No defending World Series champion has ever had a better start to the season than the 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers. Last night, the Dodgers improved to an 8-0 record thanks to Shohei Ohtani’s walk-off home run against the Atlanta Braves (LA 6, ATL 5). Ohtani fittingly hit the walk-off home run on his bobblehead night.

Los Angeles fell behind 5-0 early, then rallied against Atlanta’s bullpen to tie and eventually win. Ohtani’s walk-off homer was already the second of the season for the Dodgers. Mookie Betts hit a walk-off homer against the Detroit Tigers last Friday to improve the team to 4-0. Here is Ohtani’s walk-off Wednesday:

Ohtani’s Walk-Off

The 8-0 start is the best ever by a defending World Series champion and also the best by the Dodgers since they won a franchise record 10 straight games to open 1955. That was their third to last season in Brooklyn. The Braves, meanwhile, are now 0-7 and remain baseball’s only winless team. No team has ever reached the postseason after starting the season 0-7.

Mercifully, the Braves are done with their season-opening West Coast trip. Thursday is a team off-day, then they will play their home opener against the Miami Marlins at Truist Park on Friday.