In 1988, the Dodgers won the World Series with a rag-tag bunch of bench players, junkyard dogs, and stuntmen, including Mickey Hatcher, Rick Dempsey, Mike Davis, Danny Heep, and Dave Anderson. The bench was important to the last world championship and I believe that this year’s bench is immensely better.
Hey, these guys aren’t starters, but many of them would be starters on other teams. Due to arbitration and the like, this could be the last season these guys are together. They are “all in” wanting to get a World Championship. They know their roles and I am assuming that this will be the starting eight:
- C – Will Smith
- 1B – Max Muncy
- 2B – Gavin Lux
- SS – Corey Seager
- 3B – Justin Turner
- LF – Joc Pederson
- CF – Cody Bellinger
- RF – Alex Verdugo
Those are the likely starters, so let’s look at the Dodgers bench options:
- Austin Barnes (C) – AB is an elite defensive catcher and very highly ranked in pitch framing.