Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
On Opening Day, I penned a piece with five bold predictions for the Dodgers in 2026. Now that the real postseason is about to begin, I figured it was time to go back and see how the predictions panned out.
It was a bumpy and windy road to 100 wins for the Dodgers, and some of these predictions played a role — both positive and negative.
Without further ado, let’s go.
1. Ben Casparius leads the Dodgers in bullpen WAR
Lots went wrong for Casparius in 2026. Despite making the Opening Day roster, he was limited to just 4 2/3 innings at the MLB level. He had a 9.64 ERA, 6.74 FIP and a -0.1 WAR in those innings. He landed on the injured list on April 13 thanks to right shoulder inflammation and it kept him down for a good portion of the season. He made his first rehab appearance with OKC on July 25 and made 12 total appearances, but he never got on track. He walked 15 batters in those 10 1/3 innings and just wasn’t the same pitcher. He’ll focus on 2027 (if/when it gets played) in hopes of a bounce-back.
2. Mookie Betts returns to MVP form
On the whole, this was a miss. If you’d like to be generous, though, perhaps partial credit is appropriate here? Betts suffered an oblique strain in April that cost him roughly five weeks of the season. Despite that, Betts was downright bad through the first 2 1/2 months of the campaign. His .591 OPS on through June 12 was the low point of his season. Many were wondering if this was the beginning of the end of the Mookie Betts we have come to know over the last decade-plus. However, for the rest of June, Betts looked like his old self: .373/.408/.657. He ended June with his season batting line looking much better — .244/.300/.444 — but still not Betts-like. A .580 OPS in July slammed the breaks on any “he’s back” talk, as his season OPS heading into August was .697. And much like the rest of the Dodgers, he didn’t do much offensively in August. A .714 OPS was pedestrian and the team had hit its low point with the bats. But then September came ’round and Betts displayed the MVP form we’ve come to see over his illustrious career. He hit .337/.438/.674 at a time when the Dodgers needed him most. Shohei Ohtani was on the injured list, Freddie Freeman had lost his power and Andy Pages suffered a fractured hand that cost him a month. So that’s why I’m asking for partial credit on this one — even a quarter of a point will suffice.
3. Justin Wrobleski throws 120-plus innings
Nailed it. Of all the predictions, this one was probably the least bold, but Wrobleski was able to log 140 MLB innings when starters Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell missed time due to injury. That resulted in him making the NL All-Star team. His first half was (2.69 ERA, 1.02 WHIP) was much better than his second half (6.13 ERA, 1.46 WHIP), as the league caught up to what he was doing that made him successful through mid-July. However, and uptick in strikeout rate in the second half bodes well for his role in October, which should be as a multi-inning (if needed) reliever out of the Dodger bullpen, provided he can keep the ball in the ballpark.
4. Roki Sasaki throws more innings for Oklahoma City than Los Angeles
Big, big miss here. At the time, Sasaki had been struggling mightily and we as fans didn’t know exactly what was going to happen with him. Sasaki threw 122 1/3 innings this season — all with the Dodgers. He didn’t spend one second with the Comets, and that’s OK. Early on, it looked like this prediction might come to pass. He had a 6.35 ERA and 7.16 FIP through the end of April, but injuries prompted the Dodgers to keep Sasaki in LA. Even through the All-Star break, Sasaki had a 4.98 ERA and 5.34 FIP. He incorporated a big glove to help combat pitch-tipping, and it seemed to work. Sasaki posted a 2.83 ERA and 3.05 FIP in 41 1/3 second-half innings. He did miss time in September due to a blister, but he’s back and looks primed to be a big piece of the Dodgers’ bullpen that could desperately use some consistency for the right side. The best is yet to come for Roki.
5. Tommy Edman is closer to replacement level (0 WAR) than average (2 WAR)
Edman didn’t debut until June 17 after offseason ankle surgery, so this prediction was looking pretty good because WAR is a counting stat, even if I didn’t want it to come true. Despite him being out longer than most expected, Edman ended up accumulating a 1.3 WAR in 331 plate appearances. If you extrapolate for even 500 plate appearances, He’d be just about 2 WAR. So, this one was a welcome miss on my part. His 101 wRC+ was his best in the regular season since being acquired by the Dodgers at the 2024 trade deadline.
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That was a fun exercise. I’m more bummed Casparius didn’t pan out after I chose him as a breakout candidate. Injuries suck! It’s nice to see the Dodgers find something more than a fungible reliever/swingman in Wrobleski and the star potential is still there for Sasaki. Flashes of MVP brilliance still reside in Betts, while Edman is a solid role player — and that’s all he has to be.
The real season starts tomorrow, Dodger fans. While there will be no bold predictions, I can prediction one thing with 100% certainty: October baseball is the best/worst.
