The first member of the 2024 championship roster to find a new home was Walker Buehler, who signed a one-year, $21.5 million deal with the Boston Red Sox in late December.
Buehler was initially offered a qualifying offer from the Dodgers for the same price, but, as noted by Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, he desired a fresh start with a new team after capping off his Dodgers tenure by throwing the final pitch of last year’s World Series.
“It’s been exciting for me to be around a new group of guys and new coaches and see how they prepare,” he said. “There wasn’t anything about LA that I disliked. But given the way I struggled last season, then have a cherry on the top, it seemed like as good a time as any to take the next step.”
Buehler struggled to the tune of a 5.38 in 16 regular season starts in his first season coming off of his second Tommy John surgery, but in three starts with Boston this spring, he has dazzled in 10 innings, posting a 1.80 ERA and 11 strikeouts with just one walk allowed.
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The Tokyo Series not only brought in record viewership numbers for an international MLB event, but also garnered $40 million in sales for Fanatics, a record number the company has received for any major sporting event, reports Brooks Peck of The Athletic.
“The Japanese market was steadily building, I think, anyway,” Fanatics Collectibles’ president of trading cards, David Leiner, told The Athletic’s Evan Drellich. “This (series) just poured gasoline on the fire.”
Dynasties are not established after just one championship. They are defined by repeated dominance and an ability to put out a winning product that continues to reign over their respective sport for an extended period of time. Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times echoes this sentiment in his latest column; “One is not enough.”
Dave Roberts spoke about both the talent and depth of the current Dodgers’ roster, especially after both Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman missed the Tokyo Series and with injuries to key relievers Evan Phillips and Michael Kopech, per Cary Osborne of Dodger Insider.
“Obviously, we’ve had a lot of great rosters, but this is probably the most talented roster — and I keep saying that it seems like every year that we’ve had,” said manager Dave Roberts.