Building the perfect Dodgers lineup for 2021 season

This is the Dodgers’ perfect lineup for 2021 — you can’t go wrong.

By any metric, the 2020 season was the culmination of everything the Dodgers have worked for over the past decade.

LA combined an elite top of the rotation with punishing bats one through nine and closed out the World Series title that had been so elusive to them in previous years. They examined a near-perfect roster in February and said, “Yeah, we might as well add Mookie Betts.” They did just about everything right — as, to be fair, they’d done in 2017, 2018 and 2019, too.

The honeymoon doesn’t last forever, though, and the Dodgers’ braintrust enters 2021 with a few decisions to make. Luckily, their baseline for excellence remains the same, and they’re only a couple of finishing touches away from being able to put out a perfect lineup on a daily basis.

Now, the ideal batting order includes a DH, universally, but apparently, Major League Baseball isn’t confident they’ll be able to drop that under our tree this Christmas. No problem. For the sake of this experiment, you can assume the pitcher is batting ninth — fill in your favorite pitcher! Mine’s Don Drysdale.

As for the one through eight spots, here’s how we’d situate them.

Batting First: Mookie Betts, RF

The Dodgers shouldn’t overthink this. Just put Mookie Betts in right.

Placing Mookie Betts in the leadoff spot is the biggest slam dunk in Los Angeles since Shaq’s groin ended up on Chris Dudley’s face.

The power-hitting, count-dictating speed demon was born to lead off for a World Champion, and that’s exactly what he’ll be doing when the Dodgers take the field for the first time in their gold-tinged jerseys next season.

Betts is in Hollywood for another 12 seasons through 2032, and honestly, the most worthwhile use of this blurb might be trying to figure out when the first year he won’t be leading off will be. 2030? He’ll slow down at some point, but even his slowest is Corey Seager’s sprint speed.

No need to overthink this. Betts is this generation’s face of the Dodgers, and he’ll be the first face every opposing pitcher sees for a long, long time.

Batting Third: Justin Turner, 3B

In our eyes, the Dodgers bring him back.

Some balked this weekend when it was revealed that Justin Turner is seeking three years of security in what will likely be the final deal of his MLB career.

But it seems like many missed the fine print — namely, the Dodgers agree with the figure, and are working towards bringing him back.

That brings me to my No. 1 rule of thumb: If the organization is on board with the parameters, you, the fan, don’t need to claim it’s “way too much.” Let the Dodgers decide that, my dude! If they think they can handle it, they can.

Therefore, since both sides seem aligned (at least, equally as aligned as the Yankees and DJ LeMahieu), we’re going to pencil Turner into his designated three hole for the foreseeable future.

It’s hard to argue with his qualifications; as a 35-year-old in a shortened season, Turner hit .300 yet again (.307) with a .400 OBP and led the heart of the order in the postseason. Even if he only reaches those plateaus for two of the next three years, an extension would still be worth it. What’s the worst that could happen? You have a great bench bat in 2023? Not an issue.

Batting Fourth: Max Muncy, 1B

The Dodgers are keeping things stable in our vision for the future.

Yeah, we see no reason to deviate from the championship-winning model just yet. After all, it’s only money!

Muncy has come out of nowhere to become the most patient bat in the Dodgers’ lineup, as well as a perfectly powerful gnat in the cleanup spot.

Despite a down year average-wise in 2020, Muncy still OBP’d .331, a remarkable 139 points above his batting average, and drilled 12 home runs. It was the 30-year-old’s worst campaign since joining the Dodgers, and yet he still proved once October rolled around what a valuable assassin he can be.

The three and four holes have been deemphasized in modern baseball, but this remains the spot where you put your beefiest hitter. The one who’s most likely to run into one and clear the speedsters from the base paths. A new-agey lineup tinkerer might place Muncy in the leadoff spot due to his exemplary OBP, but that’s not happening on our watch. Stay fourth, Ponyboy.

Batting Fifth: Will Smith, C

The Dodgers will use Will Smith everyday in 2021.

Oh, look, another Dodger who can be represented by a photo of them socking a massively important postseason hit! It’s nice, isn’t it? This year, it’s all of them! Winning the World Series…it’s great!

Will Smith firmly established himself as the Dodgers’ catcher of the future in 2020, muddying the waters semi-significantly on Keibert Ruiz’s future. One or the other could very well be trade bait in the new year, but we’re betting on LA giving Smith a full year of runway to prove there was nothing fluky about his breakout before pulling the trigger. Hopefully, Ruiz gets a “normal” season spent mostly at Triple-A.

Smith represents yet another .400 OBP option the Dodgers can turn to, which is somewhat ridiculous from the catcher position, and he proved in the postseason that he doesn’t shy away from big moments and doesn’t need to be hidden in a lower-leverage spot in the order.

For now, Smith stays in the five hole and Ruiz stays off the big league roster — Clayton Kershaw gets to keep his personal catcher in Austin Barnes for at least one more season.

Batting Sixth: Cody Bellinger, CF

The Dodgers will maintain the status quo with Cody Bellinger.

Yeah, let’s just move our All-Star first baseman to center. Let’s just watch it work seamlessly. Let’s watch our first baseman make a leaping catch at the wall to rob Fernando Tatis Jr. in the playoffs. Being the Dodgers is great.

Presuming Bellinger manages to keep his shoulder in its socket for the full season, he’ll be batting sixth every day, which is such an example of an embarrassment of riches.

At his worst, Bellinger remains the game’s preeminent power threat from this spot in the lineup and a plus-plus defender, despite his slumping average. At his best, he’s an MVP candidate batting in the same spot where most lineups start to nosedive, and he’s only entering his first year of arbitration. Not bad.

Just has to clean up those violent celebrations. Then, the kid really might be going places.

Batting Seventh: AJ Pollock, LF

Sorry, Chris Taylor. We’re giving the Dodgers AJ Pollock every day.

This is a difficult decision to render, but we believe that after a bizarre 60-game season that didn’t really give us a fair assessment of any of the team’s fringe pieces (other than potentially Smith behind the plate), we’d still like to see the kid at second base (we’re getting to it).

That would put AJ Pollock in left field on a daily basis, with Chris Taylor reserved for the fourth outfielder spot and semi-everyday work as a roving infield option. 90-100 games is enough of a promise for Taylor at this point.

Pollock’s power/speed combination returned in 2020 after a depressing and injury-marred 2019 (that still featured a .266 average and 15 bombs). This time around, the ex-Diamondback smashed 16 homers in just 55 games, and though he tailed off by the time the postseason rolled around, he’s still LA’s highest-upside play here.

That’s the best part about Taylor’s existence, too. He’s willing to fight, and he can be inserted just about anywhere. Though he doesn’t appear in our “ideal lineup” (just a personal preference!), he’ll be in the actual lineup more often than not.

Batting Eighth: Gavin Lux, 2B

It’s time for the Dodgers’ top prospect to shine.

OK. Show us what you’ve got, kid. No more service-time manipulation.

You’re the Dodgers’ starting second baseman and you’re batting eighth. Justify your top-three prospect in baseball status.

Now that LA has secured that elusive championship, there’s no downside to starting Lux from day one. There’s no pressure. There’s also…no reason this shouldn’t go well? Prior to 2020, Lux seemed to be a shoo-in for National League Rookie of the Year honors. Unfortunately, in an up-and-down year, he batted just .175 in 63 at-bats in a season he was meant to dominate (though he still posted 0.7 WAR).

Lux’s 2019 postseason debut against the Nationals seemed to portend that he was ready for everyday work when the curtain rose on 2020. Then, unfortunately, the entirety of 2020 changed.

There’s a chance he proves quickly that he still isn’t ready for an everyday role, and Taylor can step right in, in that case. But if Lux isn’t ready now, when will he be? In our perfect lineup, Lux bats eighth, hits .280 with 20 homers, and proves that he was always the man for the job, despite a strange blip on the radar in the shortened campaign.

If he’s unable to deliver on our idealized vision, then there’ll be a tough conversation at the tail end of this year.

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