When the Los Angeles Dodgers won their first eight games, it was impossible to avoid peering down the end of the tunnel and speculating on what’s on the other end: the best team ever? A record 117 wins? An unstoppable force that will draw comparisons to not just the 1927 or 1998 New York Yankees but Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls or the Lionel Messi-led Barcelona squads — the greatest not just in baseball but any sport?

The Dodgers have cooled off since then, losing consecutive series to the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals; they now stand at 11-4 through 15 games. That little factoid is more notable than it seems: The 2001 Seattle Mariners, co-owners of the record 116 wins with the 1906 Chicago Cubs, lost back-to-back series just once all season, in late June. They also, amazingly, lost three games in a row just once, a four-game skid in September. If the Dodgers are to challenge all-time regular-season greatness, they can’t afford too many of these mini-slumps.

Still, given that 8-0 start and all the preseason hype, let’s look at the seven best teams of the wild-card era (since 1995) and see what lessons we can draw for the Dodgers in their pursuit of a historic season.

2001 Seattle Mariners (116-46)

First 15 games: 11-4
End of April: 20-5

The Mariners had career years, good health and the MVP winner in Ichiro Suzuki, but their biggest strength was defense: This was certainly one of the greatest defensive teams ever assembled. Mike Cameron was at his peak in center field while Ichiro covered everything in right; both won Gold Gloves. First baseman John Olerud won Gold Gloves in 2000, 2002 and 2003 while second baseman Bret Boone was a four-time Gold Glove winner. Third baseman David Bell had excellent defensive metrics throughout his career. Catcher Dan Wilson had a good arm. The Mariners allowed a batting average on balls in play that was 21 points lower than any other team in 2001.

How the Dodgers compare: The Dodgers have their usual collection of Swiss Army knife defenders, but this looks like a middling defensive team overall, especially in the outfield where Michael Conforto, Andy Pages and Teoscar Hernandez are drawing the bulk of the duty (none are stellar defenders). Betts looks solid enough at shortstop, and Tommy Edman has historically been excellent at second, but the best Dodgers’ defense would probably feature Betts in right and Edman in center.

Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy are fine at the infield corners, although Freeman’s defensive reputation is a little overrated. Will Smith led the NL with a 33% caught stealing rate last season but hasn’t nailed a runner in 2025. Bottom line: Whereas the Mariners had five or six Gold Glove-quality defenders, the Dodgers have only Edman. The Dodgers ranked third in defensive runs saved last season, but this isn’t a strength in 2025.

1998 New York Yankees (114-48)

First 15 games: 10-5
End of April: 17-6

In the year of McGwire and Sosa’s chase, the Yankees famously won 114 games (and the World Series) despite not having a single player hit 30 home runs (Tino Martinez led the team with 28). They still led the majors with 965 runs scored. It helped that they suffered few significant injuries: Four of the position players appeared in at least 150 games and two others played in at least 142. DH Chili Davis did miss most of the season before returning for the playoffs, but Darryl Strawberry stepped in and had a great year (until he was diagnosed with colon cancer before the ALDS). The starting pitchers, likewise, were extremely healthy, as the Yankees basically used six starters all season: Andy Pettitte, David Cone, David Wells, Hideki Irabu and Orlando Hernandez, who replaced Ramiro Mendoza after getting called up in June.

How the Dodgers compare: Health was always going to be the biggest potential roadblock to the Dodgers’ greatness, but after entering the past two postseasons with injury-ravaged rotations, the Dodgers seemed to load up on pitching insurance with a deep list of potential starters and enough relievers to field two quality bullpens.

Well … Blake Snell made two starts, pitched poorly (18 baserunners in nine innings) and landed on the IL with shoulder inflammation, although it’s expected to be a short stay. Relievers Michael Kopech and Evan Phillips started the season on the IL. Betts had an illness and missed a few games. This has quietly become an old group of position players — and older players get injured more often. Until backup catcher Hunter Feduccia was recently called up, Pages was the only position player younger than 30.

1995 Cleveland (100-44)

First 15 games: 10-5
End of May: 21-9

This season started in late April due to the strike, but Cleveland played at a 112-win pace over 144 games, riding a great offense. They hit .291 as a team and averaged 5.83 runs with Albert Belle, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez and Eddie Murray leading the way, and Kenny Lofton and Omar Vizquel providing the speed and defense. But the secret weapon of this team? Closer Jose Mesa, who had a 1.13 ERA and recorded 46 saves in 48 opportunities as Cleveland went 28-14 in one-run games.

How the Dodgers compare: Of the seven teams here, a strong bullpen is a recurring theme. Two clubs led the majors in bullpen performances and three ranked second. All seven teams had winning records in one-run games, although the team with the weakest closer — the 2022 Dodgers, who had Craig Kimbrel — had the worst record in one-run games at 16-15. The pen certainly projects as a strength for the 2025 Dodgers, even if the closer duties end up getting shared by Tanner Scott and Blake Treinen.

2022 Los Angeles Dodgers (111-51)

First 15 games: 11-4
End of April: 13-7

We don’t have to go back far to find this powerhouse Dodgers team. With Freeman and Betts finishing fourth and fifth in the MVP voting, L.A. led the NL in runs scored — by 58. With a stellar pitching staff, they led the NL in fewest runs allowed — by 93 runs. (We won’t mention the NLDS loss to the Padres.) Aside from Freeman and Betts, the strength of this team was the starting rotation, even though Julio Urias was the only starter to make 30 starts. He went 17-7 with a league-leading 2.16 ERA, Tony Gonsolin went 16-1 with a 2.14 ERA, Clayton Kershaw was 12-3 with a 2.28 ERA and Tyler Anderson was 15-5 with a 2.57 ERA. They are the only team in the division era (since 1969) with four pitchers with at least 125 innings and ERAs under 2.60.

How the Dodgers compare: There is certainly the potential here for an all-time great rotation, but despite the 2025 Dodgers’ record, it hasn’t clicked on all cylinders. Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been terrific, but Snell is out, Roki Sasaki has had trouble throwing strikes and Tyler Glasnow just lasted two innings and walked five batters, complaining about the footing on the mound in Philadelphia. Justin Wrobleski filled in for Snell on Tuesday against the Nationals and got rocked for eight runs in five innings. There is certainly the feeling the best has yet to come: Snell is a notorious second-half pitcher anyway, Shohei Ohtani is starting to ramp up with bullpen sessions, Kershaw will return at some point and Landon Knack is another option who is currently buried in the bullpen. Sasaki remains the wild card. If he can reach his potential and they get Ohtani and Snell at their best, the Dodgers are going to reel off some more long winning streaks.

2018 Boston Red Sox (108-54)

First 15 games: 13-2
End of April: 21-7

This team got off to the hottest 15-game start of the six teams featured here (and was 17-2 after 19 games) and never looked back — all the way to a World Series title. Their biggest strength: Betts and J.D. Martinez had dominant offensive seasons to carry an offense that led the majors in runs. Betts hit .346/.438/.640 with a 10.7 WAR in his MVP season. Martinez hit .330/.402/.629 with 43 home runs, 130 RBIs and 6.7 WAR (despite no defensive value). The duo ranked first and second in the majors in batting average, first and second in slugging percentage and second and third in OPS and OPS+.

How the Dodgers compare: The other teams listed above also had multiple star-level seasons from their position players. Besides Ichiro (7.7 WAR), the Mariners had Boone, who finished third in the MVP voting and had a higher WAR (8.8) than Ichiro, plus Cameron (5.9 WAR), Olerud (5.2) and Edgar Martinez (4.8 WAR as a DH). The Yankees had Derek Jeter (7.5 WAR), Bernie Williams, who won the batting title at .339 and had 5.3 WAR in just 128 games and Paul O’Neill (5.8 WAR). The 2022 Dodgers had Betts (6.7 WAR) and Freeman (6.2 WAR), plus Trea Turner (5.2 WAR).

These Dodgers have Ohtani, Betts and Freeman. Ohtani is Ohtani, certainly capable of another MVP season before even factoring in his pitching. Betts is still playing at an extremely high level. The key is Freeman. His hitting was down a notch last season (although still excellent) and now he’s 35 and ended last year banged up and begins this year. The secondary players will also have to perform in a big way.

2019 Houston Astros (107-55)

First 15 games: 10-5
End of April: 18-12

Two things stand out about this Astros team: Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole finished first and second in the Cy Young race and became just the second pair of teammates with 300 strikeouts. They also combined for 435 innings, which no Dodgers pair will come to matching. But they also made two major impact additions during the season. First, rookie Yordan Alvarez came up in early June and hit a ridiculous .313/.412/.655, driving in 78 runs in just 87 games. Then the Astros traded for Zack Greinke and he went 8-1 with a 3.02 ERA in 10 starts. With those two, the Astros were better in the second half and went 38-15 the final two months.

How the Dodgers compare: One reason the Dodgers have gone all-in on free agents the past two years is the front office was tired of trading away prospects. So they’re likely going to view their in-season additions as Ohtani and Kershaw rather than trading for a starter. They shouldn’t have to trade for a starter, although that was the case in 2024 (Jack Flaherty), 2023 (Lance Lynn), 2021 (Max Scherzer) and 2017 (Yu Darvish). Adding to the rotation has been a Dodger tradition, but if that happens this year, something has gone seriously wrong. Adding to the position players group also feels unlikely — they have guys such as Betts and Edman, who can play anywhere to cover up any injuries, plus they have MLB-ready prospects in Triple-A.

2021 San Francisco Giants (107-55)

First 15 games: 9-6
End of April: 16-10

Are the 2021 Giants the unlikeliest great team of all time? Probably. It remains the franchise’s only winning season between 2017 and 2024 (although they fell to the 106-win Dodgers in the NLDS). How did they do it? A deep roster of position players who all contributed. Only Brandon Crawford had more than 4 WAR and only two players batted even 500 times, but they had 13 players who batted at least 130 times and produced an above-average OPS. They had 12 position players with at least 1 WAR. They didn’t tear it up early in the season, but with the Dodgers breathing down their necks in September, they closed with 21 wins in their final 26 games.

How the Dodgers compare: This looks like the Dodgers’ biggest weakness of all, at least how the roster is currently constructed: This is a bad bench. Yes, Enrique Hernandez is a fan favorite and produced some big hits in October, but his last good offensive season came in 2021 (oddly, all four of hits this season have been home runs). Chris Taylor hit .202 last season with a .598 OPS, but he’s making $13 million so he’s still on the roster. Miguel Rojas is shortstop insurance, and while he hit well in 2024, that was kind of a fluke. And backup catcher Austin Barnes has hit .215/.301/.320 over the past four seasons. That is not a championship-caliber bench and the more the Dodgers have to deploy it, the less likely 110 wins becomes a reality.

On the other hand: This probably isn’t the same bench that we’ll see in October. Top prospect Dalton Rushing is a catcher by trade, but the Dodgers have given him time in the outfield and now at first base — Freeman’s injury made it clear the Dodgers have no backup first baseman on the roster (Hernandez has filled in). Rushing is in Triple-A and ready for the majors. Shortstop/third baseman Alex Freeland is also at Triple-A and a better hitter than Enrique Hernandez or Taylor. He could be up in the second half if the Dodgers are willing to cut loose a veteran infielder. At the same time, the Dodgers don’t want to call up Rushing and Freeland and not play them, so the most likely call-up is infielder Hyeseong Kim, signed out of Korea in the offseason and a bit of a surprise demotion to Triple-A to begin the season. He could eventually take over at second with Edman returning to center field.

What do the Dodgers need to do?

We’ve focused on the weaknesses rather than the strengths of the Dodgers, but that 8-0 start certainly created an early storyline. It will be exciting for the sport if the Dodgers chase the single-season wins record — or even their National League record set three years ago. The path to that kind of season is clear: monster seasons from Ohtani and Betts, more of the same from Freeman, the supporting hitters step up and the depth of the pitching staff powers the team through 162 games.

But the potential flaws are also clear:

1. The age of the lineup. This isn’t an automatic strike — the 2001 Mariners had five regulars 32 or older and their top three bench players were 36, 37 and 37 — but the game is less kind to older players than it was 25 years ago. Dave Roberts might be more inclined to rest players, whereas Lou Piniella with the Mariners and Joe Torre with the Yankees pushed their regulars hard all season.

2. The bench. And the more those regulars rest, the more the bench will have to play, and right now that looks like a major weakness. Roberts didn’t need his bench much in 2022, but outfielder Trayce Thompson had a 149 OPS+ in 239 plate appearances and Barnes was OK (97 OPS+). Backup infielder Hanser Alberto didn’t play much but didn’t hit, and trade acquisition Joey Gallo hit .162 in 137 PAs. The Mariners had a key couple of subs in Mark McLemore (3.5 WAR) and Stan Javier (2.8 WAR). The Yankees had a thin bench other than Tim Raines, although September call-up Shane Spencer hit .373 and drove in 27 runs in 27 games.

3. No innings eaters in the rotation. We know the Dodgers will be conservative and go to a six-man rotation when Ohtani returns. No matter the depth, that still means fewer innings from your best pitchers. The Astros had Verlander and Cole. The Yankees and Mariners had three starters with 200-plus innings. Even the 2021 Giants had four starters with at least 26 starts. Still, the Dodgers have done this before: That 2022 squad had 16 pitchers with an ERA under 3.00.

Maybe the biggest factor in helping the Dodgers: As Padres and Giants fans are fuming to point out, their teams are also off to great starts, and many believe the Diamondbacks might ultimately be the second-best team in the division. The tighter the division race, the harder the Dodgers will have to push — and maybe the Giants even have another miracle season in them like 2021, the only year since 2013 the Dodgers didn’t win the division. The Dodgers are still the division favorite but winning 107 or 111 or 116 games remains a big order.