The Los Angeles Dodgers are going for a three-peat this season and made aggressive moves in the offseason to make it happen.
While moves to add Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz have not necessarily worked out, the roster is still loaded, and the Dodgers have the third-best record in baseball. They are 2 1/2 games behind the Brewers for the best record in the National League.
The Dodgers were the No. 3 seed last year and won the World Series. Where they are seeded may not matter, but it's clear which team they actually need to worry about. The Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves all have solid rosters that could topple the Dodgers if everything goes right, but they don't quite stack up with the reigning champs in a seven-game series.
However, the Milwaukee Brewers have everything it takes to beat Los Angeles this year. In a short series, it will be nearly impossible to match the Dodgers' starting rotation. Any combination of Blake Snell, Tarik Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki and Shohei Ohtani would shut down an offense for a best-of-three or best-of-five series. The Phillies have the pitching to put up a fight, but the offense has clear holes.
In a short series, the Brewers can match the Dodgers' rotation with a mix of Jacob Misiorowski, Logan Henderson, Kyle Harrison and Dustin May. Their bullpen is also one of the best in baseball. However, if the standings hold and Milwaukee is the top seed, they would not see the Dodgers until the National League Championship Series.
In a best-of-seven series, the Dodgers would still seemingly have the advantage, but the Brewers just took three of four from the Dodgers in Los Angeles, and did so without Brice Turang, Abner Uribe and starting shortstop Cooper Pratt.
The recent series between the two highlighted the huge gap between the two bullpens. Both starting rotations are elite, and the Dodgers offense is better, but it's clear at this point that if anyone in the NL is going to beat the Dodgers, it's the Brewers.
The Braves have the bats to beat the Dodgers, but do not have nearly enough pitching. The Cubs starting rotation is not good enough to keep up with the Dodgers, likely ruling them out as well. The Brewers are a complete team with the tools to challenge the Dodgers in a long series.