The Los Angeles Dodgers re-signed their top free agents this winter, bolstered their lineup by trading for second baseman Logan Forsythe, and now are poised to win a fifth straight National League West title and pace the Majors with a 98-64, record the 2017 Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA projections.
Last February, PECOTA projected the Dodgers would finish with the best record in baseball at 94-68 and win the NL West. Los Angeles did claim an unprecedented fourth straight division title, though were three wins shy of PECOTA’s projections and had the fifth-best record in the Majors.
PECOTA believes Los Angeles will finish 12 games ahead of the San Francisco Giants in the NL West, while the San Diego Padres are projected to go an NL-West and Major-League worse 70-92.