The Dodgers and Phillies Got Old at the Same Time. Draft Like You Noticed.

For about three years, the easiest move in a fantasy draft was to buy into the Dodgers and Phillies lineups and stop thinking about it. Those were the offenses where runs and RBI showed up whether or not the individual hitter deserved them. Then October happened. Milwaukee swept Los Angeles out of the NLCS on Thursday night, and the same day Dave Dombrowski spent a press conference explaining how Philadelphia plans to rest its stars more in 2027. Put those together and you get the most useful draft-prep question of the early offseason: how much should you still pay for these names?

My answer is less than your league will. But the fade has to be selective, because both rosters still have a few players who are going to be underpriced precisely because of the team story.

How old we're talking

The Dodgers had the oldest position-player group in the majors this year, with an average age of 30.9, per MLB.com. Freddie Freeman and Miguel Rojas are 37, Max Muncy is 36, Kike Hernandez is 35, and Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernandez are 34. Rojas is retiring. The prime-age guys didn't bail them out either. Will Smith played 73 games after a disc problem cost him roughly three months, Tommy Edman got into 84, and Kyle Tucker hit .233 with 17 homers in the first season of a four-year, $240 million deal. Shohei Ohtani played through right biceps and left knee trouble and went 115 plate appearances without a home run before his three-run shot in Game 4.

Philadelphia's problem is less about birthdays and more about decline. Trea Turner finished with an 81 OPS+ and J.T. Realmuto with a 65, per MLB.com. Realmuto hit .205 with 11 homers at age 35. Turner hit .242. Dombrowski said Thursday that Turner has to play a better shortstop or he will change positions, that Realmuto will not start 120-plus games next year, and that he wants Kyle Schwarber to play about 30 games at first base so Bryce Harper can DH more often.

Freeman is the clearest sell

Freeman still hit .288 with a .362 OBP across 153 games, and that's exactly why he's dangerous on draft day. The batting average makes him look fine on a stat page. But 16 homers and 70 RBI from a first baseman is corner-infield filler, not a guy you want as your starter in a 12-team league, and he's heading into the final year of his contract. In redraft, let somebody else pay for the name. Treat him as a high-floor corner or utility bat in the middle rounds and walk away if he goes earlier. In dynasty, if a contender offers you anything young and interesting for him this winter, take it.

Teoscar Hernandez belongs in the same bucket with more risk attached. He hit .267 with 16 homers and 135 strikeouts, the Dodgers already shopped him last offseason, and he has one guaranteed year left. There's also a 21-year-old waiting for his job, and we'll get to him. Sell in dynasty, draft him only as a late outfielder in redraft, and don't be shocked if he's in another uniform by March.

Betts and Muncy are holds, not panic sells

Betts is the one people will overcorrect on. He hit .257 with 23 homers in 123 games, struck out only 58 times against 47 walks, and still carries shortstop eligibility. That isn't a first-round player anymore. It is, however, a perfectly good middle infielder with 20-homer power and elite contact, and those get scarce once the shiny names are gone. If your league drafts him like the old Mookie, pass. If he slides because "the Dodgers are old" becomes the consensus take, he's a buy.

Muncy is the quiet one. He hit 29 homers with a .348 OBP in 149 games at 36, and the Dodgers hold a $10 million option on him for 2028 that even the New York Post called a relative bargain. He was the most efficient power bat on that roster this year and he'll be priced like a 36-year-old. In OBP and points leagues especially, he's a mid-round corner I'm happy to own. Just don't count on anything past 2027 if you're in a dynasty league.

Tucker is the bounce-back the narrative might hand you

Tucker was a big disappointment, no argument. He also scored 90 runs, stole 12 bases and walked 78 times in 154 games, and he was the Dodgers' most consistent hitter of the postseason at .333/.419/.519. He's 29. A hitter with that kind of discipline and that kind of track record putting up a .233 average is the sort of season that gets punished too hard on draft day. If the contract and the bad year push him down boards, buy him. He's the best value on either of these rosters.

The youth to grab before your league catches on

ESPN named Josue De Paula, Alex Freeland and Dalton Rushing as the young players the Dodgers could fold in more aggressively. De Paula is the one to chase. He hit .303/.401/.547 with 27 homers and 31 steals at Double-A Tulsa, then went .323/.500/.581 in 11 games after his September 11 debut. If Hernández gets moved, left field is basically his. In dynasty he should be rostered everywhere, and if he somehow isn't, he's the top free agent pickup of your winter. In redraft he's a late-round stash who could be paying you by May.

Rushing hit 12 homers with a .460 slugging percentage in 80 games while Smith was out. He's a catcher worth waiting on in two-catcher leagues, and his playing time is tied directly to whether Smith's back holds up. Freeland hit .234 with four homers in 89 games and is a deep-league name only for now.

Andy Pages deserves a sentence of his own. He's 25, and he hit .274 with 23 homers, 13 steals and 85 RBI. Nothing about the aging story touches him, and he should be the Dodgers hitter you're happiest to own in 2027 redraft leagues.

Price Ohtani carefully

Ohtani hit .275 with 30 homers and 11 steals, and he posted a 1.79 ERA with 95 strikeouts over 14 starts and 85 2/3 innings before the knee and biceps pain kept him off the mound after early July. The big 2027 question is how much the Dodgers let him pitch, and nobody knows the answer yet. In leagues that count him as both a hitter and a pitcher, his value swings almost entirely on start count. I'd draft him as an elite DH and treat anything he gives you on the mound as a bonus, rather than paying up front for a full two-way season.

Philadelphia: sell Realmuto, pick your spot with Turner, buy the Schwarber change

Realmuto is the easiest call on either team. A 35-year-old catcher who hit .205, caught 124 games, and is now officially headed for more days off is a backup catcher in one-catcher leagues, and catcher is deep enough right now that you shouldn't roster him at all in shallow formats. In two-catcher leagues he's a last-round flier at best.

Turner is trickier. The 81 OPS+ and the defensive ultimatum are real, but he also scored 101 runs and stole 21 bases across 157 games. That's category production you can't ignore. And if he does lose shortstop in real life, your league's eligibility rules will probably let you keep using him there for 2027 anyway, so check your settings. Draft him as a speed-and-runs middle infielder, not as a star, and he can still return value.

Schwarber is the positive. He hit 45 homers with a .354 OBP, and as RotoWire pointed out, he has been utility-only in most formats for three years. If he plays the 30 games at first that Dombrowski wants, he should pick up first base eligibility during the season in most leagues, which frees up your utility spot. It doesn't change the bat. It just makes him easier to fit. Harper, who played all 162 games and hit 29 homers with a .380 OBP, stays a strong first baseman and should benefit from the extra DH days.