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Welcome folks, it’s a resplendent fall day in Flatbush, and six months ago, who could have imagined this? The visiting Los Angeles Dodgers are ready to take the field in Brooklyn at the new Ebbets Field with the 2025 National League pennant on the line.

Standing in the way of the L.A. nine are their literal offspring, the Brooklyn Trolleys, the most unusual expansion team in baseball history. Champions of the NL West, the Trolleys’ 98 wins earned them today’s homefield edge over the 87-win wild-card Dodgers.

The grandstand at Ebbets is already full on this clear autumn day, the patrons shuffling through the fabulous rotunda down below. The scoreboard is gleaming and the reconstituted Schaefer Beer sign above it is ready to call the hits and errors.

Roki Sasaki is making his final warmup throws now for Brooklyn. Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani watches from the on-deck circle, ready to lead off the game for Los Angeles. Game 7 of the NLCS is about to get underway.

It’s time for Trolleys baseball!

Wait … what is happening here?


The Los Angeles Dodgers — the real ones — are working on a streak of 12 straight playoff appearances. Eleven of those seasons have ended with an NL West title. Four have added to the franchise’s pennant count. After last fall’s World Series win over the New York Yankees, two of those seasons have resulted in championships.

After this winter’s stunning run of high-level acquisitions, people are asking with real concern about whether the Dodgers might have finally broken baseball. It’s not hard to understand why.

The expectations for the Dodgers have never been higher, and that’s saying something. ESPN Bet currently has the Dodgers’ over/under for wins at 103.5, 10 more than any other team. Cot’s Contracts estimates L.A.’s CBT payroll number at $374.1 million. If you split that in half — $187.05 million — the CBT payroll would still rank 15th in the majors.

Hmmm, split the Dodgers in half? Is that a solution? Well, obviously it is not. But let’s imagine that it was, that some trust-busting commissioner took over, or some bizarre schism took place in the Guggenheim Baseball Management group.

This is fantastical, but stick with me. Here’s the sequence of events that have led to our dream game at a brand new version of Ebbets Field.

• The Dodgers’ dominance and hoarding of superstar talent becomes viewed as an existential threat to baseball. Fans are screaming. Owners are wringing their hands.

• Partially in response to this situation, Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort announces that his franchise is withdrawing from MLB and will join the Banana Ball Championship League. The Rockies struggle in their new circuit, but their fans keep turning out anyway.

• Fights break out in the Guggenheim group. Who knows why. Lawsuits are filed. Desperate to resolve the situation and to fill the one-team void in the NL West, commissioner Rob Manfred takes up a Brooklyn developer’s offer to construct an exact replica of Ebbets Field on the same block where the sacred old green cathedral stood for decades. The residents who are currently there are respectfully relocated. The new park springs up with alarming alacrity.

• At the winter meetings, Manfred’s solution is announced. The Dodgers will be split in half. Everything. Their organizational talent — on the field and off — is divided evenly. The offshoot of the Dodgers will play at the reconstituted Ebbets Field and will be called the Trolleys, keeping with tradition. The new club will be managed by Gabe Kapler and its front office run by Farhan Zaidi.

It’s a lot, I know. It’s impossible. But let’s suspend disbelief for just a moment so we can get at a real question: Have the Dodgers accumulated so much talent that, at this point, they could field two contending rosters?


Before Game 7 gets underway, let’s run through the lineup Dodgers manager Dave Roberts will pit against Brooklyn ace Sasaki.

Designated hitter Ohtani will lead off. Batting second is shortstop Tommy Edman. Catcher Will Smith is in the three-hole. Batting cleanup is right fielder Teoscar Hernandez. Out in left and batting fifth is Michael Conforto. Batting sixth is center fielder Andy Pages.

Youngster Dalton Rushing will play first and hit seventh, followed by third baseman Chris Taylor in the eight-hole. Finally, batting ninth and playing the keystone is second baseman Andy Freeland.

Let’s get started.


To divide the Dodgers’ current organizational roster, I took a straightforward approach. I started by flipping a coin for Ohtani. Los Angeles got him. Since Ohtani pitches and hits, I then gave Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman to Brooklyn.

From there, I just ranked each positional group by projected WAR and assigned every other player to one team or the other. Some jostling was done to make sure the spread of positions was equitable and that the bottom-line WAR projection was as close as possible. Each team was assigned 35 players.

Kirby Yates, whose reported agreement with the Dodgers has not yet gone official, was included. So was Clayton Kershaw, still a free agent, but let’s face it — we all think he’s going back to L.A.

We had to dip pretty deep into prospect lists to fill things out, accelerating the MLB arrival of some young players in a way that would never happen. The Dodgers’ list of non-roster invites for spring training was light on veterans with any kind of track record, so other than Yates and Kershaw, we had to stick with who is already on hand.

Here are Opening Day rosters of the split-in-two Dodgers, which are also the rosters in effect for our imaginary game.

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Sources: IF Kim, Rays agree to 2-year, $29M deal

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Sources: IF Kim, Rays agree to 2-year, M deal

Infielder Ha-Seong Kim and the Tampa Bay Rays are in agreement on a two-year, $29 million contract that includes an opt-out after the first season, sources told ESPN, adding a Gold Glove winner to a Rays team that places significant emphasis on defense.

Kim, 29, who is expected to return from shoulder surgery in May, likely will start at shortstop but also has played second and third base, with his Gold Glove coming in a utility role.

The deal, which will pay Kim $13 million this season, is the most Tampa Bay has guaranteed in free agency for a position player since signing outfielder Greg Vaughn for four years and $34 million in 1999.

Before the partial tear of his right labrum required surgery, Kim was expected to land a free agent deal in the nine-figure range. With his opt-out, he can join a free agent class next year that’s thin on infielders, with shortstop Bo Bichette and second baseman Luis Arraez the only players of Kim’s caliber.

He arrived from Korea in 2021, signing with the San Diego Padres as a bat-first middle infielder. While the power Kim displayed in Korea didn’t show up as frequently as it did with the Kiwoom Heroes, his glove was a revelation, and in four seasons with the Padres, he posted double-digit wins above replacement despite never slugging above .400.

Tampa Bay enters the 2025 season with playoff aspirations but had been relatively quiet over the winter, signing catcher Danny Jansen and trading left-hander Jeffrey Springs to Oakland. The Rays used Jose Caballero and Taylor Walls at shortstop last season and are expected to do the same this year before the return of Kim.

Their infield already was a strength, with first baseman Yandy Diaz, second baseman Brandon Lowe and star-in-the-making Junior Caminero at third, with Christopher Morel, Curtis Mead, Jonathan Aranda and Richie Palacios also capable to playing on the dirt.

Shortstop Wander Franco, who was expected to be the Rays’ long-term solution at the position after signing an 11-year deal, remains on the restricted list while facing charges in the Dominican Republic of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation against a minor and human trafficking.

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Fantasy baseball rankings, projections, strategy and cheat sheets

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Fantasy baseball rankings, projections, strategy and cheat sheets

All of your fantasy baseball draft preparation needs collected in one place! Here you’ll find rankings, projections, cheat sheets, analysis and strategy. Check back every day for new content through Opening Day of the 2025 season. If this is your first time playing fantasy baseball, might we recommend starting with the basics: The Playbook: How to play fantasy baseball.

Don’t have a team yet? Create or join a league and then dive into the latest draft-prep material tailored for whatever format you prefer.


The Playbook: Become an expert in 9 innings

Inning 1: How to play fantasy baseball

Inning 2: League Formats: Which is right for you?

Inning 3: Everything you need to know about salary-cap drafts

Inning 4: How to create the ultimate cheat sheet

Inning 5: Roster optimization

Inning 6: Nine must-follow tips

Inning 7: Staying ahead of league trends

Inning 8: Using advanced stats to get ahead

Inning 9: Mastering the 2025 player pool


Rankings and cheat sheets

Cockcroft: Points-league rankings

Karabell: Head-to-head categories/rotisserie rankings


Advice from our experts

Karabell: The top 10 fantasy baseball prospects for 2025 (1/29)

Karabell: News or Noise (1/24)

Zola: What to expect from Roki Sasaki and other Asian newcomers (1/15)

Cockcroft: Reaction to Juan Soto signing with the New York Mets (12/9)


Roster-building essentials

2025 Player Projections and Outlooks

“Hot stove” free agent and player movement tracker

Live Draft Results

Closer depth chart

MLB depth charts


For Dynasty Leaguers

Dynasty Top 300 (2025 edition coming soon!)

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Steinbrenner: ‘Difficult’ to spend like Dodgers

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Steinbrenner: 'Difficult' to spend like Dodgers

New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner weighed in on the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ offseason spending spree, saying it will be even more “difficult” to keep up with the reigning World Series champions.

The Dodgers have spent more than $450 million guaranteed this offseason, pushing their 2025 luxury tax payroll to approximately $390 million.

With the penalties for exceeding the $241 million threshold, the Dodgers’ total payroll for this year likely will be in excess of $500 million.

“It’s difficult for most of us owners to be able to do the kind of things that they’re doing,” Steinbrenner said during an interview with the YES Network that aired Tuesday. “We’ll see if it pays off.”

Despite losing superstar Juan Soto as a free agent to the crosstown rival Mets, the Yankees also have had an active offseason, headlined by Max Fried‘s eight-year, $218 million deal.

The Yankees currently have Major League Baseball’s third-highest luxury tax payroll at just under $303 million. The Phillies are second at just under $308 million, more than $80 million behind the Dodgers.

The Yankees were listed in March 2024 by Forbes as MLB’s most valuable franchise, worth an estimated $7.55 billion, while the Dodgers were the second-most valuable at approximately $5.45 billion.

Los Angeles’ latest free agent addition, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan, is reliever Kirby Yates, who agreed to a one-year deal worth $13 million.

The Dodgers also have signed free agents Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, Roki Sasaki, Michael Conforto and Hyeseong Kim; they re-signed Teoscar Hernandez and Blake Treinen; and they reached a multiyear extension with Tommy Edman.

Steinbrenner, whose Yankees lost to the Dodgers in last season’s World Series, added Tuesday that Los Angeles’ busy offseason does not guarantee another championship.

“They still have to have a season that’s relatively injury-free for it to work out for them,” Steinbrenner said. “It’s a long season as you know, and once you get to the postseason, anything can happen. We’ve seen that time and time again. We’ll see who’s there at the end.”

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