National Reporter Says It Would Be ‘Disaster’ if Dodgers Don’t Make World Series

World Series or bust?

That’s been the narrative surrounding the Los Angeles Dodgers since their heavy spending offseason in which they acquired high-priced players including Shohei Ohtani , Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Tyler Glasnow.

National MLB reporter Bob Nightengale confirmed that narrative is the reality for the Dodgers, and it would be a disaster if they don’t make the World Series.

“I think there’s a lot of urgency in the sense that, for the Dodgers, probably more than any team in baseball, it’s World Series or bust,” Nightengale told Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain . I mean if they don’t make the World Series, I think the whole season would be considered a disaster in L.A. with all that talent. You’re still talking about, for a full season, not having a World Series championship since ’88…”

“Just with all the money invested, the attention, what Ohtani’s doing… I think they’ve gotta get to the World Series or it’s gonna be a, long, long winter,” Nightengale said. “I don’t think you can say that about any other team, not even the Yankees or anybody else. But the Dodgers, I think they have to get to the World Series or they’re gonna have to say, ‘What went wrong here? Do we have to make changes, what are we gonna do for 2025?’”

The Dodgers of course have the talent to win the World Series, but they will have to overcome their recent postseason woes to end up winning the trophy. The Dodgers have made the playoffs in each of the last 10 seasons, but have just one World Series trophy to show for it. They have been to three World Series in total, losing two of them.

More notably, the Dodgers have disappointingly been eliminated from the playoffs in the National League Division Series each of the last two seasons. They were defeated by division rivals who they were favored to beat, in the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks, making their 100-win regular season go to waste.

If the Dodgers get eliminated again from the playoffs — especially that early — it will be a huge disappointment with players like Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández now on the team.

Photo Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports