Staff A simply set a report for the best slugging proportion ever in a single season, and may lose solely considered one of its beginning 9.
Staff B has dedicated greater than $1 billion in future cash to free brokers this offseason, utilizing a lot of that report sum to improve its weakest lineup hyperlinks after almost matching the run-scoring output of Staff A in 2023.
In case you couldn’t guess, Staff B is the Los Angeles Dodgers. Staff A is the Atlanta Braves. And choosing which group has the higher lineup going into 2024 has been one of many juicier storylines of the low season.
Former New York Mets basic supervisor Steve Phillips believes the Braves — who’ve but to re-sign beginning left fielder Eddie Rosario or backup outfielder Kevin Pillar, each free brokers — nonetheless have a greater lineup than the Dodgers, who’ve used the winter to improve at DH (Shohei Ohtani), left discipline (Teoscar Hernández), second base (Mookie Betts’ new place), and shortstop (the place Gavin Lux is returning after lacking all of 2023).
“This lineup will not be fairly Atlanta, but it surely’s getting nearer.”
— Steve Phillips, by way of MLB Community Radio on SiriusXM
Whereas Ohtani won’t be within the Dodgers’ beginning rotation whereas he recovers from offseason elbow surgical procedure, he’ll nonetheless be within the beginning lineup because the on a regular basis designated hitter. Hernandez, Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith will be part of Ohtani in what will probably be one of the vital feared lineups in baseball.
Phillips did go on to applaud the Dodgers lineup, providing that their lineup will probably be “explosive”.
“The Dodgers add one other large bat. This bat in that lineup goes to be phenomenal. They’re loaded proper now.”
Per Steve Phillips Sirius XM MLB Community Radio
There are two sides to each debate. Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain not too long ago supplied that Betts, Ohtani and Freeman may probably go down as the very best 1-2-3 hitters within the historical past of Main League Baseball.
“Mookie, Ohtani, and Freddie, they’ve the prospect to be the best 1-2-3 in Main League Baseball historical past. In case you take a look at their numbers final season, Mookie had a 167 weighted runs created plus, Freeman, a 163 weighted runs created plus. Ohtani, a 180 weighted runs created plus. In case you take a look at that proper there, there’s solely been 19 occasions in (MLB) historical past the place you have got had three gamers on the identical group with a weighted runs created plus of 150 or larger.”
— Doug McKain by way of the Dodgers Nation YouTube channel
Increase the WRC+ threshold to 160, and solely 5 groups in baseball historical past have ever had three gamers producing at 60 p.c above league common.
Do the Dodgers’ prime three hitters give them sufficient to compete with the Braves’ depth? Can Atlanta reproduce what it did in 2023 if Rosario indicators elsewhere for 2024? Will each groups be wholesome sufficient eight months from now to make the talk legitimate?
These are nice inquiries to ponder because the 2024 season approaches. Recreation on.
Photograph Credit score: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports activities
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