All-MLB Team: Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernández nominated

Seven Dodgers were named nominees for the 2024 All-MLB team, led by presumptive National League MVP Shohei Ohtani and outfielders Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernández.

Major League Baseball introduced the All-MLB team in 2019 as an official postseason recognition, similar to the All-Pro award on the NFL and All-NBA teams in professional basketball. For All-MLB honors, there is a first and second team, each consisting of one player at each position (including three outfielders), as well as five starting pitchers and two relievers.

Ohtani has set a new standard, so to speak, by being named to the All-MLB team as both a designated hitter and starting pitcher over his last three seasons with the Angels, including first-team honors at DH in 2021 and 2023 as well for the first time as a starting pitcher in 2022-23. It's a no-brainer that he'll be named first-team All-MLB Designated Hitter this year.

Betts began the season as the Dodgers' shortstop until a fastball broke his left hand in June. When he returned eight weeks later, he moved back to his old stomping grounds in right field. He is listed as an outfielder on the MLB draft list, along with Hernández, who leads all National League outfielders in home runs (33) and RBI (99) as of Sunday.

They face stiff competition in the outfield, with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto locks, as well as the Red Sox's Jarren Duran, who ranks third in the field with an aWAR of 7.7 and a Wins Above Replacement average, according to Baseball Reference and FanGraphs Position occupied.

Betts was a first-team All-MLB outfielder in 2019-2020 and 2022-23. Hernández was a second-team selection for the Blue Jays in 2021.

Freddie Freeman is the only major league player to earn All-MLB honors in each of the award's five seasons – first team in 2020 and 2023, second team in 2019 and 2021-22 – and is there again this year. Freeman ranks third in the group in OPS (.854), wRC+ (137) and aWAR (4.4), but Bryce Harper and Vladimir Guerrero are ahead of him in all three categories, each with more home runs and extra base -Hits.

Jack Flaherty, who the Dodgers acquired from the Tigers at the trade deadline, is one of 26 starting pitcher nominees. He has a 3.17 ERA and 194 strikeouts in his 28 starts between the two teams, but his 162 innings are the seventh-fewest among nominees.

Catcher Will Smith, a second-team All-MLB selection in 2022, is one of 10 nominees behind the plate this year. But William Contreras, Salvador Perez and Cal Raleigh make this position difficult to master.

Alex Vesia earned an All-MLB nomination, one of 20 relievers competing for four spots. The left-hander has a 1.79 ERA and 2.81 xERA this season, with career highs in strikeouts (85), games pitched (66) and innings pitched (65⅓).

The All-MLB teams will be determined by a panel of media members and baseball officials, combined with fan voting that runs through Oct. 11 at 9 a.m. PT. The All-MLB selection will be announced on Thursday, November 14th.