Stacked Los Angeles Dodgers Are Positioned to Break Regular-Season Win Record In 2026
Major League Baseball’s record for the most regular-season victories was established over a century ago by the Chicago Cubs when they posted a 116-36 record. 95 years later, the Seattle Mariners equaled that win total. The 1998 New York Yankees fell just short of the record with 114 triumphs on their way to a World Series title. And, the 2022 Los Angeles Dodgers set a franchise record with 111 wins.
After claiming titles in 2024 and 2025, the Dodgers are heavy favorites to “three-peat” by winning the 2026 World Series. In their quest to do so, will they break the long-standing regular-season win record?
Loaded Roster
Coming off back-to-back “Fall Classic” conquests, the Dodgers roster was obviously sound, highlighted by a trio of MVP winners, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Mookie Betts. Starting Catcher Will Smith is no slouch either, earning selections to the National League All-Star team in each of the last three seasons.
Third Baseman Max Muncy and Outfielder Teoscar Hernández are both two-time All-Stars. And, in January, four-time All-Star Kyle Tucker joined the celebrity-filled squad.
The pitching staff is elite, with a dominant and deep starting rotation featuring Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, and Emmet Sheehan. Ohtani is the best baseball player in the world. Yamamoto’s heroics were on display for all to see in the 2025 World Series.
Taking the mound at an imposing 6-foot-8, Glasnow was an All-Star in 2024. Snell is a two-time Cy Young Award winner. Sasaki and Sheehan are both promising young right-handers who could also play relief roles.
Although the team’s bullpen struggled last year, the Dodgers made a major splash in the offseason by acquiring three-time All-Star and reigning reliever of the year Edwin Diaz. The 31-year-old closer inked a three-year, $69 million contract with Los Angeles in Dec. 2025. He will join Blake Treinan, Jack Dreyer, Alex Vesia, and others in the bullpen.
Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and General Manager Brandon Gomes are credited with much of the team’s track record in player acquisition. Overall, the L.A. Dodgers roster is widely regarded as the best in baseball.
Historically Short Odds to Win World Series
In light of the strength of their roster, it is unsurprising that the Dodgers are runaway favorites to win the 2026 World Series.
Per FanDuel Sportsbook, the Dodgers are betting favorites to win the 2026 crown once again, with +210 odds. The Yankees have the second-shortest odds at +1000. The last time a team had shorter odds than the Dodgers do this season was over 20 years ago, when the Yankees entered the 2003 season at +200.
Chasing the 117-Win Milestone
No MLB team since 1901 (“the Modern Era”) has won more than 116 regular-season games. To achieve that win total in a 152-game season, the 1906 Cubs prevailed in a jaw-dropping, unmatched 76% of their games. Despite their record-setting regular season, the Cubs fell in that year’s World Series to their crosstown rival, the Chicago White Sox.
Likewise, when the 2001 Mariners equaled the 116-win mark, albeit in a 162-game season, they failed to attain ultimate success, getting knocked out of the postseason by the Yankees in the American League Championship Series.
Do the postseason failures of the record-setting 1906 Cubs and 2001 Mariners teach an enduring historical lesson? Is it necessary for contending teams to let up a bit on the gas pedal in the regular season to have enough fuel in the tank to take the checkered flag in October? In this modern era of load management, is the 117-win mark impossibly elusive? Perhaps. However, if any team is poised to make a run at the record, it would appear to be the 2026 Dodgers.
The Dodgers begin their regular season and their potential pursuit of 117 on Thursday, March 26, at 8:30 p.m. ET at Dodger Stadium in a contest that will be broadcast nationally on NBC and streamed on Peacock.
