Welcome people, it is a resplendent fall day in Flatbush, and 6 months in the past, who may have imagined this? The visiting Los Angeles Dodgers are able to take the sector in Brooklyn on the new Ebbets Area with the 2025 Nationwide League pennant on the road.
Standing in the best way of the L.A. 9 are their literal offspring, the Brooklyn Trolleys, essentially the most uncommon enlargement staff in baseball historical past. Champions of the NL West, the Trolleys’ 98 wins earned them at the moment’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 by way of the fabulous rotunda down beneath. The scoreboard is gleaming and the reconstituted Schaefer Beer signal above it is able to name the hits and errors.
Roki Sasaki is making his closing warmup throws now for Brooklyn. Dodgers famous person Shohei Ohtani watches from the on-deck circle, prepared to guide off the sport for Los Angeles. Sport 7 of the NLCS is about to get underway.
It is time for Trolleys baseball!
Wait … what is going on right here?
The Los Angeles Dodgers — the actual ones — are engaged on a streak of 12 straight playoff appearances. Eleven of these seasons have ended with an NL West title. 4 have added to the franchise’s pennant depend. After final fall’s World Sequence win over the New York Yankees, two of these seasons have resulted in championships.
The expectations for the Dodgers have by no means been greater, and that is saying one thing. ESPN Wager at present has the Dodgers’ over/beneath for wins at 103.5, 10 greater than some other staff. Cot’s Contracts estimates L.A.’s CBT payroll quantity at $374.1 million. In case you break up that in half — $187.05 million — the CBT payroll would nonetheless rank fifteenth within the majors.
Hmmm, break up the Dodgers in half? Is {that a} answer? Nicely, clearly it’s not. However lets say that it was, that some trust-busting commissioner took over, or some weird schism passed off within the Guggenheim Baseball Administration group.
That is fantastical, however persist with me. This is the sequence of occasions which have led to our dream sport at a model new model of Ebbets Area.
• The Dodgers’ dominance and hoarding of famous person expertise turns into seen as an existential risk to baseball. Followers are screaming. Homeowners are wringing their fingers.
• Partially in response to this case, Colorado Rockies proprietor Dick Monfort broadcasts that his franchise is withdrawing from MLB and can be a part of the Banana Ball Championship League. The Rockies wrestle of their new circuit, however their followers maintain turning out anyway.
• Fights get away within the Guggenheim group. Who is aware of why. Lawsuits are filed. Determined to resolve the state of affairs and to fill the one-team void within the NL West, commissioner Rob Manfred takes up a Brooklyn developer’s provide to assemble an actual reproduction of Ebbets Area on the identical block the place the sacred previous inexperienced cathedral stood for many years. The residents who’re at present there are respectfully relocated. The brand new park springs up with alarming alacrity.
• On the winter conferences, Manfred’s answer is introduced. The Dodgers might be break up in half. The whole lot. Their organizational expertise — on the sector and off — is split evenly. The offshoot of the Dodgers will play on the reconstituted Ebbets Area and might be referred to as the Trolleys, conserving with custom. The brand new membership might be managed by Gabe Kapler and its entrance workplace run by Farhan Zaidi.
It is lots, I do know. It is not possible. However let’s droop disbelief for only a second so we will get at an actual query: Have the Dodgers accrued a lot expertise that, at this level, they may discipline two contending rosters?
Earlier than Sport 7 will get underway, let’s run by way of the lineup Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts will pit in opposition to Brooklyn ace Sasaki.
Designated hitter Ohtani will lead off. Batting second is shortstop Tommy Edman. Catcher Will Smith is within the three-hole. Batting cleanup is true fielder Teoscar Hernandez. Out in left and batting fifth is Michael Conforto. Batting sixth is middle fielder Andy Pages.
Teenager Dalton Speeding will play first and hit seventh, adopted by third baseman Chris Taylor within the eight-hole. Lastly, batting ninth and enjoying the keystone is second baseman Andy Freeland.
Let’s get began.
To divide the Dodgers’ present organizational roster, I took an easy method. I began by flipping a coin for Ohtani. Los Angeles obtained him. Since Ohtani pitches and hits, I then gave Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman to Brooklyn.
From there, I simply ranked every positional group by projected WAR and assigned each different participant to 1 staff or the opposite. Some jostling was carried out to ensure the unfold of positions was equitable and that the bottom-line WAR projection was as shut as doable. Every staff was assigned 35 gamers.
Kirby Yates, whose reported settlement with the Dodgers has not but gone official, was included. So was Clayton Kershaw, nonetheless a free agent, however let’s face it — all of us suppose he is going again to L.A.
We needed to dip fairly deep into prospect lists to fill issues out, accelerating the MLB arrival of some younger gamers in a means that might by no means occur. The Dodgers’ record of non-roster invitations for spring coaching was gentle on veterans with any form of monitor document, so aside from Yates and Kershaw, we needed to persist with who’s already readily available.
Listed here are Opening Day rosters of the split-in-two Dodgers, that are additionally the rosters in impact for our imaginary sport.