LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Virginia Halas McCaskey, who inherited the Chicago Bears from her father, George Halas, but avoided the spotlight during four-plus decades as principal owner, has died. She was 102.

McCaskey's family announced through the team that she died Thursday. She had owned the Bears since her father's death on Oct. 31, 1983.

"While we are sad, we are comforted knowing Virginia Halas McCaskey lived a long, full, faith-filled life and is now with the love of her life on earth," the family said. "She guided the Bears for four decades and based every business decision on what was best for Bears players, coaches, staff and fans."

Like her father, a co-founder of the NFL, McCaskey kept the team in family hands. She gave operational control and the title of president to her eldest son, Michael McCaskey, who served as chairman until being succeeded by brother George McCaskey in 2011.

During her stewardship, the Bears won a Super Bowl in 1986 and lost a second 21 years later.

"Virginia Halas McCaskey, the matriarch of the Chicago Bears and daughter of George Halas, the founder of the NFL, leaves a legacy of class, dignity, and humanity," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "Faith, family, and football -- in that order -- were her north stars and she lived by the simple adage to always 'do the right thing.' The Bears that her father started meant the world to her and he would be proud of the way she continued the family business with such dedication and passion. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the McCaskey and Halas families and Bears fans around the world."

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan said in a statement that the NFL has "lost a legend."

"I wish peace and comfort to the McCaskey Family and everyone within the Chicago Bears organization upon the passing of Virginia Halas McCaskey," Khan said. "The Bears were my first football love, and many years later it would be my immense privilege to learn from Mrs. McCaskey and her family as I explored a future in the NFL. Mrs. McCaskey did everything the right way, and her focus on family and the people in her life only begin to honor her legacy. We have lost a legend, but her positive impact on our game and league will last forever."

McCaskey, the older of Halas' two children, never expected to find herself in charge. Her brother, George "Mugs" Halas Jr., was being groomed to take over the team, but died suddenly of a heart attack in 1979.

McCaskey assumed ownership upon her father's death in 1983, and her late husband, Ed McCaskey, succeeded Halas as chairman. Not long after, she turned over control to Michael, the eldest of her 11 children.

"I think it's important that all of our family remembers that we really haven't done anything to earn this," McCaskey said in a rare interview in 2006. "We're just the recipients of a tremendous legacy. I use the word 'custodian,' and we want to pass it on the best way we can. ... We've been working on that for a long time."

McCaskey's official title was secretary to the board of directors. Despite her generally hands-off approach and low public profile, she occasionally exercised ultimate authority on team decisions as matriarch of the family.

One of those involved a 1987 lawsuit brought by the children of "Mugs" Halas, which was resolved by a stock buyout of their shares. A more recent reminder came in December 2014, when George McCaskey announced the firings of coach Marc Trestman and general manager Phil Emery at a news conference, and was asked to describe his mother's role in the process.

He paused, struggling to describe her unhappiness with the just-ended 5-11 season, and the team's generally fading fortunes.

"She's pissed off," George McCaskey said. "I can't think of a 91-year-old woman that that description would apply, but in this case, I can't think of a more accurate description.

"Virginia McCaskey has been on this Earth for eight of the Bears' nine championships, and she wants more," he added a moment later. "She feels that it's been too long since the last [Super Bowl win], and that dissatisfaction is shared by her children, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. She's fed up with mediocrity. She feels that she and Bears fans everywhere deserve better."

Virginia McCaskey came by her fandom honestly. According to family members, she often wouldn't serve dessert on Sundays when the Bears lost. In that same 2006 interview, she recalled attending the first playoff game in league history, when she was 9.

The Bears and Portsmouth Spartans finished the 1932 season in the first tie for first place, so the league added a game to determine a champion. Because of snow, the game was moved indoors to the old Chicago Stadium, and the Bears won 9-0 playing on an 80-yard field that came right to the walls.

"I remember I didn't save my ticket stub, but one of my cousins had saved his," McCaskey said. "We sat in the second balcony and the ticket price was $1.25.

"I took it to one of the Super Bowls to show [former commissioner] Pete Rozelle and then I don't know what happened to it afterward," she added. "But that's OK."

Her tenure as the Bears' owner included the establishment of the Bears Care program in 2005. The Bears said that Bears Care has issued grants totaling more than $31.5 million to 225 qualifying agencies to improve the quality of life for people in the Chicago area, especially disadvantaged children and their families. Bears Care also supported health awareness programs focusing on breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

McCaskey had 11 children, eight sons and three daughters. She is survived by her sons Patrick, Edward Jr., George, Richard, Brian and Joseph, and daughters Ellen Tonquest, Mary and Anne Catron. She is also survived by 21 grandchildren, 40 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Brooklyn Nets are working on a buyout agreement with Ben Simmons, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania.

The LA Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers are among the potential landing spots for the former All-NBA forward, sources said.

Simmons, 28, has spent three seasons in Brooklyn since he was acquired in a deal that sent James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers. He has dealt with a variety of injuries in those years and has played more than 40 games just once with the Nets.

This season, Simmons is averaging 6.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists in 25 minutes per game. At 6-foot-10, Simmons remains a versatile defender and a strong passer for his size, but his limitations as a shooter have made it difficult for him to thrive in certain lineups.

Simmons is in the final year of a five-year, maximum contract he signed with the Sixers. He's set to hit free agency this summer.

The Phoenix Suns are trading Jusuf Nurkic and a 2026 first-round pick to the Charlotte Hornets for Cody Martin, Vasilije Micic and a 2026 second-round pick, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania.

The 7-foot Nurkic hasn't played for the Suns since Jan. 7. He started 23 games this season before being moved to the bench in early January.

He told reporters last month that he and coach Mike Budenholzer "don't have a relationship."

"It's hard to understand why," Nurkic said last month about Budenholzer moving him to the bench. "As you know, I try to do whatever they want from me. I play my role or whatever, but at the end of the day, it's the NBA."

Nurkic is averaging 8.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. He was acquired by Phoenix from the Portland Trail Blazers in a three-team trade before the 2023-24 season, starting 76 games that year and averaging 10.9 points and 11.0 rebounds.

Next year is the final season of the four-year, $70 million deal the 30-year-old signed with Portland. Nurkic is making $18.1 million this season.

Martin, 29, had spent all six of his years in the league with Charlotte after they drafted him with the No. 36 pick in 2019 and was one of the few constants for a Hornets roster that has seen continual change in recent years.

Martin profiles as a strong point-of-attack defender as a 6-foot-6 wing, routinely taking on the opposing team's best scorer. Martin has struggled as a shooter, however, averaging 31.9% on 3s for his career.

Martin signed a four-year deal with Charlotte in 2022; he has one year and around $8.6 million left on the deal after this season.

Micic, a EuroLeague star who came over to the NBA two years ago, is in the final guaranteed year of his deal. He has an $8 million team option for next season.

Phoenix traded its unprotected 2031 first round pick to the Utah Jazz last month for three picks of significantly lesser value -- what will be Cleveland's pick in 2025, and the lesser of Cleveland, Minnesota and Utah's picks in both 2027 and 2029.

As a result of trading the 2026 pick in this deal, Phoenix now can trade picks in 2028, 2029 or 2030.

ESPN's Tim Bontemps contributed to this report.

The Atlanta Hawks are trading forward De'Andre Hunter to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, three second-round picks and two swaps, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania.

Hunter, 27, is having a career year in his sixth season in the NBA, averaging highs in points (19), 3-point attempts (6.7) and 3-point percentage (39.3%). He has had a larger role in Atlanta's offense and responded well to the extra scoring responsibility, fulfilling some of the promise he had as a top-five pick in the 2019 draft.

Hunter joins a Cavaliers team that sits atop the Eastern Conference and was looking to add more size on the wing. LeVert, 30, was having a strong season in Cleveland -- averaging 10.2 points and shooting 40.5% from 3 off the bench -- but at 6-foot-6 was giving up some size as a small forward.

Hunter has been one of the best scorers off the bench in the NBA this season. His 18 20-point games off the bench are the most in the NBA, and he leads the league with 18.9 points off the bench.

Major League Baseball owners unanimously voted to approve John Seidler as the San Diego Padres' new control person at the owners meetings in Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday, commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters.

Seidler will take over for his younger brother, Peter Seidler, the late Padres owner who died in November 2023, making him the ultimate decision-maker for the franchise. John Seidler will formally step into the role once he becomes the trustee of Peter Seidler's trust. That is expected to take place in the next month.

The Padres declined comment on today's vote while the process is finalized.

Thursday's vote was considered a formality -- majority ownership of the Padres remained with the Seidler family after Peter Seidler's death and the franchise announced that John Seidler would become its next control person on Dec. 21-- but it comes a month after Peter Seidler's widow sued two other Seidler brothers for control of the team.

Sheel Seidler, in a complaint filed in Texas probate court last month, accused Robert and Matthew Seider of "fiduciary breaches of trust, fraud, conversion and egregious acts of self-dealing" in their roles as trustees and executors of Peter Seidler's estate.

She claimed that she and her three children have been "effectively ostracized" from the organization since Peter Seider's death. Sheel Seidler also alleged John Seidler becoming the Padres' control person was contrary to her late husband's wishes.

The outstanding lawsuit requests that all decisions by the trusts of Peter Seidler's trust be reversed.

A spokesperson for the Peter Seidler Trust called Sheel Seidler's complaint "entirely without merit."

Dane Butswinkas, counsel for Sheel Seidler, indicated Thursday that her lawsuit will move forward.

"This was merely a pro forma decision that we expected from MLB," a statement from Butswinkas said. "It was not a comment on the merits of Sheel's lawsuit, which has just begun and which we believe will protect the team and Peter's legacy for years to come."

The Padres finished one win shy of advancing to the National League Championship Series in 2024, losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games in the NL Division Series.

They have since done little to improve their roster, signing just one player -- catcher Elias Diaz -- to a major league contract this offseason and not making any trade acquisitions. They lost key contributors Jurickson Profar, Tanner Scott and Ha-Seong Kim to free agency as the fight for control of the franchise brewed.

The Padres are still projected to have one of the top-10 payrolls in baseball at over $200 million, though they could shed more salary by trading Dylan Cease, Michael King or Luis Arraez.

"Are we disappointed we haven't made any moves? Yeah," Padres star third baseman Manny Machado told reporters Saturday. "I think as a team you kind of look up there and you're a little disappointed that we let some of the guys that were [part] of the core group here go elsewhere. But, at the end of the day, we can't control that."

ESPN's Alden González contributed to this report.

Free agent outfielder Tommy Pham is in agreement with the Pittsburgh Pirates on a 1-year, $4 million contract, sources confirmed to ESPN on Thursday.

Pham is joining his 10th different organization as he enters the 12th year of his career. He split time between the White Sox, Cardinals and Royals last season, batting .248 with nine home runs.

Pham has a career .773 OPS and 139 home runs.

Pham, 36, adds depth to a Pittsburgh outfield that includes Bryan Reynolds, Andrew McCutchen and Oneil Cruz and also provides veteran leadership to a young club.

Pham has been on clubs that reached the postseason five times over the course of his career, including the past two seasons -- first with Arizona and then Kansas City.

Pham has found a home late in the offseason but still earlier than last winter, when he signed a minor league deal with the White Sox in April.

The Athletic was first to report the agreement.

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred says he is getting emails from fans concerned over the sport's lack of a salary cap following an offseason spending spree by the Los Angeles Dodgers that sparked increased attention over the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement in December 2026.

"This is an issue that we need to be vigilant on," Manfred said Thursday following the end of an owners' meeting. "We need to pay attention to it and need to determine whether there are things that can be done to allay those kinds of concerns and make sure we have a competitive and healthy game going forward."

Baseball's biggest spender in 2024 won the World Series: The Dodgers had a $353 million luxury tax payroll and had to pay a $103 million tax. The Athletics had the lowest luxury tax payroll at just under $84 million.

"The Dodgers are a really well-run, successful organization," Manfred said. "Everything that they do and have done is consistent with our rules. They're trying to give their fans the best possible product. Those are all positives. I recognize, however, and my emails certainly reflect that there are fans in other markets who are concerned about their team's ability to compete. And we always have to be concerned when our fans are concerned about something. But pinning it on the Dodgers, I'm not in that camp."

The American League champion Yankees -- one of baseball's biggest spenders for decades -- even have concerns about where the game is going on the financial front, and how it's challenging to match the way the Dodgers can spend.

"It's difficult for most of us owners to be able to do the kinds of things that they're doing. We'll see if it pays off," Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said in an interview that aired last week on the YES Network. "They still have to have a season relatively injury-free for it to work out for them. It's a long season as you know, and once you get to the postseason anything can happen. We've seen that time and time again."

Players oppose a salary cap and fought off a proposal with a 7-month strike in 1994-95, leading to the cancellation of the World Series.

"I wish it would be the case that we would have a salary cap in baseball the way other sports do, and maybe eventually we will, but we don't have that now," new Orioles owner David Rubenstein told Yahoo Finance at last month's World Economic Forum. "I suspect we'll probably have something closer to what the NFL and the NBA have, but there's no guarantee of that."

Bargaining is expected to start in the spring of 2026. U.S. sports leagues have preferred offseason lockouts to determine the timing of work stoppages rather than risk in-season strikes.

"We're still two years away even if you're thinking you want to bargain early," Manfred said. "We do have things going on in terms of the economics of the game, local media being the principal one, that the longer we wait, the more it evolves, the better decisions we're going to make."

Manfred says umpire's firing speaks to improved monitoring of sports betting

Manfred was questioned about the firing of umpire Pat Hoberg for sharing his legal sports gambling accounts with a friend who bet on baseball games and for intentionally deleting electronic messages pertinent to the league's investigation.

MLB opened the investigation in February 2024 when it was brought to its attention by the sportsbook, and Hoberg did not umpire last season. MLB said the investigation did not uncover evidence Hoberg personally bet on baseball or manipulated games, but MLB senior vice president of on-field operations Michael Hill recommended on May 24 that Hoberg be fired.

"I think that we have a much greater ability to monitor what's going on and determine if there's something that's going on that shouldn't be going on today than we did when, you know, gambling was all, you know, in backrooms and illegal," Manfred said. "It's always a threat. We spend a lot of time and money, get a lot more information, just have access to a lot more information now that it's legal."

Manfred said he has the same stance as NBA commissioner Adam Silver, that one set of rules across the country for sports wagering would make more sense than the current state-by-state model.

"I do think that I may be a federalist in the broadest sense of the word," Manfred said. "I've always believed that a single set of rules is probably better than going state by state."

Manfred hopes to keep the Rays in the Tampa Bay area

The Rays are playing this season at the spring training home of the Yankees, 11,000-seat Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, following damage caused to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, where Hurricane Milton ripped the roof off on Oct. 9. Rays owner Stuart Sternberg and government officials have not been able to close a deal for a new ballpark.

"It's important the way I say this: I am spending a ton of time with Stu," Manfred said. "I think he's confronted with an extraordinarily difficult situation and we're trying to work that situation through."

The Rays have until March 31 to commit to their stadium deal with the city of St. Petersburg. The team has voiced concern that the planned ballpark would not open until 2029 and the team doesn't want to be responsible for higher costs.

"We are always and have always been prepared to adapt, adjust and move forward if the Rays walk away from this partnership," St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said this week in his state of the city address.

MLB's values 'unchanged' despite Trump's pressure against DEI

MLB is taking notice of a changed attitude toward diversity programs by the federal government since Donald Trump became president.

"Our values, particularly our values and diversity, remain unchanged," he said. "But another value that is pretty important to us is we always try to comply with what the law is. There seems to be an evolution going on here. We're following that very carefully. Obviously, when things get a little more settled, we'll examine each of our programs and make sure that while the values remain the same, that we're also consistent with what the law requires."

Changes to MLB's executive council

Mets chairman Steve Cohen and Athletics managing partner John Fisher were voted to the eight-man executive council, replacing Phillies managing partner John Middleton and Royals chairman John Sherman.

The council also includes Diamondbacks managing general partner Ken Kendrick and Mariners chairman John Stanton (whose terms expire in 2026), Giants chairman Greg Johnson and Guardians chairman Paul Dolan (2027) and Marlins chairman Bruce Sherman and Angels owner Arte Moreno (2028).

PECOTA, the popular projection system by Baseball Prospectus, released its estimated win totals for the 2025 season earlier this week. And though you probably won't be surprised to learn which team sits on top, it's important to note by how much.

The Los Angeles Dodgers project for a whopping 104 victories in 2025, according to PECOTA, 12 more than the second-place Atlanta Braves. In thousands of simulated seasons, the Dodgers made the playoffs 99.6% of the time. Their chances of winning the World Series -- and becoming the first repeat champions in more than 20 years -- sit at 21.5%, nearly three times more than anybody else's. And if you're waiting for this run of dominance to subside, have some patience -- ESPN's Kiley McDaniel has ranked the Dodgers' farm system first in the industry heading into the season.

"It's a great time to be a Dodger," Mookie Betts said during the team's annual fan event at Dodger Stadium last weekend, attended by a capacity crowd of 25,000.

It's also a busy time.

The Dodgers played into late October while defeating the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series and will begin the season more than a week early, opening up against the Chicago Cubs in Japan on March 18. Their spring training is nigh. Dodgers pitchers and catchers will undergo their physical exams in Glendale, Arizona, on Monday. The first official workout will follow the next morning, at which point throngs of fans, both domestic and international, will crowd the backfields of Camelback Ranch to catch an up-close look at one of the most talented teams in baseball history.

The Dodgers, division champs 11 out of the past 12 years, are about as certain to make the playoffs as any team has ever been. But they face some fascinating questions heading into the start of camp.

Below is a look through the five most compelling.

1. What will Shohei Ohtani's return to hitting and pitching look like?

It's important to remember what Ohtani is setting out to do this season. It's not merely that he'll return to being the second two-way star in baseball history -- and the first since Babe Ruth, who didn't juggle pitching and hitting for as long as Ohtani already has. It's that he will be doing so coming off an entire season spent rehabbing a second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament, and mere months removed from surgery to his non-throwing shoulder after sustaining a torn labrum during the World Series.

At a time when the sport is more specialized, more skilled and more difficult than ever, what Ohtani is attempting is virtually impossible for everybody on the planet except him. Trying to project how his 2025 season will play out, then, seems foolish. And yet Ohtani has defied expectations so often, the sentiment among his teammates is that he will be just as great as he always is.

"I think Shohei's going to be Shohei," Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said last weekend. "I just don't see how he's not."

Freeman recalled the World Series workout at Yankee Stadium on the afternoon of Oct. 27. A day earlier, Ohtani had suffered a gruesome left shoulder injury while attempting to steal a base. And yet he was able to reach his ailing arm over his head, which Freeman never recalled someone having the strength to do after popping a shoulder out of place. "How is this man doing this?" Freeman thought.

Ohtani went on to play in the next three games, helping lead the Dodgers to their first full-season championship in four decades. Three weeks later, he won his third unanimous MVP in four years -- after the first 50/50 season. Then he began preparing as both a pitcher and a hitter again.

Ohtani is already hitting, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has seen videos of him producing exit velocities in the triple digits. He has also been playing catch for the better part of two months, but the Dodgers won't get a true sense for his pitching timeline until spring training begins and bullpen sessions follow.

Ohtani is expected to hit at the start of the season, but in all likelihood he won't be part of the rotation until May. The Dodgers want him peaking as a pitcher by season's end and don't want to have to shut him down at midseason to get him there. So far, Ohtani said Saturday, "things are pretty smooth." But there's no telling how this will actually go. This is unprecedented territory, riddled with unique quirks (an example: Ohtani can't venture out on a rehab assignment to face hitters in April, as any other rehabbing pitcher would, because he's too valuable to the Dodgers' lineup).

And yet greatness is expected nonetheless.

"I don't know about 50/50 because I truly don't know how he's going to go about stealing bases while he's pitching," Freeman said. "But maybe he steals 50 bases before he starts pitching in May or whenever. I wouldn't put anything past him."

2. How will Betts handle shortstop?

Yes, the Dodgers are planning on Betts being their every-day shortstop this season. No, there really isn't any precedent for something like this. Not for a player of this caliber. Not for moving to shortstop, the most demanding position outside of catcher, in the back half of one's career. But Betts, like Ohtani, is an unprecedented athlete, and the Dodgers have expressed confidence that he can make an incredibly challenging transition if given an entire offseason to work at it.

And Betts sure has worked. He has communicated on a near-daily basis with Chris Woodward, the former Texas Rangers manager and new Dodgers infield coach, at times recruiting him to take ground balls on random fields throughout Los Angeles because Dodger Stadium is undergoing a major renovation. Shortly after the fan event last weekend, he reported to the team's spring training facility, nearly two weeks before he was scheduled to arrive.

Said Betts: "I feel like I'm just a completely new person over there."

Betts, a six-time Gold Glove Award winner in right field, has longed to return to his roots in the middle infield basically since he joined the Dodgers. Second base seemed like the natural fit, until Gavin Lux's throwing issues last spring prompted a last-minute pivot to shortstop. Betts started 61 games there before a broken wrist kept him out nearly two months and pushed him back to right field upon his return. At season's end, Betts and the Dodgers sat down and determined he'd make another run at it.

Betts committed nine errors at shortstop last season, though eight were the result of errant throws. Dodgers coaches said he mastered aspects they believe to be the most difficult at the position -- getting off the ball, exhibiting range and fielding tough hops. The problem was getting his elite arm to translate from the outfield to the infield, most of which is a matter of footwork and (basically) reps, of which he will now get plenty.

If Betts' shortstop transition doesn't go well, the Dodgers can pivot to Tommy Edman, Miguel Rojas or the newly signed Hyeseong Kim, moving Betts to second base. But they're going to give him every chance to stick at the position, at least in 2025.

"He is very confident about it," Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said earlier this offseason. "And I will happily take the side of betting on Mookie and let any fool that wants to take the other side."

3. How will Roki Sasaki's transition to MLB work?

Friedman referred to the dynamic with Sasaki, the pitching phenom he'd spent years chasing, as a "partnership." The Dodgers have pledged to do whatever it takes to help Sasaki achieve his goal of becoming the first Japanese-born pitcher to win a Cy Young Award and, most importantly, stay healthy.

Sasaki, 23, is already an elite pitcher with an exceedingly high ceiling. But evaluators throughout baseball have expressed workload concerns, especially coming off a season in which his fastball exhibited a drop in velocity. Sasaki totaled just 202 innings with the Chiba Lotte Marines over the past two years. He is supremely athletic, but he is also wiry, and he has been throwing in the triple digits since high school. His right arm is special, but it is also vulnerable -- a major test for a Dodgers team that has struggled mightily to keep young arms healthy in recent years.

The thought from several scouts during Sasaki's posting process was that whichever team acquired him would start him late, given he might not throw more than about 150 innings in 2025. But the Dodgers won't do that. Friedman said during Sasaki's introductory press conference last month that he would "hit the ground running" in spring training and added that he will begin the season in the rotation if he's ready, with no designated innings limit.

"Our goal is to start him," Friedman said. "He's going to go and start the season and we will continue to work with him in between starts."

The Dodgers will spend a good portion of spring working with Sasaki to rekindle his four-seam-fastball velocity, part of which will consist of a more thorough examination of how his delivery might have been altered to account for prior injuries. They'll also begin to tweak his pitch mix in an effort to play up his wipeout splitter, perhaps by helping Sasaki introduce more cutters and two-seamers.

But one of the Dodgers' biggest tasks will be mapping out a rotation loaded with stars but riddled with injury concerns, including Sasaki, Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow (whose modest 134 innings total in 2024 was the most in his nine-year career), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (who missed three months with a strained rotator cuff last season), Tony Gonsolin (who is coming off Tommy John surgery), Dustin May (who made a combined 26 starts from 2021 to 2024) and Blake Snell (who has thrown less than 160 innings in four of his past five full seasons).

4. They're done adding players ... right?

Snell was the first impact player to join the Dodgers this offseason. He thought they were done adding with every subsequent move -- after Michael Conforto, after Teoscar Hernández, after Kim, after Sasaki, after Tanner Scott, after Kirby Yates. At some point, Snell will be right -- but perhaps not yet.

A "Kiké!" chant broke out at one point during DodgerFest, and the expectation is the Dodgers will eventually bring back Enrique Hernández, the effervescent, ever-popular super-utility player who has a knack for coming through in October. If they do -- and they keep Chris Taylor, who's in the last year of a four-year, $60 million deal -- then only one position player spot will be up for grabs in spring training.

It would seemingly come down to a competition between Kim and two young-but-established outfielders in Andy Pages and James Outman, the winner essentially determining how much time Edman will spend between center field and second base.

At full strength, the rotation might not eventually have room for anybody. Not with Clayton Kershaw also expected back. Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said Saturday that they've been waiting for Kershaw, 36, to get into his throwing program and thus have a better feel for how his body is holding up in the wake of November surgery on his left foot and left knee.

Gomes added that he expects "more conversations at an in-depth level here shortly" with Kershaw. The same can be said about Hernández, though in that case the two sides still have a financial gap to bridge. The timing is worth considering here, too. The Dodgers' 40-man roster is currently full, and the team doesn't want to subject anyone on it to waivers. Starting Monday, they can place rehabbing pitchers such as Gavin Stone, River Ryan, Kyle Hurt, Emmet Sheehan and Brusdar Graterol on the 60-day injured list, which opens space on the 40-man roster. Kershaw is expected to be added shortly thereafter. Hernández might be, too.

If they are, the roster will feature six MVP Awards, five Cy Youngs, 16 Silver Sluggers, nine Gold Gloves and 45 All-Star appearances.

"Incredible," Glasnow said. "It's like 'The Avengers.'"

5. How will they handle being the villains of MLB?

Betts spoke at DodgerFest last year, near the end of an offseason that saw Ohtani and Yamamoto sign contracts totaling more than $1 billion, and said every game against the 2024 Dodgers would qualify as "the other team's World Series." His point was the Dodgers needed to be ready for a season in which basically the entire sport would be aiming for them. He wasn't wrong.

But what about now?

The Dodgers have since won the World Series and signed practically every player they've wanted. Their luxury tax payroll projects to about $380 million, according to Spotrac, roughly $80 million more than the second-place Philadelphia Phillies. The only other teams to even reach $290 million are the New York Mets and Yankees. That doesn't account for the fact that the Dodgers' best and most popular player, Ohtani, deferred 97% of his contract. Or that arguably their biggest offseason acquisition, Sasaki, will make the major league minimum this season.

It has all worked to make the Dodgers the proverbial villains of their sport, a reality Roberts believes his team needs to "embrace."

"Who wouldn't want to be the focus and do what our organization is doing for the city, the fans?" said Roberts, who is entering the final year of his contract and still looking to sign an extension. "To be quite frank, we draw more than anyone as far as any venue in the world. And so when you're drawing 4 million fans a year, the way you reciprocate is by investing in players. And that's what we've done."

Roberts noted that none of the new players the Dodgers brought in have won a championship. Their desire for one, he hopes, will help fuel a team that might otherwise be prone to stagnation. Most of all, it's the outsized expectations that will help the Dodgers maintain their edge.

Alex Vesia, one of the Dodgers' primary relievers, believes the heightened pressure will once again bring them closer as a team, a trait that helped them overcome the grind of last October. But that won't play out until much later, when the games matter and the adversity hits.

At this point, the overwhelming sentiment around the Dodgers is simply gratitude.

"Fans come out here and support us," Freeman said. "They spend their hard-earned money to come and watch us play. And for them to spend that much money, and for them to see ownership take the product and put it back into the team, it's awesome. It's awesome to be a part of that. It's awesome to be a part of an organization that goes out there, year in and year out, to try and put the best team as possible to go out there and win the championship."