The Los Angeles Dodgers’ 8-0 start to the season marks the greatest beginning for any defending World Series champion. As a result, MLB Network’s Mark DeRosa is ready to compare this year’s Dodgers team to one of the greatest teams in baseball history. While the title of the greatest MLB team ever is highly subjective, many baseball fans consider the 1998 New York Yankees the best, having famously won 114 games in the regular season and swept the San Diego Padres in the World Series. This performance ignited one of the most remarkable stretches in the Yankees’ storied history, culminating in championships in both 1999 and 2000.
While the Dodgers still have a long way to go to replicate that three-year stretch of success, DeRosa believes that when comparing the lineups of the two teams, the current Dodgers actually hold an edge over the 1998 Yankees. “I truly believe this Dodgers roster could arguably be the best team I have ever seen,” DeRosa stated. “They have a chance to do crazy things if they want to do it. So, I looked up ‘What is the best team in the last 30 years?’ The ’98 Yankees, according to Google, so you know it has to be true. So I was saying to myself, ‘Where does the 2025 Dodgers roster stack up in comparison to what we believe to be the greatest team of the last 30 years?’” DeRosa compared the starters at each position between the two teams and concluded that the Dodgers had a 6-3 advantage, with the only advantages for the Yankees being Derek Jeter over Mookie Betts, Bernie Williams over Andy Pages, and Paul O’Neill over Teoscar Hernández.
Which team are you taking on paper: the 1998 Yankees or 2025 Dodgers?@markdero7 goes position by position to pick apart the two dominant ballclubs. pic.twitter.com/q7mqiz6vWt
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) April 4, 2025
While DeRosa didn’t delve into the starting rotations or bullpens of the two teams, the Dodgers could have an edge there as well if the additions of Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki prove as impactful as expected. The last time similar conversations arose in sports was in the NBA, where people compared the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors to the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls after they broke the record for most wins in a regular season. Ultimately, that dialogue came to a swift end when the Cleveland Cavaliers overcame a 3-1 series deficit against the Warriors to win the 2016 NBA Finals. Likewise, DeRosa noted that we might see comparable comparisons for the Dodgers come to a halt if they don’t win a World Series this season, as the 1998 Yankees did.
“I think the distinction for this conversation is that the ‘98 Yankees won the World Series,” DeRosa added. “And this version of the Los Angeles Dodgers will be judged, fairly or unfairly, based on whether or not they win the World Series. I know it’s only April, but this is as good a team as I have ever seen put together on paper.” Ultimately, we will soon discover if the 2025 Dodgers live up to DeRosa’s hype. If the first eight games of the season are any indication, it could be an extraordinary year for Dodgers fans.
