Some Tuesday morning Dodgers news and notes, one day after closer Edwin Díaz was officially announced as pitching for Puerto Rico in the 2026 World Baseball Classic
.FanGraphs unveiled its initial 2026 playoff odds on Monday. Understandably, the Dodgers are at the top, with a projected 99.6 wins and a 99.1-percent chance to make the postseason.
“Projection systems are inherently conservative; 100-win projections are rare. This team simply looks that good,“ Ben Clemens wrote at FanGraphs. ”When you
take the two-time defending World Series champions, lose almost no one, and add the top hitter and top reliever available in free agency, an already-rosy projection simply spikes to the moon. We think the Dodgers have a comically high 94.1% chance of winning the NL West. That’s silly.”
Mookie Betts talked about how he prepared during the offseason to rebound from the worst offensive season of his career, as chronicled by Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic. Also within the article was manager Dave Roberts hinting at some more clarity to the Dodgers lineup, hinting that he likes Betts hitting third and catcher Will Smith hitting fifth (which would mean newcomer Kyle Tucker batting second and Freddie Freeman cleanup).
Keith Law at The Athletic unveiled his top 20 Dodgers prospects on Monday, and included in the article are other minor leaguers of note. Among them is Ryan Ward, the soon-to-be 28-year-old who was added to the 40-man roster in November but his path to major league playing time here is narrow with a stacked roster in Los Angeles.
“He peaked at an EV of 111.4 mph last year and his hard-hit rate was just over 50 percent, while he’s an above-average runner and can handle an outfield corner or first base,” Law wrote of Ward. “He does have a big platoon split, but he’s left-handed and should probably play as the strong side of a platoon for someone this year — like, how is this guy not a Marlin or a Rockie by now?”
Hannah Keyser at CNN wrote about gambling addiction affecting young men’s relationships to friends, family, and sports fandom.
