Shoddy Dodgers defense might be karmic punishment for World Series gloating

The Dodgers put up a franchise record eight wins to begin their season, and established themselves as not only as the 2025 World Series favorites on paper, but in practicality too. 'Inevitable' is the word that writers keep using for the Dodgers, who have already won two games via walk-off homer, courtesy of Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani.

LA's 18 home runs lead the National League, and it's immediately obvious just by looking at them that they might be one of the most powerful collections of players ever assembled. A couple of guys — Max Muncy, Kiké Hernández — have had a slow start to the year, and Freddie Freeman has been absent with continued ankle trouble, but the rest (Ohtani, Will Smith, and Tommy Edman especially) were immediately off to the races.

This isn't to say, though, that the Dodgers have been perfect. In fact, what was identified pre-season as their greatest weakness has already been on display. For all of the pop in the Dodgers lineup, their defense was always going to leave something to be desired. Even though the Braves suffered a sweep, they still exploited that weakness during a couple of very notable instances in this latest series.

And it's not the greatest look for a team that joyfully piled on the Yankees for their defensive implosion during the World Series.

Notable Mookie Betts, Max Muncy errors vs. Braves kind of make Dodgers look hypocritical after piling on Yankees

The Dodgers' scouting report on the Yankees ahead of the Fall Classic told players to "put the ball in play and let the Yankees self-inflict harm" and that the Yankees were "talent over fundamentals." Both of these observations proved to be prescient, but if an opposing team was to write one up on the Dodgers, the defensive hole from third to second would be a pretty notable area to exploit.

Muncy hasn't exactly been lauded for his defense at third, and the decision to move Betts to shortstop will continue to be questionable after he put up a career-high nine errors there in 65 appearances last season. He allowed the Braves' first run of the series to score on Tuesday, when he botched a throw to first base in the top of the second and failed to complete a double play. Muncy committed two errors in the series finale, which allowed Atlanta's first run to score in the first and then opened the floodgates for four more in the second.

Clearly, the Dodgers bet that their bats would be enough to overcome any issues their defense might cause, and so far, that's paid off. It won't always, however, and the same advice that the Dodgers staff gave their team about the Yankees very well could be levied back against them in the long run.