The Los Angeles Dodgers are counting down the days until the 2026 regular season gets underway, when they will look to defend their 2025 World Series championship. That ring was the second straight that the Dodgers had won, and third in the last six years, beginning with their 2020 championship in the COVID-shortened season.
The year after that season, the Dodgers bowed out in the NLCS against the eventual World Series champion Atlanta Braves, and recently, Corey Knebel, who was a reliever on that team, spoke on what he felt went wrong.
“It's who's hot? Who's the hottest? Everyone's got injuries that they're dealing with. Sometimes stuff happens. Bad things happen,” said Knebel, per Dodgers Territory on X, formerly Twitter. “Yeah, we had some injuries obviously, it was one of those seasons were there were a lot of injuries going around…”
Indeed, the Braves got red hot at the right time on their playoff run that season, with multiple of their trade deadline acquisitions turning up the heat at the perfect moment to knock off the favored Dodgers.
The Dodgers went on to lose in the NLDS in the following to years to the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks, before breaking through and winning the World Series against the New York Yankees in 2024. Los Angeles followed that up with a seven-game series win over the Toronto Blue Jays last year, giving them their second straight ring, and they will look to make it three in a row this upcoming season.
Los Angeles somehow got markedly better over the offseason, adding both Kyle Tucker and Edwin Diaz in free agency, making expectations sky high for 2026.
They will kick things off on March 26 against the Diamondbacks.
