The Los Angeles Dodgers are taking a careful approach with two key position groups throughout the 2026 season.
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Coming off back-to-back World Series titles comes at a cost for the Dodgers in terms of roster management and planning. The last two offseasons have been relatively short for L.A. as the defending champions, and the Dodgers plan on implementing a strategic workload for pitchers and additional off-days for veteran hitters.
Jack Harris of the California Post explained why the Dodgers will be cautious with their use of pitchers and veteran stars such as Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy.
“But difficulties will present themselves, nonetheless, in ways that will force the Dodgers to be strategic with their roster management (the club is planning to be even more cautious than usual with pitchers’ workloads, and work in more off-days for their veteran hitters) and push through the daily mental grind of a 162-game marathon,” Harris writes.
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The Dodgers had the oldest roster in MLB last season, but their recent addition of All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker infuses some youth into the lineup. As for veterans like Freeman and Muncy, the Dodgers are looking to give them more rest days in order to preserve them for the postseason.
As for pitchers, the Dodgers spent the 2025 season utilizing a number of arms because of injury. At one point, four of the staple starters in the rotation had landed on the injured list. Only Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched over 100 innings out of the five starters included in the Opening Day rotation.
Manager Dave Roberts explained the mindset and emotions of players can be mundane throughout the course of a long season, as demonstrated by the Dodgers in 2025.
“I think the most taxing part of it, even with the pitchers, is the mind, the emotions,” Roberts said to the California Post. “If you look at even last year, you could see that the intensity wasn’t there all year. It’s just hard to manufacture that, certainly coming off two world championships.”
The Dodgers will continue to be cautious throughout the season in order to have their stars rested and ready for October.
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