By Rory Carroll
LOS ANGELES, March 23 (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Dodgers will begin their bid for a third straight World Series title this week, with the New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners and New York Mets also expected to be among the leading contenders as the 2026 Major League Baseball season gets underway.
Los Angeles defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in an all-time great seven-game Fall Classic last year, and the Dodgers' aggressive front office stayed busy in the offseason.
The Boys in Blue added
closer Edwin Diaz and right fielder Kyle Tucker, two of the league's most-sought-after free agents on the market, to a roster already loaded with star power, including Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and catcher Will Smith.
The team's pitching rotation also figures to be among the deepest and best in baseball and features World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Ohtani, and Roki Sasaki.
OVERWHELMING FAVORITES
That combination of talent and financial muscle has made the Dodgers overwhelming favorites among analysts and in betting markets to complete a rare three-peat.
Only two franchises have won at least three consecutive championships in Major League Baseball history: the Yankees, who did so from 1936-39, 1949-53 and 1998-2000, and the Oakland Athletics, who won three straight titles from 1972-74.
A major part of the Dodgers' edge has been their ability, and willingness, to spend. The team is owned by Guggenheim Baseball Management, a group led by Mark Walter and backed by a firm with more than $335 billion in assets under management.
But that spending power, highlighted by Ohtani's 10-year, $700 million deal in 2023, could become a flashpoint beyond this season.
While generational stars such as Ohtani and Yankees slugger Aaron Judge have helped drive interest in the sport, owners of smaller-market clubs have argued they cannot keep pace with big-spending teams such as the Dodgers and Mets, the latter owned by billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen.
Many owners are expected to push for a salary cap in the next collective bargaining agreement, an idea the players' union has long opposed. Any breakdown in negotiations could raise the risk of a lockout or strike next year.
HARDEST ONE YET
For now, however, the focus remains on whether the Dodgers can deliver another title, even as they acknowledge the difficulty of the task.
"This is going to be harder than it has ever been, and we've got to work even harder," manager Dave Roberts told the team during spring training.
"So my ask is, as a team, as an organization, is to push ourselves even more. We already have the talent. There isn't any more talented major league clubhouse than the one in this room."
The MLB season opens on Wednesday night with the Yankees facing the Giants in San Francisco.
The Dodgers will send Yamamoto, who recorded the final eight outs of last year's World Series, to the mound on Thursday when they host the Arizona Diamondbacks as part of a 14-game opening-day slate.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Chris Reese)
