The Dodgers Aren't The Only Projected 100-Win Team In MLB This Year

The Dodgers won 100 games in 2023 and signed Shohei Ohtani.

With the offseason winding down, projections for next season have started to emerge. Unsurprisingly, the Dodgers project to do very well during the regular season.

Baseball Prospectus expects the Dodgers to win 102 games next year. Only the Atlanta Braves join the Dodgers with a win projection higher than 100 games.

Last year, the Dodgers won exactly 100 games during a season where Clayton Kershaw mostly pitched injured, Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May had major elbow surgery, Gavin Lux tore his ACL during spring training, and Julio Urías was placed on administrative leave. Postseason aside, 2023 was remarkable given the circumstances.

This year, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers went all-out bringing in talent. 

They committed over $1 billion in contractual obligations to sign two-time American League MVP Shohei Ohtani and NPB phenom Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Dodgers also traded for, and extended, perennial Cy Young candidate Tyler Glasnow. 

To help with the offense, they brought in lefty masher Teoscar Hernández on a one-year deal. 

Beyond the signings, the team also gets back some key pieces they did not have last year. 

Lux will return from his knee injury and is expected to be the team's starting shortstop. Blake Treinen and J.P. Feyereisen will join an already-loaded bullpen after rehabbing from shoulder surgery. Finally, Buehler returns to the mound after undergoing his second Tommy John surgery.

The front office pulled out all the stops to improve a team that won 100 games last year. They didn't do it for the regular season though. All of these moves are to help the team get over the hump in October.