What was expected?

After winning 100 games and promptly getting swept by the D’backs (who made the World Series) in the NLDS, the Dodgers spent some money in the offseason, which is like saying I ate some food on Thanksgiving.

Translation: I ate a TON of food on Thanksgiving; the Dodgers spent a TON of money in the 2024 off season.

They signed Shohei Ohtani to a $700 million deal. They brought in Yoshinobu Yamamoto for $325 million. Teoscar Hernandez came on board for a modest $23.5 million for one season. The also signed Clayton Kershaw, Jason Heyward, Ryan Brasier, Joe Kelly, James Paxton and Enrique Hernandez. They also dealt for Tyler Glasnow and promptly extended him on a $111.6 million deal. They also extended Max Muncy for $24 million.

The expectations were clear:

Go win the World Series.

How did it go?

They did, gentleman-ly sweeping the Yanks in five games.

Ohtani ran away with the MVP award with his historic season.

They hit the third most homers, scored the second most runs, walked at the third highest rate, fourth in batting average, second in OBP and were tops in ISO, SLG, wOBA and wRC+.

The pitching staff generally struggled due to injury in 2024, returning middle of the road results in multiple categories.

However, when Gavin Stone makes the most starts for the team at 25, you know things did not go as planned.

Glasnow got to just 22 starts, Yamamoto only made 18 starts, Kershaw only saw seven starts, Bobby Miller struggled and was demoted.

But a midseason deal for Jack Flaherty helped stabilize things as the pitching staff rebounded with great performances from Walker Buehler and an elite bullpen supporting their high-powered offense to a World Series title.

Fantasy Stud?

If I don’t say Ohtani, I’d expect you to just close this article and scoff.

Ohtani was second in homers, first in runs scored, second in RBI, second in ISO, fifth in batting average and OBP, second in ISO, wOBA, and wRC+.

He’d have been number one in a lot of those categories if it were not for that meddling kid in New York named Judge.

However, the one thing Ohtani does that Judge does not?

He was second in the league in steals with 59.

If he is not the number one draft pick in your fantasy baseball draft, assume the person drafting first is a Yankee fan drafting out of spite.

Fantasy Dud?

I want to continue my trend of not using an injured player to be a ‘dud’, but with this elite team, there really is not a dud. At least not for players that were drafted.

So I’m going with Walker Buehler (post-season excluded, obviously).

After an excellent 2021, Buehler had a second Tommy John surgery after only 65.0 innings in 2022.

He made his return in 2024 and was nowhere close to what he was.

The ERA went up to 5.38, the WHIP was 1.55 as he only struck out 64 hitters in 75.1 innings. That’s good for just an 18.6% strikeout rate.

Now the postseason provided some optimism for Buehler as the Red Sox signed him to a one-year ‘prove-it’ deal this off season.

Read on to see what his draft value for ’25 should be.

Fantasy Surprise?

In the words of Hank Hill, Gosh dangit, Bobby. 

One of the Dodgers top prospects, Miller debuted in 2023 with a 3.76 ERA, striking out 119 in 124.1 IP, with only 32 walks.

He gets tabbed our surprise because he did not just regress, he was an absolute dumpster fire.

The term ‘sophomore slump’ seems too generous.  .

His under performance, not the injury (maybe that was the cause? Hopefully…) is what gives him the distinction of a fantasy surprise.

The ERA was not just bad, but it was just awful at 8.52. The WHIP was 1.77.

To put into perspective just how bad he was, consider this:

He threw 124.1 innings in 2023. He allowed 12 homers and 32 walks.

In 2024, he threw just 56.0 innings but allowed 17 homers and 30 walks.

In not even HALF of the innings he threw in ’23 and he allowed five more homers and just two less walks.

Vomit.

Player Breakdowns:

Hitters

Shohei Ohtani – UTIL

He is really good at baseball and is the number one fantasy player for 2025.

This really should be all I need to write and move on and not a single person reading this article should blink an eye.

Who else in the league can say the next step is a 60/60 season? (Hint: 1)

He just needs six more homers and one steal to get that.

Ohtani bats a top one of the top two offenses in baseball.

I don’t give two flying fu…fricks about him only being eligible for the UTIL spot. (oh,and he’s going to pitch this year).

Aaron Judge is probably the second person to be considered and he won’t steal nearly as many bases. And take the 40+ extra steals for a handful less homers (even though Ohtani could surpass Judge in homers and no one would really be all that shocked).

Oh, and his expected stats were actually HIGHER than his surface stats.

Ohtani good. Draft him first.

NEXT!

Freddie Freeman – 1B

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