How much better was the Dodgers' lineup compared to the Twins in 2024?

We compared the two at catcher, first base, second base, third base, shortstop, outfield and DH. It's not good for the Twins.

Oct 31, 2024; New York, New York, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman (5) celebrates with the Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player Award after being name MVP of the 2024 MLB World Series against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in five games to claim the eighth World Series championship in franchise history. They did it with strong pitching and timely hitting, highlighted by former MVP Freddie Freeman's four home runs en route to being named the most valuable player of the Fall Classic.

But Freeman isn't the only former MVP in the Dodgers lineup. The first three hitters — Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freeman — have all won an MVP award in their respective careers. From top to bottom, the Dodgers lineup was fearsome.

That's what a competitive balance payroll of $320 million (official payroll of $277m on Opening Day) buys you in the current MLB market. The Twins, with the payroll of about $130 million, trotted out a lineup that at one point was one of the best in baseball before a six-week slump to end the season led to a spot on the couch in the playoffs.

How much better, position-by-position, were the Dodgers than the Twins in 2024? Let's take a look...

Catcher: Ryan Jeffers vs. Will Smith

Jeffers was hot to start the season but slumped the last three to four months and finishing with a batting line of .226/.300/.432 with 21 homers and 64 RBIs. Smith slashed .248/.327/.433 with 20 homers and 70 RBIs.

Advantage: Dodgers

1B: Carlos Santana vs. Freddie Freeman

Santana was a great free-agent addition for the Twins and he wound up hitting .238/.328/.420 with 23 homers and 71 RBIs while also playing great defense. Freeman hit .282/.378/.476 with 22 homers, 35 doubles and 89 RBIs. Had Freeman had those numbers for the Twins, he would've been second in batting average and homers, and first in doubles and RBIs.

Advantage: Dodgers

2B: Kyle Farmer, Brooks Lee, Eddy Julien vs. Gavin Lux

Second base a position of flux for the Twins with the likes of Farmer, Lee and Julien mixing in. Clearly, none of them worked out all that well. Lux, meanwhile, hit .251 with 10 homers, 24 doubles and 50 RBIs in 139 games.

Advantage: Dodgers

SS: Carlos Correa vs. Tommy Edman, Miguel Rojas

Correa was a stud until plantar fasciitis limited him to only a couple of weeks of play after the All-Star break. He wound up playing in 86 games and slashing .310/.388/.517 with 14 homers, 20 doubles and 54 RBIs. Edman was a star for the Dodgers in the postseason but he played in just 37 games during the regular season. Rojas played 103 games and hit .283 without providing a lot of punch.

Advantage: Twins

3B: Royce Lewis, Jose Miranda vs. Max Muncy, Kiki Hernandez

Lewis's torrid start to the season — after he returned from a two-month injury absence — vanished almost immediately after he said he doesn't "do that slump thing." He hit .233/.295/.452 with 16 homers and 47 RBIs in 82 games. Miranda famously had a hit in 12 consecutive at-bats and finished on the injured list with a slash line of .284/.322/.441 with nine homers and 41 RBIs. Muncy was limited to 73 games but produced an .852 OPS with 15 homers and 48 RBIs. Hernandez hit .229 with a .654 OPS, providing very little offensively in his starts at third base.

Advantage: Twins

LF: Willi Castro vs. Teoscar Hernandez

Both were All-Star selections but Hernandez had 33 homers, 32 doubles and 99 RBIs while Castro had 12 homers, 31 doubles and 60 RBIs. Hernandez also hit 25 points higher than Castro (.272 to .247).

Advantage: Dodgers

CF: Byron Buxton, Austin Martin vs. Andy Pages

Buxton finally snuck over the 100-game mark and played 102 games. He had an .859 OPS thanks to 18 homers and 27 doubles. Pages played a big role during the regular season but the Dodgers got healthy and that relegated him to a bench role in the postseason.

Advantage: Twins

RF: Manuel Margot, Matt Wallner vs. Mookie Betts

Margot famously set the MLB record for consecutive pinch-hit opportunities without a hit. He finished with a .238 batting average and a WAR of negative 0.6. Wallner had an .894 OPS with 13 homers and 37 RBIs in 220 at-bats. Betts slashed .289/.372/.491 with 19 homers and 75 RBIs in 116 games. His 4.8 WAR would've led the Twins by a mile (Twins WAR leader was Correa at 3.7).

Advantage: Dodgers

DH: Trevor Larnach vs. Shohei Ohtani

Whether it's Larnach or any other player who mixed in at DH for the Twins this season, it doesn't even matter because Ohtani was Babe Ruth-like. The superstar slashed .310/.390/.646 with 54 homers, 38 doubles and 130 RBIs. He became the first 50-50 player in MLB history as he added 59 stolen bases. He also had seven triples.

Advantage: Dodgers