Can the Dodgers be beaten? That and more ahead of MLB Opening Day

The 2025 MLB season is upon us, and there’s no shortage of storylines.

The 2025 MLB season is upon us, and there’s no shortage of storylines. The high-spending and uber-talented Los Angeles Dodgers will be a focal point for the sport this year, for better or worse. Superstar Juan Soto will patrol right field for the Mets after New York owner Steve Cohen lured him away from the crosstown rival Yankees with a record-breaking contract. While the National League features multiple elite teams, the American League feels more wide open than ever. 

Juan Soto at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie, Fla., on March 10, 2025.Reinhold Matay / ImagnWith MLB Opening Day on Thursday, NBC Sports is here to break it all down. 

D.J. Short: The randomness of baseball is a feature, not a bug. So yes, the Dodgers can be beat. Weird things happen all the time, especially when you get to the small sample size of the playoffs. There’s also the matter of the Dodgers’ rotation in general. There’s depth, sure, but most of their arms carry some questions. The Dodgers should absolutely be heavy favorites, and given their investments and all the fanfare, anything short of a repeat should be considered a disappointment. 

Eric Samulski: Of course they can be beat. Anybody can. I know their pitching staff is a CVS receipt-long list of talented names, but what did Kevin Costner say in “Bull Durham”? “Relax. Strikeouts are boring.” The Dodgers are the odds-on favorite, but they also have an older lineup that is already banged up. A full season of health is hard for any team, but it feels like more of an uphill climb for the Dodgers. 

Samulski: When it comes to baseball, breakouts tend to be fueled by home runs or strikeouts. When Junior Caminero hits more than 30 home runs in the Tampa Bay Rays’ new minor-league ballpark in the hot, Florida humidity, people are going to take notice. Maybe not Rays fans, who don’t seem to go to games, but the larger baseball world is going to turn on Caminero’s at-bats as appointment viewing. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/mlb/can-dodgers-beat-ahead-mlb-opening-day-rcna196588

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