MLB insider Jeff Passan says the Los Angeles Dodgers are the most “distinct” World Series favorite he’s seen in his nearly 25 years of covering the sport.
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The ESPN baseball newsbreaker and analyst appeared on SportsCenter Thursday afternoon and heaped praise on the Dodgers, the team’s management of its vast riches, and the organization’s willingness to do whatever it takes to claim another World Series title.
.@JeffPassan says the Dodgers are the most distinct World Series favorite he’s seen in nearly 25 years covering baseball ? pic.twitter.com/helGZZF5qN
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“The Dodgers are kind of doing something right here,” Passan joked with SportsCenter anchor Jay Harris, highlighting that the two-time-defending champions brought back each of their key World Series contributors from 2025 and added MLB All Stars in Kyle Tucker and Edwin Diaz, whom Passan said was “arguably the best closer in baseball.”
“I’ve been covering baseball for almost 25 years now and I don’t know if there’s a team that I have covered that has been as distinct a favorite to win the World Series as the Dodgers are this year,” Passan said.
Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) and pitcher Blake Snell (7) and pitcher Tyler Glasnow (31) celebrate with the Commissioner’s Trophy in the clubhouse after defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2025 MLB World Series at Rogers Centre on Oct 31, 2025, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Passan noted that starting pitcher Blake Snell is expected to miss the beginning of the season, but the Dodgers are uniquely positioned to make up for him in the aggregate.
“You can look at a guy like River Ryan coming back from elbow surgery [being] able to step right in, Justin Wrobleski,” Passan said. “They are talented, they are lethal and they are deep, and it it’s a crazy combination when you see what the Dodgers have.”
Will the Dodgers Threepeat?
Passan’s optimism for the Dodgers is not unwarranted, as the team will return almost its entire roster from its 2025 postseason run that ultimately lifted the Commissioner’s Trophy after one of the most epic World Series comebacks in recent history.
While the Dodgers are the clear favorites on paper, it’s a tall task for any team, even one headlined by the greatest player the sport has ever seen, to win three consecutive titles.
The New York Yankees were the last team to accomplish the feat at the turn of the century, winning three straight from 1998-2000. The Yankees did one better on two other occasions, once in the 1930s and again in 1949-1953, winning four straight World Series titles. The Oakland Athletics of the early 1970s are the only non-Yankees franchise to do so.
Oct 31, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) celebrates after defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2025 MLB World Series at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn ImagesThe last North American professional team, regardless of sport, to win three in a row was LA’s other beloved sports franchise, the Los Angeles Lakers.
With Shohei Ohtani showing no signs of slowing down (and actually ramping up and returning to his Cy Young contender pitching form), a rested Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, and the other laundry list of potential MLB All-Star candidates that comprise the team’s embarrassment of riches, Passan shares the opinion of many in the sporting world.
If the Dodgers are healthy, focused and avoid a post-title hangover phase, there’s no reason the team couldn’t be the next to etch their names in the game’s record books.