The Brief

California will have to build public charging stations at an unprecedented — and some experts say unrealistic — pace to meet the needs of the 7 million electric cars expected on its roads in less than seven years.

The sheer scale of the buildout has alarmed many experts and lawmakers, who fear that the state won’t be prepared as Californians purchase more electric cars.

A million public chargers are needed in California by the end of 2030, according to the state’s projections — almost 10 times more than the number available to drivers in December. To meet that target, 129,000 new stations — more than seven times the current pace — must be built every year for the next seven years. Then the pace would have to accelerate again to reach a target of 2.1 million chargers in 2035.

A robust network of public chargers — akin to the state’s more than 8,000 gas stations — is essential to ensure that drivers will have the confidence to purchase electric vehicles over the next several years.

“It is very unlikely that we will hit our goals, and to be completely frank, the EV goals are a noble aspiration, but unrealistic,” said Stanford professor Bruce Cain, who co-authored a policy briefing detailing California’s electric vehicle charging problems. “This is a wakeup call that we address potential institutional and policy obstacles more seriously before we commit blindly.”

Under California’s landmark electric car mandate, a pillar of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s climate change agenda, 68% of all new 2030 model cars sold in the state must be zero emissions, increasing to 100% for 2035, when 15 million electric cars are expected in California.

“We’re going to look really silly if we are telling people that they can only buy electric vehicles, and we don’t have the charging infrastructure to support that,” said Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat from Encino who introduced a package of unsuccessful bills last year aimed at expanding access to car chargers.

“We are way behind where we need to be,” Gabriel told CalMatters.

Big obstacles stand in the way of amping up the pace of new charging stations in public places. California will need billions of dollars in state, federal and private investments, streamlined city and county permitting processes, major power grid upgrades and accelerated efforts by utilities to connect chargers to the grid.

State officials also are tasked with ensuring that charging stations are available statewide, in rural and less-affluent areas where private companies are reluctant to invest, and that they are reliable and functioning whenever drivers pull up.

In Pacific Gas & Electric’s vast service area, home to 40% of all Californians, electric car purchases are moving twice as fast as the buildout of charging stations, said Lydia Krefta, the utility’s director of clean energy transportation. Californians now own more than 1.5 million battery-powered cars.

Patty Monahan, who’s on the Energy Commission, the state agency responsible for funding and guiding the ramp-up, told CalMatters that she is confident that California can build the chargers its residents need in time.

The agency’s estimate of the current chargers is likely an undercount, she said. In addition, fast-charging stations could play a bigger role than initially projected, meaning hundreds of thousands of fewer chargers might be needed. Also, as the ranges and charging speeds on cars improve, there may be less demand for public chargers.

“California has a history of defying the odds,” Monahan said. “We have a history of advancing clean cars, clean energy, writ-large. We have naysayers left and right saying you can’t do it, and then we do it.”

Barriers to private investments: an uncertain marke

On a September day last year, Monahan spoke behind a podium in the parking lot of a Bay Area grocery store. A row of newly constructed car chargers rose behind her.

“Let’s celebrate for a moment,” she said.

California had met its goal of 10,000 fast electric chargers statewide — two years ahead of a target set in 2018.

California Energy Commissioner Patty Monahan speaks during the launch of an EVgo fast charging station in Union City on Sept. 25, 2023.

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Loren Elliott

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CalMatters

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Fast chargers like the new ones at the grocery store are increasingly seen as critical to meeting the needs of drivers. They can power a car to 80% in 20 minutes to an hour, while the typical charger in use today, a slower Level 2, takes from four to 10 hours.

But installing and operating fast chargers is an expensive business — one that doesn’t easily turn a profit.

Nationwide each fast charger can cost up to $117,000, according to a 2023 study. And in California, it could be even more — between $122,000 and $440,000 each, according to a separate study, although the Energy Commission said the range was $110,000 to $125,000 for one of its programs.

Most of America’s publicly traded charger companies have been forced to seek more financing, lay off workers and slow their network build outs, analysts said. EVgo, for instance, has seen its share price crater, as has ChargePoint, which specializes in selling the slower, Level 2 hardware.

California stands apart from other states — it has by far the most chargers and electric car sales, and more incentives and policies encouraging them.

Tesla, America’s top-selling electric car manufacturer, dominates fast-charging in both California and the U.S. — but the company didn’t get into the business to sell charges to drivers; it got into the charger business to sell its electric cars. Initially Tesla Superchargers were exclusive to its drivers, but starting this year other EV drivers can use them after Tesla provided ports to Ford and other automakers.

Tesla’s manufacturing prowess, supply chain dominance and decade-plus of experience with fast chargers have given it an edge over competitors — a coterie of unprofitable, publicly traded startups, as well as private companies that often benefit from public subsidies, according to analysts.

“All the automakers joined forces with their biggest competitor,” said Loren McDonald, chief executive of the consulting firm EVAdoption. “If that doesn’t tell you how bad fast-charging networks and infrastructure were, I don’t know what else does.”

Tesla vehicles charge at a Supercharger lot in Kettleman City on June 23, 2024.

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Larry Valenzuela

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CalMatters/CatchLight Local

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Now Tesla is showing uncertainty about the future of its charging business amid slumping car sales, and eliminated nearly its entire 500-member Supercharger team in April. Then chief executive Elon Musk said in May that he would spend $500 million to expand the network and hired back some fired workers.

In California, Electrify America, a privately held company, was created by Volkswagen as a settlement for cheating on emissions tests for its gas-powered cars. The company is spending $800 million on California chargers, building a robust network of 260 stations, with more than half in low-income communities, including the state’s worst charging desert, Imperial County.

The problem is Electrify America was ranked dead last in a consumer survey last year, and its chargers have been plagued by reliability problems and customer complaints. The California Air Resources Board in January directed Electrify America to “strive to achieve charger reliability consistent with the state of the industry.” A company spokesperson said the dissatisfaction showed “an industry in its growth trajectory.” There are signs of improvement, based on consumer data from the first three months of this year.

Startups continue to jump into the charging business, with the number of companies offering fast chargers growing from 14 in 2020 to 41 in 2024, EVAdoption said. Seven carmakers formed a $1 billion venture to build a 30,000-charger network in North America. And gas stations such as Circle K are offering more charging because electric car customers spend more time shopping while waiting for their rides to juice up.

But the realization that charging is a costly business has set in on Wall Street, and that doesn’t seem likely to change anytime soon. “Can public EV fast-charging stations be profitable in the United States?” the consultancy McKinsey & Company asked.

“The fervor, the excitement from the investor base, has definitely dwindled quite a bit, given the prospects that EV adoption in the U.S. is going to be slower, revenue growth is really slower, the path to profitability is going to be slower, and they might need more capital than everyone originally expected,” said Christopher Dendrinos, a financial analyst who covers electric car charging companies for the investment bank RBC Capital Markets.

The stakes are high for California when it comes to encouraging investments in expensive fast chargers: If 63,000 additional ones were built, California might need 402,000 fewer slower Level 2 chargers in 2030, according to an alternative forecast by the Energy Commission.

Billions of public dollars: Will it be enough?

Nationwide $53 billion to $127 billion in private investments and public funding is needed by 2030 to build chargers for about 33 million electric cars, according to a federal estimate. Of that, about half would be for public chargers.

Congress and the Biden administration have set aside $5 billion for a national network of fast chargers. So far only 33 in eight locations have been built, but more than 14,000 others are in the works, according to the Federal Highway Administration. California’s share of the federal money totals $384 million; about 500 fast chargers will be built with an initial $40.5 million, said Energy Commission spokesperson Lindsay Buckley.

In addition, the state has spent $584 million to build more than 33,000 electric car chargers through its Clean Transportation Program, funded by fees drivers pay when they register cars. The Legislature extended that program for an additional decade last year.

Newsom has committed to spending $1 billion through 2028 on chargers with his “California Climate Commitment,” Buckley said. But this year Newsom and the Legislature trimmed $167 million from the charger budget as the state faces a record deficit. A lobbyist for the Electric Vehicle Charging Association said “the state pullback sends a very challenging message” to the industry.

California’s commitment to charger funding is “solid,” despite the cuts, Buckley said. They have not yet estimated the total investment needed in California to meet the targets.

But Ted Lamm, a UC Berkeley Law researcher who studies electric car infrastructure, said the magnitude of building what California needs in coming years likely dwarfs the public funding available.

State and federal programs will “only fund a fraction,” and the state needs to spend that money on lower-income communities, he said.

Another possible funding source is California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which is expected to be revised in November. The program requires carbon-intensive fuel companies to pay for cleaner-burning transportation. Utilities get credits and use that money to pay for chargers, rebates to car buyers and grid improvements, said Laura Renger, executive director of the California Electric Transportation Coalition, which represents utilities.

“I think with that, we would have enough money,” Renger said. She said the program’s overhaul could help utilities invest “billions” in chargers and other electric car programs over the next two decades.

Backlogged local permits and grid delays 

One of the biggest barriers to more chargers isn’t money. It’s that cities and counties are slow to approve plans for the vast number of stations needed.

State officials only have so much political power to compel local jurisdictions to do what they want — a reality made abundantly clear by the housing crisis, for instance. California relies on grants and persuasion to accomplish its goals, and the slow buildout of chargers shows how those strategies can fall short, said Stanford’s Cain.

“The locals cannot be compelled by regulatory agencies to make land and resources available for what the state wants to achieve,” Cain said.

The same obstacles have marked the state’s broader effort to electrify California and switch to clean energy. Local opposition and environmental reviews sometimes hold up large solar projects and transmission projects for years.

California has created a “culture of regulation that emphasizes the need to be extra careful and extra perfect, but this takes an incredible amount of time,” Steve Bohlen, senior director of government affairs at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said last month at the inaugural hearing of the state Assembly’s Select Committee on Permitting Reform.

“We’re moving into a period of rapid change, and so perfect can’t be the enemy of the good.”

Workers install a transformer to power electric car chargers in Calexico

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Adriana Heldiz

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CalMatters

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Chargers aren’t as complicated as large-scale solar or offshore wind projects. But most chargers installed in public spaces do need a land-use or encroachment permit, among other approvals. California has passed laws requiring local jurisdictions to streamline permits for chargers. What’s more, the Governor’s Office of Business Development now grades cities and counties using a scorecard and maintains a map displaying who has, or hasn’t, made life easier for car charger builders. But these strategies only go so far.

“It doesn’t matter how many requirements you put on (local governments),” Lamm said. “If they just don’t have the time in the day to do it … it’s going to sit in the backlog, because that’s how it works.”

The delays have consequences. Getting a station permitted in California, on average, takes 26% longer than the national average, Electrify America reported. Designing and constructing a station in California can cost on average 37% more than in other states because of delays in permitting and grid connections. A utility on average takes 17 weeks after work is completed to connect chargers to the grid, Electric America said.

Powering large charging projects often requires grid upgrades, which can take a year or more for approval, said Chanel Parson, a director at Southern California Edison. Supply chain issues also make getting the right equipment a challenge.

Edison, which has a 10-year plan to meet expected demand, has asked the utilities commission for approval to upgrade the grid where it anticipates high charging demand.

“Every EV charging infrastructure project is a major construction project,” Parson said. “There are a number of variables that influence how long it takes to complete the project.”

Impatient with broken chargers, bad service

Inspired to help the nation reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, Zach Schiff-Abrams of Los Angeles bought a Genesis GV60. As a renter, he has relied on public charging, primarily using Electrify America stations — and that’s been his biggest problem about owning an electric car.

Charging speeds have been inconsistent, he said, with half-hour sessions providing only a 15 to 30% charge, and he often encounters broken chargers.

“I believe in electrical, so I’m really actually trying to be a responsible consumer,” Schiff-Abrams said. “I want to report them when they’re down, but the customer service is horrible.”

For years, the reliability of charging networks has been a well-documented problem. Only 73% of fast chargers in the San Francisco Bay Area were functional in a 2022 study. The growth of the EV market has put increasing strain on public charging stations, a consumer survey found.

In January, the California Air Resources Board approved a final $200 million spending plan for Electrify America — but not before board chair Liane Randolph scolded its CEO.

Randolph — arguably one of America’s top climate regulators — told CEO Robert Barrosa about an exchange she had with his company’s customer service line after finding a broken charger at a station along Interstate-5.

“It didn’t work,” Randolph said during the board meeting. “Called the customer service line, waited like 10-ish minutes. …(The charger) was showing operable on the app and the guy goes, ‘oh, my data is showing me that it has not had a successful charge in three days.’”

“These issues are not easy,” Barrosa responded. “Our head is not in the sand,” he told board members earlier. “We are listening to customers.”

But Randolph, addressing journalists at a conference in Philadelphia, pushed back against the idea that because the transition to electric vehicles is happening gradually that it’s a failure. Many people will rely on charging at home or work, and batteries are becoming more efficient.

“The infrastructure is continuing to be rolled out at a rapid pace,” Randolph said. “It doesn’t all have to be perfect instantly. It’s a process. And it’s a process that’s continuing to move.”

Data journalists Erica Yee and Arfa Momin contributed to this report.

Contractors are expected to get the green light Monday from the Port of L.A. to start transforming 12 acres of densely industrial land next to the Wilmington waterfront into a green space called the Avalon Bridge Project and Gateway.

Residents say the project can’t be done soon enough.

“Right now, it's not safe to walk from downtown Wilmington all the way to the waterfront,” said Salvador Lara, who’s lived in Wilmington for 35 years and works for a nonprofit that does clean-ups in the neighborhood.

Until 2024, most Wilmington residents had little reason to walk to the waterfront. That year, officials unveiled the Wilmington Waterfront Promenade, a 9-acre open space with picnic areas, grass and a public dock.

Now, residents go there to enjoy the park and trails, as well as free events such as wellness fairs and Dia de los Reyes celebrations. But access remains a problem.

Lucia Moreno-Linares, a Wilmington resident and former L.A. Harbor Commissioner, points to last year’s Shakespeare-by-the-sea event as a good example of the challenge.

“Most people used their car to get there, especially because it was in the evening,” she said. Yet for many residents, it would not have been a long walk, if there was a way to get through the industrial area safely."

She expects the bridge project will make a big difference.

“When the bridge is finished, I think we'll have a better turnout for that event,” she said.

Public officials broke ground in February on the Avalon Bridge Project and Gateway.

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Courtesy Port of L.A.

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The 380-foot bridge will give pedestrians and bicyclists a way to safely cross over working rail lines and avoid port traffic to get to the promenade. The concrete bridge will feature a cable-stayed arch structure.

The Avalon Bridge Project is expected to be completed in 2028. It's part of the Port of L.A.'s decade-old Public Access Investment Plan that's set aside $400 million for waterfront and education projects, including the promenade, the bridge project and San Pedro Town Square. One construction will be a massive sundial.

A rendering of the Avalong Bridge Project and Gateway. It's meant to help people avoid train tracks and truck traffic to walk to a watefront park.

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Courtesy Port of L.A.

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A rendering shows what part of the Avalon Bridge Project is expected to look like when finished in 2028.

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Courtesy Port of L.A.

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The access problems residents hope the bridge project will fix

Just north of the promenade and the future gateway project lie the dense residential and business districts whose roots go back to the mid-19th century.

But the harbor grew massively in the 20th century, with railroad tracks and heavy container truck traffic popping up between those residents and the water.

Now that the waterfront promenade includes places for people to walk, ride their bikes and grass on which to lay a picnic blanket, the industrial area acts as a barrier.

The Avalon Bridge Project gives pedestrians a way to safely skip over those hurdles. It's designed to improve the quality of life of residents, who for generations have sacrificed a lot for being on the doorstep of the massive Port of L.A.

“What makes this project special is that it's all about more than just building infrastructure,” said Port of L.A. executive director Gene Seroka at a recent briefing. “It's about giving Wilmington residents direct access to their own waterfront and creating spaces where the community can gather and connect.”

I went to get my hair cut last week, and when I pulled into the driveway of the salon, I saw the biggest lizard I've ever seen in Southern California — and this was in West Adams, nowhere near a hiking trail! Turns out I’m not alone. As Jacob Margolis reported last week, alligator lizards and other scaly friends are having a field day with this weather. And while I was sufficiently freaked out by my sighting in our urban jungle, the real risk of the early warm weather is to them, not us.

Sing your lizard heart out this week with Licorice Pizza’s music calendar. On Monday, K-pop girl group Hearts2Hearts will be at the Grammy Museum as part of the museum’s Global Spin Live program, while Lady Blackbird, aka the “Grace Jones of jazz,” is at the Blue Note.

On Tuesday, there’s a very special show at the El Rey with the Dirty Three, featuring Warren Ellis of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, while country-pop troubadour Lindsay Ell is at the Troubadour.

On Wednesday, L.A. garage band ALEXSUCKS plays the El Rey, misleadingly named folk singer Skullcrusher plays the Lodge Room and there will be a rebirth of slick with alternative hip-hop legend Digable Planets at the Blue Note (they’re also there on Thursday). Also on Thursday, metal band Bad Omens plays the Forum, and veteran indie band Voxtrot is at cool new Chinatown venue Pacific Electric.

Elsewhere on LAist, you can learn about how the Iranian community in L.A. is celebrating Nowruz in wartime, head to North Hills for a late-night Filipino grocery store rave (yes, you read that right) and get a ticket for Kai Ryssdal’s special Marketplace Live event on March 29.

Events

Silent film screening with music: The Cruise of the Jasper B and The Yankee Clipper

Monday, March 23, 7:30 p.m.
Hollywood Heritage Museum 
2100 N Highland Ave., Hollywood
COST: $10; MORE INFO

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Courtesy Hollywood Heritage

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Catch a double feature of silent films — The Cruise of the Jasper B (1926) and The Yankee Clipper (1927) — projected from 16mm Kodascope prints, with live accompaniment by Jon Mirsalis. The two films are both part of a celebration of the DeMille Pictures Corporation (as in Cecil B.); the first is a comedy starring Rod LaRocque and Mildred Harris; the second is not about Joe DiMaggio, but is an adventure about the U.S. and Great Britain’s seafaring rivalry.

Michael Orland’s Broadway Sing-Along

Wednesday, March 25, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. 
Three Clubs 
1123 Vine Street, Hollywood
COST: $28; MORE INFO

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Jonathan Sadowski

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Eventbrite

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A Broadway singalong with American Idol’s in-house pianist? Say no more. I’m prepping my best rendition of “Defying Gravity” as we speak. Sign up to sing with pianist Michael Orland, or just sing along with other Broadway fanatics.

Dolores: Group exhibition

Through Sunday, April 12
Plaza de la Raza Boathouse Gallery
3540 N. Mission Road, Lincoln Heights
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

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Barbara Carrasco

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Plaza de la Raza

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This group exhibit honoring Dolores Huerta, a trailblazer, survivor and farmworkers’ rights activist, could not be better timed. While the news about César Chávez's history of abuse is harrowing, this show is a chance to honor Huerta and her work for the greater good of farmworkers and California writ large — and view the farmworkers’ movement through the eyes of artists of all stripes.

Sister Dreamer

Through September 2027
Wednesdays to Sundays 
1810 W. 76th Street, South Central L.A. 
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

Lauren Halsey, who's from South Central, had a vision to create a sculpture park in her home neighborhood for years, and it’s finally a reality. Sister Dreamer, the artist’s “architectural ode to tha surge n splurge of south central los angeles,” is a new monument, attraction, gathering spot and homage to innovation to be enjoyed by all.

Dragon Mama

Through Sunday, April 12
Geffen Playhouse
10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood 
COST: FROM $39; MORE INFO

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Jeff Lorch

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Geffen Playhouse

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The second installment of the popular Dragon Cycle series about a Filipina woman’s relationship with her mother, her culture, her queerness and her love life recently opened at the Geffen Playhouse to rave reviews. The one-woman show Dragon Mama follows last year’s Dragon Lady, and is written and performed by Sara Porkalob. It’s peppered with ghosts, Filipino gangsters and a '90s R&B soundtrack.

Secret Walls: Wet Paint LA

Through Saturday, April 4
2272 Venice Blvd., Harvard Heights
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Secret Walls

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Eventbrite

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Graffiti as a movement and as an art takes center stage at Secret Walls' first Wet Paint show in Los Angeles. It features graffiti artists including CAN2, MERLOT, JOSE MERTZ, JOSHUA VIDES, YES2 and many more.

A Celebration of Ralph Steadman: A Live Show 

Wednesday, March 25, 8 p.m. 
Actors’ Gang
9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City 
COST: $58; MORE INFO

Exhibit through Saturday, May 9 
Ralph Steadman
Torrance Art Museum
3320 Civic Center Drive, Torrance
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Ralph Steadman

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Courtesy Torrance Art Museum

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The writings and illustrations of Ralph Steadman (most famous for his illustrations of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson’s work) is the focus of an evening on stage at the Actors’ Gang in Culver City. It will feature readings by Josh Brolin, Michael C. Mahon and Pat Healey; singing by Kim Chase; and an introduction by Steadman’s youngest daughter, Sadie Williams. Can’t make the stage show? Head to Torrance Art Museum through May 9 for an exhibit that features more than 140 drawings and other works of Steadman’s, including illustrations for Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Plus, check out the Gonzo Art Trail around the L.A. area that the museum has created, which challenges users to a scavenger hunt for Steadman’s SoCal inspirations, and includes events like the Actors’ Gang show throughout the exhibition’s lifecycle.

Regarding Her reception and cooking classes

Monday, March 23, 5:30 p.m.
Maydan Market 
4301 W. Jefferson Blvd., West Adams
COST: $108; MORE INFO

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Ashley Randall Photography

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Rose Previte, the founder of new West Adams hotspot Maydan Market, joins women’s culinary organization Regarding Her for a cooking class and networking evening at the hip space. Several other big-name L.A. female chefs will join Previte for the event, which invites foodies to participate in an array of intimate cooking classes. You can make Guerrerense tamales with Heidie Irra from Maléna; indigenous Oaxacan chocolate and atole with Odilia Romero and chef Evelyn Gregorio from Lugya’h; market fruit hand pies with Anastashia Chavez from Inglewood’s Cadoro Bakery; Korean pork mandu with Deborah Pak from legendary Koreatown institution Soban; and gnocchetti sardi with Victoria Bermudez from Leona, a micro-batch pasta shop in Los Feliz.

Grand Prix Association of Long Beach president and CEO Jim Michaelian died on Saturday, just four weeks before the street race was scheduled to roar again along the city’s shoreline, association officials said. It was to be the last race he would oversee before passing the reins to incoming CEO Jim Liaw.

Michaelian was 83. His cause of death was not released.

Michaelian wore increasingly larger hats during the past 51 years of the annual race, serving first as the Grand Prix Association’s controller, chief operating officer and then being named president and CEO in December 2001.

“Jim didn’t just lead the Grand Prix — he lived it,” Mayor Rex Richardson said in a statement. ”His passion, warmth and dedication turned an event into a tradition, and a tradition into a source of pride for generations of Long Beach residents. Under his leadership, the Grand Prix became a global event and a defining part of Long Beach’s identity.”

Michaelian graduated from UCLA with a BS in Physics and an MBA. He was a competitive sports car racer for more than 25 years and competed in endurance events at tracks including Le Mans, Daytona, Nürburgring, Dubai and Sebring.

Penske Entertainment acquired the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach in November 2024.

Penske Corporation chairman Roger Penske reflected on Michaelian’s contributions.

“Jim was a leader of a small, passionate group who believed in the concept of bringing elite open-wheel competition to Long Beach in the 1970s, worked tirelessly to make it happen despite steep odds and then helped nurture the Grand Prix of Long Beach into becoming America’s premier street race,” Penske said. “His vision and energy surrounding this great event remained boundless for 50 years, as no task was too small for Jim, even while he served in numerous leadership roles.”

Michaelian is survived by his wife, Mary, and sons Bob and Mike.

“A loving and devoted husband, nothing meant more to Jim than his family,” the Grand Prix Association said in a statement. “He especially treasured the time he spent with his two boys, creating memories that will be carried forever.”

The Major League Baseball season kicks off this Wednesday, with the New York Yankees going up against the San Francisco Giants.

For our reigning world champs Dodgers, their home opener is on Thursday, when they play the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chavez Ravine.

This year, the Dodgers are looking to make history for the franchise with their pursuit of a back-to-back-to-back win. So, how are their chances? We take these questions to LAist's resident sports expert, Matt Dangelantonio.

How are the Dodgers looking this year?

In a word? Great. Almost the entire 2025 World Series team is returning, with a couple of major additions in the outfield and bullpen. The Dodgers are Vegas' favorites to win it all at +230, far ahead of the next team up — the New York Yankees at +1000. The Dodgers remain the team to beat in the National League West, and really in all of baseball. They are a blueprint for what can go right when you have a lot of money to spend and invest right.

The team's biggest assets?

Biggest assets are the names you already know: Ohtani, Freeman, Betts, Muncy, Teoscar, Yoshi ... the list goes on. There are also two new names folks will want to watch. One is slugging outfielder Kyle Tucker, to whom the Dodgers gave a four-year deal worth a whopping $240 million. He's a four-time All-Star who can hit 30 home runs, and is a strong defensive outfielder with a Gold Glove (2022) under his belt. One thing the Dodgers lacked last year was a de facto closer, though rookie Roki Sasaki took on that role during the postseason. Now, the Dodgers have a true closer in Edwin Diaz, a former New York Met with a proven track record of locking things down in the ninth inning — if he can stay healthy. The bullpen will also benefit from the return of past mainstays like Brusdar Graterol, Tanner Scott and Alex Vesia, who missed the World Series after the death of his newborn daughter.

The biggest concerns?

Age and health, pretty much the same as usual. Offensive woes caught up to some of the team's elder statesmen — like Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Max Muncy — in the World Series, though Muncy did redeem himself with the clutch 7th-inning homer in Game 7 of the World Series to make it 3-2 and set the table for Miggy Ro's 9th-inning, game-tying homer. But those guys aren't getting any younger. Health was also an issue for the pitching staff in particular last year. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow both missed big chunks of time with injuries.

The archrivals?

In the NL West, it's the Padres as usual. They have a solid combination of veteran experience and youth in their lineup, a strong pitching rotation and arguably one of the best bullpens in baseball. The Mets and Phillies are likely to be the biggest potential threats to the Dodgers' reign, though both clubs have bad track records of winning when it matters. And then league-wide, the Yankees, Mariners and Blue Jays should all be very good and are each good bets to be on the opposite side should the Dodgers make it back to the World Series.

So, three-peat?

Nothing is certain in baseball, but what I'll say is ... it's their World Series to lose. I think in the eyes of owner Mark Walter and GM Andrew Friedman, anything short of a World Series win would be considered a failure, given how much money they've spent on their roster. They have absolutely no excuse not to make it back to the World Series this year if they stay healthy. They are in a unique position before the year even starts to be on cruise control through the regular season and really play their best baseball in October.