The Dodgers leave for Tokyo today to prepare for the Japan Series against the Cubs starting on March 18. They will have to get down to 26 active players by then, but that roster will almost certainly look a lot different from the Opening Day around the MLB on March 27.
A month ago, I tried to do a way-too-early roster projection for the opening series, but really it was more like a domestic Opening Day projection. That’s because for the Japan Series there will be 31 players on the travel roster (to help play in exhibitions), and most importantly there are three exempt roster spots who aren’t available to play in the two games in Japan but will not need to be optioned or reassigned. As you can imagine, those spots usually go to the other three starting pitchers (in this case, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, and Dustin May), so the team will be able to carry three extra relievers instead (likely to be among those discussed below).
So with that out of the way, let’s try to predict the 26 guys for the March 27 domestic Opening Day roster, along with giving some insight into the 31 who will likely make the trip to Tokyo and who out of them will be active for the Japan Series.
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Locks (22)
Catchers (2): Will Smith, Austin Barnes
Infielders (4): Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas
Outfielders (2): Teoscar Hernandez, Michael Conforto
Utility (3): Tommy Edman, Enrique Hernandez, Chris Taylor
Shohei Ohtani (1 Of A Kind): Shohei Ohtani
Rotation (5): Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Dustin May
Bullpen (5): Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, Anthony Banda
That’s 12 of the 13 position player spots and the whole rotation being set, with the big mystery being the last three in the pen due to all the injuries and late starts happening.
Not saying you have to like CT3 being a lock, but he has a contract and the other guys have options. Barring a last-minute trade, he’s in.
Position Player Candidates (2)
The final position player spot will come down to Andy Pages and James Outman. Why? Because there is literally nobody else left after the most recent cuts.
The Dodgers reassigned LHPs Jackson Ferris, Joe Jacques and Jose E. Hernández and RHPs Sam Carlson, Jared Karros, Jack Little and Jose Rodriguez to minor league camp.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 8, 2025
The Los Angeles Dodgers have optioned RHP Bobby Miller and IF/OF Hyeseong Kim and reassigned RHP Giovanny Gallegos, C Dalton Rushing, IFs David Bote and Michael Chavis and OF Eddie Rosario to minor league camp.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 11, 2025
Outman made swing changes over the off-season that he’s still getting used to, but he’s come on of late to post a .207/.333/.483/.816 line with four XBH and five walks. However, that also comes with 15 strikeouts in 29 at-bats for a worrying strikeout rate. Pages has struggled this Spring to a .214/.313/.321/.634 line, but has done so in a relatively normal way without outlier swing-and-miss.
While there’s a case to be made for Outman due to his ability to play center effectively, Pages has the better recent track record and the Dodgers still seem to believe he can handle center as well, so I’ll go Pages.
Pitcher Candidates (6)
Aside from all the previously mentioned walking wounded of the staff, Tony Gonsolin injured himself lifting weights recently, so the rotation essentially set itself.
That leaves three starters/swingmen, a lefty reliever, and two non-roster invitees for three spots. The easy thing to do would be to pick like Knack, Casparius, and Dreyer, as they are likely the best win-now options, with Wrobleski being allowed to continue starting with four lefties already in the pen.
That said, the Dodgers have a bunch of guys they can put on the 60-day IL to clear 40-man roster room, and they seem to really like Sauer despite his 8.22 ERA in 8.2 innings this Spring. It’s possible they prefer letting Casparius develop as a starter with his velocity uptick and take Sauer to begin with instead, as he wouldn’t be difficult to designate whenever one of the relievers are ready to return. Same reasoning applies Dreyer, as they could option him whenever another guy returns without much change to his routine since he’s a reliever. Thus I’ll go a bit outside the box and say they’ll go with Sauer as the last man.
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26-Man Roster
Catchers (2): Will Smith, Austin Barnes
Infielders (4): Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas
Outfielders (3): Teoscar Hernandez, Michael Conforto, Andy Pages
Utility (3): Tommy Edman, Enrique Hernandez, Chris Taylor
Shohei Ohtani (1 Of A Kind): Shohei Ohtani
Rotation (5): Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Dustin May
Bullpen (8): Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, Anthony Banda, Landon Knack, Jack Dreyer, Matt Sauer
Okay, so Edman would play center and second, depending on whether there’s a good matchup for Pages/Enrique or not, and both of the pairing could be in the lineup if there’s a matchup that’s bad for Conforto. Rojas would ideally be the primary utilityman in this alignment, spelling whoever needs a break, and CT3 would … well, try to get anything going when he can.
The rotation is pretty straight-forward, and with the Dodgers slow-playing Shohei’s return, it’ll be that way for a while. The pen construction includes four lefties and two swingmen types, so there’s some length in case of emergency and a ton of matchup options.
As far as the 31-man travel team to Japan, all of the 26 above are going except May, which makes 25. The rest of the healthy 40-man would also go (except Kim, who’s confirmed to stay back for reps), including Wrobleski, Casparius, and Outman, the already-cut Hunter Feduccia and Nick Frasso, and the only other remaining NRI in Garcia. For the Japan Series, in place of the three exempt starters from the rotation, they’re adding the three relievers who didn’t make the 26-man above (for my prediction, that would be Casparius, Wrobleski, and Garcia).
Discuss!
