Why Dodgers have most superstar talent in MLB through 2026, per new report

It's nothing anyone hasn't heard before, but the Los Angeles Dodgers are loaded with talent.

Things should be that way when you spend over a billion dollars to sign a pair of Japanese superstars. When the Dodgers added Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (not to mention ace Tyler Glasnow) to a roster already filled with stars, they sent a clear message to the league.

This team is pursuing championships, not only this season, but for every season in the foreseeable future. They've got numerous other stars with championship experience, like Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Clayton Kershaw littered across the roster.

With so much star talent, it would be a surprise if the Dodgers ever finished anywhere but first in any ranking of the future promise of Major League Baseball teams. That was decidedly not the case in the most recent version of the exercise.

On Thursday, ESPN's Kiley McDaniel ranked all 30 teams' "cores" based on the talent they have under control through 2026. He rated the Dodgers as the best roster core in MLB.

"Adding Ohtani, Glasnow and Yamamoto made up for what could have been a tumultuous year for the Dodgers," McDaniel said. "If the Dodgers can magically get pitcher health in order (Ohtani is coming back, too) it would be scary."

McDaniel listed Ohtani, Freeman, and Betts as the three "elite" talents in the Dodgers' core, making them one of only two teams (the Atlanta Braves were the other) with three players McDaniel classed as five-plus wins above replacement locks every season.

The Dodgers also had four players classed as "plus" (Yamamoto, Glasnow, Will Smith, and Max Muncy), and a whopping 20 "solid" players, including several rookies and prospects.

The Dodgers have a well-respected farm system and there seems to be little doubt they will keep supplementing the roster with quality big-leaguers in future seasons. But this is the most present star power they have ever had, or perhaps, that any team has ever had.

But although they will continue to have chances at World Series titles moving forward, there's also still pressure to get a ring this year. You never know when things could change in today's MLB.

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