rosenthal, and your friends. Absolutely. That starts next Saturday, Sky. You can watch all the games on the Fox One app.

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terms and conditions, box one, streaming now. Getting ready for a game means being ready for anything. Like packing a spare stick. I like to be prepared. That's why I remember 988, Canada's suicide crisis helpline. It's good to know just in case. Anyone can call or text for free confidential support from a train responder anytime. 988 suicide crisis helpline is funded by the government in Canada.

Quickly for Alana, we're going to tell you about Sunny. Sonny here is a senior boy who has some neurological issues. We are seeking donations to help keep him happy and comfy with, I believe he is with a foster. But I mean, that just either way looks like a good boy to me. And I think good boys deserve all the help they can get. Check it out. Gidreysguardian.org. You could also adopt a dog out there, help, you know, get yourself ready for the new season with the dog.

Dogs love baseball, all that kind of stuff. I don't know. Just help out Alana. she would very much appreciate it. Our baseball thought for the road, what's about time we do some predictions? I did this last night on my all Dodgers show. Check it out if you guys want.

We did it for an hour. We touched on everything up to including who wins the World Series. Shocker, it's the Dodgers and stuff like that. But beyond that, how many wins did the Dodgers have in 2026, Katie Wu? I would love to say that I cover a team that had won 100 games. but I'm going to go 97. I'm going to go 97. It's still well enough to win the division.

I don't think anyone else in that division is going to win more than 88 games. But yeah, I would like to be wrong, but I'm going 97. You undersell, and then hopefully they're able to over-deliver. But again, there's a lot of things, little nagging things that can go wrong, especially early in the season. We know 162 doesn't mean as much to this baseball team. Either way, I do have the Dodgers eclipsing the century mark. I got 102 wins.

They are not going to break the 2001 Seattle Mariners 116 win season. I'm sorry. There are just too many questions, and they don't care enough. Dave does not care enough. This front office does not care enough to want to win. It's not that they don't care. They don't care enough to match or surpass some arbitrary number. They care about keeping their team healthy and ready to succeed and not.

October. We saw this team chase wins before. That's what happened in 2021. They were trying to keep their division, the line of division crowns alive and chasing the Giants who ended up winning just one more game than 107 to 106, I think it was. Don't do that. Don't do that again. That team crumbled. They fell apart. We just talked to one of the guys a couple weeks ago. Cory Canebel was part of that team. It was fun, but they ran out of steam. Don't let that happen. again. Opening day tomorrow 5.30 Pacific time. Katie will be there

so she won't be here with us on the post game, but Alana and I will be back post game right after the game. Got two super chats to send us out here. Mike saying JT3, James Tibbs III, River Ryan, Campos earned a spot on this roster. Some guys you could definitely

argue for. Heson Kim was done dirty. Five bucks from Nancy Brown. We appreciate you guys supporting the show. Sorry I'm sneaking these in towards the end here. But yeah, I don't have much more to add. Buy some stuff. I got my Dodgers Territory shirt on. You guys can get some stuff too. Scan that QR code or go to dodger territory shop.com. Scan. Not scanned. Click the link in the description below. Also a bunch of links in the description below. Make sure you're following Katie on the Athletic this year. Read all of her words. They are the

good words. Subscribe to my podcast. Do things. Some words. Some of the words. And enjoy opening day. It's a truly a national holiday for a reason and it's gonna, Dodgers baseball is gonna dictate our lives and our moods and our overall quality of life for the next seven months. So let's lock in. Let's go. All right. And subscribe. That's about it.

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