Los Angeles Dodgers Offseason Superteam Plans Already Falling Apart

The Los Angeles Dodgers entered the 2025 season as baseball's villains. 

They won the World Series in dominant fashion, then instead of resting on their laurels, went on a spending spree in the offseason. Blake Snell, two-time Cy Young winner. Teoscar Hernandez, coming off the best offensive season of his career. Kirby Yates, after putting up arguably the best season by a relief pitcher in 2024. Michael Conforto joined after a strong season in San Francisco in 2024. Blake Treinen resigned after his heroic postseason exploits. Roki Sasaki joined the team from Japan, hoping to follow in Yoshinobu Yamamoto's footsteps. 

Oh, and Tanner Scott for good measure, whose electric fastball made him one of the most dominant relievers in Major League Baseball.

Fast-forward to the end of May, and the Dodgers' best-laid plans have already suffered a major blow. And this is why concerns of a "superteam" waltzing their way to a World Series, and the resulting push from fans for a salary cap were always inaccurate.

May 28, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts (30) relieves relief pitcher Tanner Scott (66) during the eighth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Dodgers Struggles Continue, On And Off Field

Blake Snell has pitched all of nine innings this year, is currently on the 60-day injured list, and has yet to start a throwing program thanks to a shoulder injury. Kirby Yates, after a season where he put up a 1.17 ERA in Texas, has a 4.34 with LA. He's also hurt and currently on the injured list after pulling his hamstring.

Roki Sasaki lost more velocity, struggled to miss bats, put up an underwhelming 4.72 ERA with even worse underlying statistics, then went on the injured list himself with a shoulder injury.

Blake Treinen has pitched just eight innings. He's on the injured list with a forearm injury, and is weeks away from returning. At best. 

Michael Conforto, after a season where he was 12% better than league average offensively, has been 21% worse than average so far. Even after a home run in Cleveland, he's hitting .172/.312/.287 with the lowest batting average with runners in scoring position of any hitter in baseball. Literally the lowest, at .059.

Then there's Tanner Scott. 

Scott had a 1.75 ERA with the San Diego Padres and Miami Marlins in 2024. He had 35 saves and just six blown saves in 2023 and 2024 combined. He also struck out 188 hitters in 150 innings in those two seasons. 

This year? He's already blown five saves in 15 chances, including 3 of his last 5 after allowing four runs on Wednesday against the Guardians. Oh, and his strikeout rate has plummeted to the lowest number of his career. 

The injuries and underperformance don't end there. Evan Phillips after a dominant 2022-2024 has pitched just 5.2 innings and was transferred to the 60-day IL on Thursday. Alex Vesia has allowed home runs on an astonishing 22.6 percent of fly balls he's allowed so far, compared to the league average of around 10%. Clayton Kershaw returned from surgery to make several starts, though has looked far from his old superstar self. Tyler Glasnow has thrown 18 innings, and best case scenarios don't see him returning until the end of June. Brusdar Graterol has yet to pitch this year. Neither has Michael Kopech. Or Edgardo Henriquez.

This is why it's impossible to build a "superteam." Pitching is too variable, too hard to predict. Relievers are inconsistent and frequently get hurt, thanks to the effort required to throw 95-99mph fastballs and hard, aggressive breaking pitches. And injuries can pop up at anytime, on any pitch. And the Dodgers have had more than their fair share. It's gotten so bad, that it's to the point where they swung a trade for former Reds closer Alexis Diaz on Thursday to shore up their ailing pen. Diaz has a 12 ERA thus far in 2025, thanks to allowing four home runs in six innings.

It's not all bad; the Dodgers are still in first place thanks to the exploits of Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez. They've scored the second most runs in baseball, and Yamamoto's looked like a Cy Young candidate. By the All-Star break, there's a chance they'll get some or all of Yates, Treinen, Snell, Kopech, Henriquez, Glasnow and Sasaki back. 

But this is hardly the team that the front office or Dodgers fans envisioned heading into the season. Luis Garcia, Lou Trivino, Matt Sauer, Chris Stratton, Landon Knack, Jack Dreyer. Not exactly the names that scream "superteam," yet they've either played or are about to play significant roles on the roster.

It's hard to win in MLB. It's even harder to avoid injury, no matter how much money and talent you have. The Dodgers are doing their best to remind the rest of the league of that.