STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Well, here's some important news that I know Senor Martínez is already following.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Yes.
INSKEEP: Your Los Angeles Dodgers play the season opener tonight. How're you going to follow the game?
MARTÍNEZ: In my three-peat T-shirt that I preordered...
INSKEEP: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: ...The moment they won their second World Series.
INSKEEP: Are you joking, or is there seriously a three-peat T-shirt out there that you can...
MARTÍNEZ: I scrawled one on my blank T-shirt.
INSKEEP: OK. That's cool. That's totally fine. So yes, the Dodgers want to go three in a row in the World Series this year if they can get there. This hasn't happened since the 2000 New York Yankees. Steve Futterman reports.
STEVE FUTTERMAN, BYLINE: The last time most people saw the LA Dodgers, they were celebrating in Toronto following a dramatic come-from-behind victory in Game 7 of the World Series. This is how it sounded on Fox.
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JOE DAVIS: The Dodgers stand tall and win back-to-back titles.
FUTTERMAN: Two days later...
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ANTHONY ANDERSON: Let's hear it for the 2025 back-to-back...
FUTTERMAN: As they held their celebration in Los Angeles, the Dodgers were already hinting at a three-peat, including the soft-spoken Shohei Ohtani making some rare comments in English.
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SHOHEI OHTANI: I'm ready to get another ring next year.
(CHEERING)
FUTTERMAN: The quest for three begins tonight. Not surprisingly, many Dodger fans, like Kianu Morris (ph), are acting like it's almost guaranteed.
KIANU MORRIS: They'll do it. They're going to get, like, over a hundred wins. They're just going to get it, yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yeah.
FUTTERMAN: While the Dodgers may be the darlings of Los Angeles, it's not quite that way in other cities. In fact, with the Dodgers' ability and willingness to spend vast sums of money and at times seemingly able to get virtually any player they want, many outside LA view the Dodgers as the enemy. Buster Olney covers baseball for ESPN.
BUSTER OLNEY: Beauty's in the eyes of the beholder. If you want a perfectly level playing field, if you're a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates, you're going to look at the Dodgers as the new evil empire. If you're a Dodgers fan, you love it.
FUTTERMAN: The Dodger players know every opponent will be gunning for them this year. It doesn't seem to bother shortstop Mookie Betts.
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MOOKIE BETTS: Obviously, we're embracing it, and we know what's here. And it's a huge thing. It's history. And so the only way to kind of get through that is just to embrace and understand the battle.
FUTTERMAN: And in case you are wondering, the Dodgers are the favorites to make it three straight.
For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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