Dodgers' handling of Shohei Ohtani could keep Yankees' three-peat dynasty the gold standard

When it comes to dynasties, one key defining feature is the number of World Series rings won in a row. Nothing truly says dominance than winning it all repeatedly, without interruption. There have been a good number of back-to-back World Series winners in history, but when it comes to three-peats, the New York Yankees truly stand out.

The Oakland Athletics won three straight from 1972-1974; otherwise, the list of three-peat winners is all Yankees. New York won four straight titles from 1936-1939, five straight titles (including beating the Los Angeles Dodgers thrice) from 1949-1953, and then won three straight rings from 1998-2000. The latter, of course, is the one that most of us remember and serves as the gold standard for the modern dynasty.

There has never been a National League team to win three straight, a fact that the Dodgers were said to be acutely aware of during their pursuit of Tarik Skubal. However, it seems that their obsession with Skubal may have blinded them to what was going on with Shohei Ohtani, the unicorn who makes the single biggest impact on Los Angeles' title hopes, and who has succumbed to his nagging injuries and landed on the IL.

Dodgers obsession with erasing Yankees could cost them a chance at a three-peat due to Shohei Ohtani negligence

Ohtani has been suffering from a couple of different ailments that led to him landing on the IL Sept. 8. His knee started barking in June, leading to him being shut down as a pitcher following his July 3 start. Despite the knee pain, Ohtani continued hitting, and received a lubricant injection in his ailing knee over the All-Star Break.

Rather than taking advantage of the break the All-Star Game provided and using it to supplement an IL stint, the Dodgers kept Ohtani in the lineup, facing the Yankees immediately after.

That series featured some frightening 2024 World Series parallels, but since then, Los Angeles looks more vulnerable while New York just got their most important superstar back, activating Aaron Judge from the IL on the same day Ohtani went on the shelf.

The Dodgers aren't ruling anything out. Ohtani will be eligible to return from the IL on Sept. 23, but there's no guarantee that he'll be ready by then. They're also unwilling to rule out him pitching at some point in the postseason, but that, too, is up in the air.

The smart money is on him not returning to the mound this year. LA has enough depth there that it can survive without him pitching. The Dodgers' offense is a different story. Their lineup produced a top-ranked .777 OPS during the season's first half. In the second half, their OPS is .724, ranking 11th. If you limit the sample to Aug. 1, it falls further to .715, ranking 17th.

Ohtani's performance mirrors that decline. The four-time MVP posted a .953 first-half OPS, but that number plummeted over 150 points to .799 in the second half. Tightening the sample to Aug. 1- onward shows another drop to a .778 mark. His ability to return, and his effectiveness if he does return to the batter's box, are both unknown.

The Dodgers were likely pushing their luck trying to secure the No. 1 seed in the NL playoff bracket and homefield advantage throughout to make their three-peat quest easier. In the process, they may find that they cut off their nose to spite their face, and the Yankees could remain the current standard of dynastic greatness.

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