Mookie Betts does not view it as such, but in a way, this all started with him.

This Los Angeles Dodgers dynasty began with Betts hoisting the 2020 World Series trophy high over his head, an exclamation point to his first season in Dodger Blue.

The ride has since included two more rings and the acquisition of Shohei Ohtani, now a four-time MLB most valuable player. The Dodgers added several other superstars to the roster, fueling accusations that they are ruining baseball.

And here they are again, after winning 100 games and a division title, primed to do something no National League team has ever done. But for several of the Dodgers’ oldest players, this could be their last ride.

“When we strapped it on and said three-peat,” Betts added, “we all knew it’s the only chance we’re going to get at this.”

Freddie Freeman said: “This window, we are going to try to keep open as long as we possibly can. But sports are sports; you never know when those windows will close.”

Quest for History Continues Against the Braves

On Saturday, the Dodgers’ quest to be the first NL team to win three consecutive World Series will continue with a best-of-five matchup in a division series against the Atlanta Braves. It is a goal the Dodgers set before the 2025 World Series parade concluded. It is what they have talked about since pitchers and catchers reported to spring training in February.

Now they enter October as usual. They are the powerhouse, the front-runner, the Goliath. But this core is older now. Each of the six Dodgers interviewed for this article — Betts, Freeman, Miguel Rojas, Will Smith, Max Muncy and Kiké Hernández — is a husband and a father, as well as a face of this historic run.

And they are not immune to the inevitable reality: Eventually, this will come to an end.

“I don’t have that many years left of playing, so you take a step back and realize how special it is to come to the field every day for the chance to win a championship every year,” Freeman said. “You look around, you’ve been with certain guys for those multiple titles, and you do realize that.”

Betts said: “Like, we’re 30-plus. Half of us ain’t even playing three more years, you know? As hard as it is, as hard as the game is becoming, with all the changes I’m sure that are about to come, stuff like this just doesn’t come around.”

Oldest Group of Position Players in MLB

The Dodgers feature the oldest position-playing group in the majors. Muncy turned 36 in August, Freeman 37 a few weeks ago. Rojas, 37, is pondering a retirement that seems likely. Hernández, 35, is on an expiring contract.

Though these Dodgers stars are still producing, their numbers this season fell short of their career norms. Freeman hit into more double plays (22) than he hit home runs (16) and posted the lowest slugging percentage of his career (.430). Betts finished September on a hot streak, but his 3.9 wins above replacement were his lowest over a full year since 2014, his rookie season. Hernández missed four months of the season because of two stints on the injured list on the way to a .671 on-base plus slugging percentage.

Even Ohtani has shown he is mortal. His attempt at his first full season performing two-way duties since 2023 was thwarted. Multiple injuries knocked him off the mound and left him struggling at the plate, resulting in his first injured list stint as a Dodger. Now his health status is one of the biggest story lines.

The uncertainty surrounding the expiring collective bargaining agreement, plus the federal investigation into Dodgers team owner Mark Walter, invites even more questions about the longevity of this run.

That has only increased the obligation these players feel to lock down one more title. What they have already accomplished no longer matters.

“Us six, we’ve been together through so many times and so many opportunities where we’ve had our backs against the wall,” Rojas said. “I think we all have something in common, which is we’re not playing for ourselves. We’re playing for the team. We’re playing for the organization, and we’re playing to give others their first opportunity to win.

“It would be selfish for me to say: ‘Oh, we already have won the last two. Who cares if we win this one?’ No, it’s not like that at all. We feel like we have the responsibility of winning this one, not just because of the fans, but also for the other guys who are going to be there for the first time.”

Hernández said: “What’s in the past is in the past. We can only focus on what’s ahead of us and what we can do here this year.”

Nine World Series Titles

On the afternoon after the Dodgers clinched a first-round bye, Freeman smiled and pointed to the stands in foul territory in right field. It’s the section where the Dodgers memorialize their World Series championships. Instead of traditional banners, the Dodgers display large plaques decorated as baseballs to represent each of their nine World Series titles.

“We’re trying to add another baseball,” Freeman said.

Before Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz, there were Freeman and Betts.

At the start of the 2020 season, it was impossible to picture Betts anywhere but Boston, and Freeman anything but a forever Atlanta Brave. Yet things changed fast. Betts was shipped over from the Red Sox before that season began in one of the most criticized trades this decade. Freeman joined two seasons later, when Atlanta let him walk in free agency after winning the World Series that year.

Those two transactions laid the foundation for the Dodgers’ modern-day success. Betts and Freeman joined an emerging core of Smith and Muncy, both of whom had played critical roles in the Dodgers’ budding success but had not been able to win it all.

The returns of Rojas and Hernández in 2023 rounded out the half-dozen responsible for instilling the standards vital to this era of Dodgers baseball.

“Ultimately, why we’re so successful is the culture that we’ve created in the clubhouse,” Muncy said.

The Dodgers’ spending, tactical use of deferred money and general indifference to tax penalties and lost draft picks obviously contribute mightily to their success.

But these core players expressed an appreciation for the inner workings of their clubhouse, one that demands a specific work ethic. They attributed their winning ways to that commitment and to the respect they have for one another.

“You show up, you get your work in, you do what you have to, to get better, and there’s no question about it. You just do it,” said Muncy, the longest-tenured Dodgers player. “It’s a really cool thing to see when new guys come in. They’re always wowed.”

Keeping the Window Open

Perhaps the most meaningful thing this core can do is to ensure the next core keeps winning titles. Their careers are nearing an end. Their legacies aren’t.

“We’re obviously in a massive open window of championship chances,” Freeman said. “We do understand Miguel’s probably retiring. Is Kiké going to re-sign? Like, there are so many different variables that have been going on each year. And us other four guys are getting older.

“When you have that window, you try to extend it as long as you can.”

MLB and a pending lockout might have a say in that. The current collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the players’ union expires on Dec. 1. A work stoppage is all but certain to follow.

The Dodgers’ spending has put them in the center of salary-cap debates, the driving force behind what will most likely be ugly negotiations. This dominant organization and its $432 million payroll (per Cot’s Baseball Contracts) will be used as the example for those in favor of a cap.

Muncy said that line of reasoning insults the years of work the team has put in.

“It just doesn’t feel like we’ve gotten the credit that we’ve deserved for doing all the little things other than spending money,” Muncy said.

He added: “You can’t just spend money. You have to spend money on the right guys. You have to have the right systems in place. You have to have the right culture, the right work ethic — and that’s what we’ve created here.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Katie Woo / The Athletic/Kyle Grillot
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