With familiar faces back, Dodgers open camp with ‘best team we’ve had’

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. –– Dave Roberts has had a lot of great teams during his tenure as Dodgers manager.

But his 2026 squad, he believes, is “probably the best team we’ve had on paper.”

There’s plenty of premium talent, of course, from returning stars including Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, to this offseason’s blockbuster additions of Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz. 

There’s also ample depth, from longtime veterans in Max Muncy, Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman, to younger options including Andy Pages, Roki Sasaki, Hyeseong Kim and a crop of other talented pitchers returning from injury. 

Yet, as Roberts spoke at a Cactus League media day event Thursday, on the eve of his team’s first workout of spring training at Camelback Ranch, there was another, more intangible dynamic bolstering his belief in this year’s team.

“Knowing we have a target (on our backs) –– as we should if we’re the defending champions –– but to still focus on yourselves and what’s forward, that’s what our guys do a good job of,” Roberts said. “It’s easy to say, to not concern yourselves with people that are trying to knock you off the hill or whatever analogy. But it’s harder to do in practice.”

Indeed, for all the money they’ve spent and talent they’ve accrued in recent years, the Dodgers have been steadfast about how their behind-the-scenes culture has buttressed their on-field success.

Players, coaches and executives have all pointed to the team’s clubhouse chemistry as the bedrock to their back-to-back World Series championships.

Even with the influx of new faces, the consistency of their core has served as a stabilizing foundation.

To that end, the Dodgers made some long-anticipated moves in the final days of their offseason this week, locking down some familiar faces in order to keep the gang together.

On Wednesday, the club re-signed veteran reliever Evan Phillips to a $6.5 million deal, ensuring he will stay with the organization after being non-tendered earlier this winter (as a way to preserve space on the team’s 40-man roster).

On Thursday morning, a $10 million contract extension was struck with Muncy, one that will keep what is now the franchise’s longest-tenured player in the fold through 2027 (and potentially 2028 thanks to a $10 million club option).

And on Thursday afternoon, fan favorite and longtime veteran Kiké Hernández re-signed with the Dodgers on a $4 million contract, too, marking the third-straight winter he has returned to Los Angeles as a free agent.

“You know, Michael Jordan couldn’t do it without Scottie Pippen and the other guys on that team,” fellow veteran Miguel Rojas said at last month’s Fanfest event, speaking specifically of Hernández but delivering a message that applies to many around the clubhouse. “We’re all part of this, and we’ve all been part of this for the last couple years.”

Exactly how the team’s final winter moves will impact this upcoming season, of course, remains to be seen. 

Muncy was already entrenched as the team’s starting third baseman for this year. And Phillips and Hernández are unlikely to play until “sometime in the summer,” Roberts said, with Phillips still recovering from last year’s Tommy John surgery and Hernández from an elbow procedure he had early this offseason.

But their presence, Roberts noted, is impactful –– making their returns an important tone-setter as camp gets underway.

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Consider: After Phillips was non-tendered at the start of the offseason, Roberts said the reliever “wanted to kind of see what was out there, which I respect; he earned that right.” And yet, he ultimately decided to return to the Dodgers, even if his eventual place in a beefed-up bullpen remains unclear. 

“Evan understanding the value of whatever role we need him, it’s of importance,” Roberts said. “And to have that reinforced this year is huge.”

Hernández also faces an uncertain role this season, whenever he completes his surgical rehab. But that’s been the case for the utilityman over the past several seasons, when he has grinded through limited playing time in the regular season only to deliver when called upon in October.

“When it comes to crunch time,” Roberts said, “he’s gonna be counted on.”

Even Muncy’s extension served as a sign of the team’s priority on maintaining cohesion, proactively locking up a veteran who Roberts said goes “very under the radar in terms of what he’s done for us to win three championships.”

Put those moves together, and they represent one more reason Roberts and the Dodgers boast such confidence in this year’s team. 

They have a huge payroll (now up to $409 million for luxury tax purposes). They have an almost endless supply of big-name players. And now, they enter the spring with a few fitting final roster moves, subtle additions that could nonetheless have profound impacts as well.

Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com