“Before this season started, they said the Dodgers were ruining baseball. Let’s get four more wins and really ruin baseball!” Dave Roberts set the tone after the Dodgers won the 2025 NLCS to enter the World Series. This time, Roberts didn’t ask to ruin baseball but hoped for something that, incidentally, would be a first in franchise history.
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The New York Yankees and the Oakland Athletics are the only two teams in MLB to have a three-peat record. Despite recent dominance of the Dodgers, including winning the NL West title for five straight seasons, a three-peat record is what they still manifest. Winning the World Series in 2026 would thus get the last two seasons’ winners into the exclusive club, and Roberts may just have communicated the same emotion.
“To win 11 games in October, you never know who is gonna be the guy, what that moment is gonna fall to, and many people have lived it in this clubhouse. So my ask is, be ready to be that guy. And like I said, we’re the most talented, we’re the smartest players, we’re the toughest players, and we’re the most hungry. Again, we have something to do unprecedented, and again, 2026 is gonna be something special. So let’s keep the blinders on and celebrate this,” FOX Sports: MLB quoted Roberts after the win over the Reds on Thursday.
The Dodgers secured the 2026 NL West title on Thursday, which was incidentally their 13th in the last 14 seasons. No wonder the team had a champagne bath to celebrate their achievement, but not before their manager took the stage to set the tone for their playoff run.
Achieving a three-peat was what the Dodgers targeted before entering the 2026 season. The 2024 and 2025 World Series winners had no other motivation than to win their third straight. Hence, achieving what would be a first in franchise history would understandably make this season special.
The Dodgers ended their 2025 regular season with a 93-69 record compared to a 93-60 record this season. So, the team is already dominating much better than last season, and what makes it even more special is how the struggling stars were performing in clutch time.
Since the Dodgers splashed $240 million to sign Kyle Tucker in 2026, criticisms have followed him. A .232 season was not what was expected from him in white and blue. However, the former Astros star is surging just at the right time. On Thursday, his four-hit performance helped the Dodgers get over the Reds and clinch their NL West title. Tucker is now 12-for-29 (.414) with four homers over his last eight games.
Furthermore, after a positive update about Shohei Ohtani’s injury, the Dodgers couldn’t ask for more.
“He is back to progress today,” Roberts said Thursday. “He should be getting some coach pitch this week. He’s progressing well; there’s no pain. He’s doing everything he needs to do. I still don’t know when he’ll return, but everything that I hear is really positive.”
The Dodgers fans thus have all the reasons to hope for a three-peat record in 2026.