Age remains an underlying concern for the Dodgers’ 2026 season and beyond. Of the 12 position players on their World Series roster, only four were under the age of 30 — Ben Rortvedt, Justin Dean, Hyeseong Kim, and Andy Pages. All of them were either minor role players (the former three) or were almost completely ineffective at the plate (Pages). Rortvedt and Dean aren’t even with the team anymore.
Of course, there are guys like Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith who are still in their primes, but the roster is already seeing the effects of Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Teoscar Hernández getting older and more injury-prone. And all of those guys are locked up to multi-year deals. Freeman will be the first to leave after 2027, his age-37 season, but Betts and Ohtani will be 39 when their contracts are up. Smith will be 39 when his deal expires, and Hernández could be 35, if the Dodgers exercise his club option for 2028 (and they could trade him before that decision arrives).
You have to think that age factors into some of the Dodgers’ very middling WAR projections for 2026. Excluding pitching, the Dodgers project to fall out of FanGraphs’ top five at every position except first base (fifth), shortstop (fifth) and, unsurprisingly, DH (first).
Dodgers’ unfavorable 2026 projections could reveal a more flawed roster than fans might think
Despite Betts’ down offensive year, it makes sense that projections would still count on him to put up top-five numbers at shortstop, but Freeman at first may be less of a guarantee. He’s not a lock to participate in the World Baseball Classic because of some injury concerns; although Andrew Friedman confirmed he won’t need surgery to address them, the Dodgers are also planning to give him scheduled off days in 2026.
The worst outlook is at second base, which Tommy Edman, Miguel Rojas, Hyeseong Kim, and (presumably) Kiké Hernández are likely to cycle through next season, if the Dodgers don’t end up trading for Brendan Donovan. If Edman does move back to center, the Dodgers are likely to go to Rojas, their oldest position player, as their most regular second baseman.
The rotation and bullpen, after the addition of Edwin Díaz, are both expected to rank first in WAR. That’s great, and for the rotation nothing new, but if the offense outside of Ohtani, Betts, and Freeman doesn’t look like it’ll be able to pick them up, the Dodgers might continue to be stuck with the same RISP problems that always plague them.
There’s really nothing to do about it with so many guys on long-term deals, other than trust that guys who were great when they signed will be great enough to have some staying power, but we’d be lying if we said it didn’t make us a little concerned for 2026.