In the wake of reports that Kyle Tucker has agreed to a mammoth four-year contract with the defending champs, you don’t need us to tell you this 2026 Los Angeles Dodgers lineup is nuts.
But we’re here to tell you it could be historically nuts … which is the best kind of nuts.
First, let’s list one version of a projected Dodgers lineup, with each player’s 2025 OPS+ (with 100 being league average, and each point above or below that being one percentage point above or below league average):
- Shohei Ohtani, DH, 179
- Mookie Betts, SS, 104
- Freddie Freeman, 1B, 141
- Kyle Tucker, RF, 143
- Will Smith, C, 152
- Teoscar Hernández, LF, 103
- Max Muncy, 3B, 136
- Andy Pages, CF, 114
- Tommy Edman, 2B, 82
Not bad, huh?
Eight of the nine projected regulars were above league average last year. Were they each to repeat the feat in 2026, it would not be unprecedented lineup depth in AL/NL history. Within the Live Ball Era (dating back to 1920), there have been 22 teams with eight players logging at least 400 plate appearances and an above-average OPS+ mark, according to Baseball-Reference’s Stathead Database. And the most recent of those teams was … Kyle Tucker’s Cubs, just last year (Tucker, Michael Busch, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ, Nico Hoerner, Carson Kelly, Seiya Suzuki and Dansby Swanson).
So that’s good … but not nuts.
What’s nuts is what’s (potentially) going on within the meat of this lineup. You’ve got Ohtani, Freeman, Tucker and Smith all coming off seasons in which they logged more than 400 plate appearances with OPS+ marks at least 40% better than league average.
How many Live Ball Era AL/NL teams have had four such players at once?
Just four, so far:
1953 Brooklyn Dodgers: Duke Snider (165), Roy Campanella (154), Carl Furillo (147), Gil Hodges (140)
1976 Reds: Joe Morgan (187), George Foster (150), Pete Rose (141), Ken Griffey (140)
2003 Red Sox: Manny Ramirez (160), Trot Nixon (149), David Ortiz (144), Bill Mueller (140)
2017 Astros: Jose Altuve (160), Carlos Correa (155), Marwin González (146), George Springer (141)
Yeah, now we’re veering toward nuts. Three of those teams reached the World Serie, while the 2003 Red Sox fell one win short. And two of them (1976 Reds and 2017 Astros) won it all.
When we lower our OPS+ threshold to 135 and our plate appearances threshold to 375 to enter Muncy (388 plate appearances in 2025) into the picture, then there is only one Live Ball Era AL/NL team to have had five such players in a season -- the aforementioned 1953 Dodgers, who also had some guy named Jackie Robinson ringing in with a 138 mark.
So if -- and that’s all we have right now are “ifs” – these players manage to repeat their 2025 offensive performances, then these Dodgers would be in pretty special historical company.
But there are other avenues by which this Big Blue Machine could make a historical mark.
Whether Betts’ worst offensive season (.258/.326/.406 slash) will prove to be a statistical blip or the start of a decline will be one of the more interesting subplots of the Dodgers’ season. Remember, though, that Mookie had a 143 OPS+ in 2024 and has a 135 mark for his career. So a return to his statistical norm would amplify the odds of the Dodgers matching or making history.
There’s also Hernández, who had a 135 mark in 2024 before going backward last year. Teo’s situation is fluid. He’s been a rumored trade candidate this offseason, perhaps all the more now that Tucker is in the fold. But if Hernández hangs around, he, too, is a bounce-back candidate capable of adding to L.A.’s historical allure.
Another interesting aspect of Tucker’s arrival is that he, like Freeman, Ohtani and Muncy, is a left-handed hitter. Again, all four logged north of 375 plate appearances with OPS+ marks at least 35% better than league average last season. If they do it again, the Dodgers would be the first Live Ball Era AL/NL team with four such hitters. The only Deadball Era team with four was the 1908 Tigers with Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford, Matty McIntyre and Claude Rossman.
Obviously, the 2026 Dodgers haven’t played a game yet, and there is danger in assuming a player’s performance one year will be repeated the next -- much less four or five players.
But we’re talking about star players (and bounce-back candidates) with real track records, and the depth and dimension of this Dodgers’ lineup gives all of them opportunity to reach their full potential.
One last way to look at this: The Dodgers have five (Ohtani, Tucker, Freeman, Betts and Smith) of the 50 players projected by Steamer (available at FanGraphs) to post weighted runs created plus (same concept as OPS+) marks at least 20% better than league average.
No other team has more than three.
In other words, this could get nuts. Historically nuts.