`SUPER TEAM'*

*Dodgers have lots of talent, but also questions about their infield defense, starting pitching

When the Dodgers returned from their trip to South Korea, they traveled at the speed of doubt.

The Dodgers landed in South Korea hailed as a potential “super team,” praised for using their financial muscle to assemble a roster that was being compared to the Michael Jordan-era Chicago Bulls as a touring collection of superstar talent.

Two games later, they returned to the United States critiqued as a flawed team and forecast by some as an expensive disappointment in the making even before they

make their domestic home opener on Thursday.

“I’m pretty used to the season bearing out daily narratives based on the results of the game. I’ve gotten pretty accustomed to that,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said of the whipsaw nature of pundit opinion.

The split Seoul Series did seem to raise legitimate concerns about the Dodgers’ re-built infield defense and the ability of $325 million signee Yoshinobu Yamamoto to make the transition to MLB. The cloud of scandal surrounding Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, also raises the specter of a potential distraction the Dodgers did not have a week ago.

“I think to extrapolate a whole bunch of things from two games doesn’t seem like the wisest thing to do,” General Manager Brandon Gomes said. “It’s still a really talented team.

“I don’t feel any different than I did going into those two games in Korea.”

The idea that the controversy and ongoing investigations surrounding Ohtani could impact the team on the field was dismissed out of hand by Friedman.

“I am not worried about that,” he said flatly.

The late-spring

CHRISTIAN PETERSEN — GETTY IMAGES Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani are part of a potent batting order that figures to score a lot of runs for the Dodgers this season, but Betts has moved to shortstop and Ohtani will DH.