The Dodgers have advanced to the post season in Los Angeles 29 times. They have appeared in 38 post season series. Because of this extensive winning history in LA, it has been necessary for me to have a LA Decades part 3. We will look in to the history since 1990. The stability of a organization that only saw one owner from 1950-97. During that period in their history, they had just 3 managers. Some teams have that many in a couple of years. But for the Dodgers it was Charlie Dressen, 51-53, Alston, 54-76, and Lasorda, 77-96. After that, changes have happened much more often

                                                                                                                                1990-99

                                             The 1990 team finished 2nd in the West, five games back of the Reds. They resigned Fernando in December and brought in Mike Maddux and Hubie Brooks as free agents. Their lone trade sent Mike Marshall and Alejandro Pena to the Mets for Juan Samuel. At the deadline in 89 they had traded Leary and Duncan to the Reds for Lenny Harris and Kal Daniels. 34-year-old Eddie Murray was their leading hitter in 90, with a .330/26/95 line. Daniels hit 27 homers and drove in 94. Mike Sharperson hit .294. Hubie Brooks hit 20 homers. They hit .262 as a team. The team ERA was 3.74. Ramon Martinez was 20-6 and led the league with 12 complete games. On June 29th, Fernando threw a no-hitter against the Cardinals at Dodger Stadium. Vin’s call at the end became iconic, “If you have a sombrero, toss it to the sky”. Mike Morgan was 11-15, Valenzuela, 13-13, and Jay Howell saved 16.

#44 Strawberry

                                             Dempsey, Gibson, Valenzuela, Hatcher and Samuel all declared free agency in November. Claire’s first free agent signing was Darryl Strawberry on the 8th of November. He signed Kevin Gross and Brett Butler in December. He then traded Brooks to the Mets for Greg Hansell and Bobby Ojeda. In March he signed Gary Carter as a free agent. He also brought back Samuel, Hatcher and Valenzuela. The team finished second in the West again. This time the West winner was the Braves, who were about to go on a historic run. 1991 was the first year of that run of 14 division titles in 15 years.

                                        Brett Butler now 34, was the epitome of a leadoff hitter. He led the league in games 161, plate appearances 720, runs 112, caught stealing 38, and walks 18. Strawberry hit 28 homers and drove in 99. An anomaly to his homer total, he hit 10 of those homers against the Astros. They hit just .253 as a team scoring 665 runs. Even with prolific power hitters like Strawberry and Murray, they slugged just 108 homers. The race for the West was close, and they finished one game back of the Braves. 

                                       Ramon Martinez led the staff with 17 wins, Morgan 14, Ojeda 12, Belcher and Gross 10. Hershiser won 7. Howell was 6-5 as the closer and saved 16. John Wetteland had his third short stint with the team and went 1-0 in six games not allowing a run. Wetteland would be traded to the Reds in November along with Belcher for Eric Davis and Kip Gross. A month later the Reds dealt him to the Expos. Wetteland in 92 became one of the best closers in baseball.

LOS ANGELES – APRIL 6: Eric Davis #33 of the Los Angeles Dodgers

                                      Claire was busy at the winter meetings. He signed knuckleballer, Tom Candiotti, re-signed Hershiser, then he signed outfielder Mitch Webster as a free agent. On December 11th, he traded Chris Gwynn and a minor leaguer to the Royals for Todd Bensinger. If the 91 edition of the Dodgers had little power, this group had less than that. The one bright spot was the ROY, Eric Karros. Karros hit 20 homers, batting .257 and led the team with 88 driven in. No one else drove in more than 39. Strawberry played in just 43 games, that due to a serious cocaine addiction. His LA career would end in 1994 because of missing practices and games. LA had no choice but to release him. Next to Andruw Jones, one of their worst free agent signings.

                                 But Straw wasn’t the only thing that backfired on the Dodgers. Butler, their 35-year-old leadoff hitter was the only regular above the .271 that Lenny Harris hit. Butler hit .309, stole 41 bases and led the team in hits and runs scored. As a team, they batted .248, scored 548 runs and hit just 79 homers. Eric Davis hit just .228 with 5 homers. The pitching wasn’t much better. Hershiser and Candiotti led the league in losses with 15 each. Pedro Astacio at 5-5 was the only starter who did not lose more than he won. His ERA was 1.96, best on the team. The team’s ERA was not that bad at 3.41, but they could not overcome the offensive lapses. They finished in last place with a 63-99 mark. By far the worst in LA Dodger history. The one bright spot for the staff was Kevin Gross’s no-hitter against the Giants in August. 

                              It had to be better in 93, right? In Claires mind, LA needed a second baseman, so he traded Rudy Seanez to the Rockies for Jody Reed. They lost 3 players in the expansion draft bringing the Marlins and the Rockies into the NL. Eric Young Jr. and Roberto Mejia to the Rockies and pitcher Jamie McAndrew to the Marlins. In December he traded a minor leaguer to the Expos for 3rd baseman, Tim Wallach. He also signed Cory Snyder to play RF that winter. 

                            LA’s starting 8 still had five players 30 or older. 24-year-old Mike Piazza became the starting catcher, Karros was at first, Reed second, Jose Offerman the SS and Wallach was manning third. The outfield was Davis in left, Butler in center and Snyder in right. Mitch Webster and Lenny Harris were Lasorda’s go to subs. Strawberry, still fighting his drug problem got into just 32 games. Raul Mondesi, 22-years old, got his first taste of big league baseball. 

                           Piazza was the undisputed star of the team. His rookie season produced a .318/35/112 mark. He was the unanimous ROY. Karros chipped in 23 homers. Davis, who had been awful in 92, hit 14 homers in 102 games. Butler, Davis and Offerman combined for 102 stolen bases. The rest of the team stole 24. The team finished 4th in the West. The batted .261 and hit 130 homers. Astacio at 14-9 had the best record of the starters. Kevin Gross won 13, Hershiser 12 and Martinez 10. Jim Gott was the closer and he saved 25 games. Ramon’s little brother, Pedro, was 10-5 with 2 saves and he pitched in 65 games. 

                          The 1994 season would be stopped dead in its tracks by a player strike that lasted into 1995. Players and owners lost a lot of money, and they alienated the fans. In November of 1994, Fred Claire made probably the worst trade of his career. He did it on the advice of Tommy Lasorda. Claire traded RHP Pedro Martinez, then just 21 years old, to the Expos for Delino de Shields. In Fred’s defense, on paper, it looked like a great trade for LA. They needed a second baseman because Jody Reed had turned down their contract offer and was a free agent. DeShields was a better offensive player than Reed. But he would not be that guy in LA, and years later, it is still considered one of the worst trades LA has ever made.

Mondesi # 43

                        LA played 114 games and had a 58-56 record when the season came to an abrupt halt. They were in first place in the West by 3.5 games at the time. Mike Piazza was the team’s offensive leader, hitting .319 with 24 homers and 92 driven in. Over a full season, he would have hit at least 35 homers and been well over 100 driven in. Butler was second on the team with a .314 mark. ROY winner, Raul Mondesi hit .306 and had 16 homers. Tim Wallach was second on the team with 23 bombs. They hit .270 as a team.

                       Ramon Martinez was the Ace of the staff, winning 12 and losing 7. He was the only pitcher on the team with double digit wins. Gross won 9, Candiotti, 7, Hershiser and Astacio 6 each. Todd Worrell, who had signed as a free agent for the 93 season, won 6 and saved 11 out of the pen. Dreifort was second in saves with 6. Chan Ho Park, a 21-year-old rookie, got into two games. With no post season, everyone went home on August 12th and hoped for a settlement like 1981. It did not happen.

Hideo Nomo #10

                      The 1995 season would not start until April 25th. The strike lasted 232 days when it was suspended on April 2nd, 1995. A shortened spring training followed, and each team would play 144 games. Over the winter, Claire resigned Wallach, and then in February, he signed Japanese ace, Hideo Nomo. He purchased CF Scott Pose from the Brewers. Piazza led the team with a .346 BA and slugged 32 homers. Karros matched his 32 and had 105 RBIs to lead the team. Butler was limited to 32 games, so Claire traded for Roberto Kelly from the Expos to play CF in May, getting lefty reliever, Joey Eishen with him for Henry Rodriguez and Jeff Treadway. Raul Mondesi added 26 homers. They hit .264 as a team and slugged 140 homers. 

                     Martinez led the team with 17 wins, one of which was a no-hitter against the Marlins in July. It was the fourth no-hitter under Lasorda. Ismael Valdez won 13, and Nomo won 12 and the ROY. The fourth Dodger in a row. Worrell was 4-1 with 32 saves as the closer. Nomo led the league in strikeouts with 236. They won the West by 1 game over Colorado. The West at that time consisted of just four teams, LA, Colorado, the Padres and Giants. They then lost the NLDS to the Reds in 3 games scoring 7 runs to the Reds 22.

#18 Bill Russell Dodger manager

                    1996 would bring a managerial change when Lasorda would be forced to retire after suffering a heart attack. 76 games into the season, Tommy was replaced by Bill Russell. The team was 41-35 at the time and in first place in the West by 2 games. They went 49-37 the rest of the way under Russell and finished in second place, a game back of the Padres. Piazza led with the bat with a nice .336/36/105 season. Karros .260/34/11 was the other main power source. Mondesi contributed 24 homers and 88 RBIs. Todd Hollandsworth was the ROY with a .291/12/59 effort his inaugural season. They hit .252 as a team with 150 homers and they scored 703 runs. They managed to steal 124 bases and were caught 40 times. 

                  Nomo led the pitching staff with 16 wins, he also threw the first and so far, only no-hitter in the history of Coors Field. It was a 9-0 win in really crappy conditions. It was also the largest margin of victory in a Dodger no-hitter. It was the second one Piazza had caught in his career. LA would not get another until 2014. Valdez and Martinez had 15 wins each. Worrell led the league in saves with 44 and games finished, 67. Candiotti and Astacio had 9 wins each. They faced the Braves in the LDS and were swept again.  The team would not play in another until 2004 under an entirely different owner.

                  1997 was just full of bad news for Dodger fans. The team would finish second, 2 games behind the Giants in the West, but they did not qualify for the playoffs. Piazza would be going into his free agent season in 98. and the negotiations were not going well. The rumors of O’Malley selling the team became fact when he did sell the team to Fox News Corp in Match of 98. The reasons were many, including the fact that his children really had no interest in owning the team, and the estate taxes in the state of California would have been outrageously high had he willed the team to them. 

                  But all of that was in the future. Piazza for his part had his best MLB season to that point. The 28-year-old catcher hit .362/40/124. He finished 2nd to Larry Walker of the Rockies in the MVP vote. For the second time in their history, LA had four players with 30 or more homers. Besides Piazza’s 40, Karros hit 31, Zeile 31 and Mondesi 30. Brett Butler, now 40, was the team’s leadoff hitter and put up a .283 average in 105 games. They hit .268 as a team with 174 homers and scoring 742 runs. They stole 131 bases. 

                Nomo and Chan Ho Park won 14 each. Valdez and Martinez 10, and Astacio 7. Worrell saved 35 and the pen recorded 45 saves. The league expanded again adding the Arizona Diamondbacks to the NL West and giving the majors 30 teams. Each division now had 5 teams. Fred Claire, most likely because the team was being sold, did not make any trades at the winter meetings. They lost two players in the expansion draft. Karim Garcia to the D-Backs and Rick Gorecki to the Rays.

                The team did not start off well at all. Then just 37 games into the season, the Fox execs went behind Fred Claires back and traded Piazza and Zeile to the Florida Marlins for Gary Sheffield, Charles Johnson, Bobby Bonilla, Jim Eisenreich, and Manuel Barrios. The Dodger fans were shocked, as was the baseball world. Even more, they were pissed. The sad part of this is that Piazza was not making exorbitant demands for a new contract. As a matter of fact, he heatedly disputed claims that he would not sign for less than 100 million. 

               That the Fox guys, who knew not one damn thing about baseball, would go behind the GM’s back and make this deal, was the totally wrong thing to do. As it worked out, Piazza was a Marlin for exactly 5 games before he was dealt to the Mets for basically, chump change as players go. He would hit .348 the rest of the way for New York. Zeile played 66 games for the Marlins before they flipped him to the Rangers. Bonilla and Johnson lasted the 98 season with LA and both were gone before the 99 season, Bonilla to the Mets, and Johnson to the Mets. Barrios never played for LA and Eisenreich retired after 98. Sheffield was the only player in that trade that lasted more than the 98 season with the team he was traded to. Russell was replaced as manager after a 34-36 start by coach, Glen Hoffman. The team finished 3rd, 15 games back of San Diego.

GM Kevin Malone

              1999 found a new manager, Davey Johnson, a new GM, Kevin Malone, and a sub .500 finish. LA must have been happy the 90’s were ending and a new century was just around the corner. It had been 11 years since the win in 88. Malone signed free agent pitcher, Kevin Brown to a record contract, 105 million for seven years. Malone declared he was the “New Sheriff in town!” Well he must have forgotten to load his gun.

             He did not stand still; I will give him that. He took over as GM on the 11th of November in 1998. Two days before, the interim GM signed Devon White. Malone’s first move was trading Bonilla to the Mets for P Mel Rojas. He then decided enough is enough and traded Roger Cedeno and Charles Johnson to the Mets for Arnie Gooch and Todd Hundley. He took a page out of Freidman’s book before it was written and signed a ton of players as organizational depth. His lone deadline trade brought Craig Counsell to LA from the Marlins.

            Possibly the best addition to the team came from within. Adrian Beltre became the starting 3rd baseman at the ripe old age of 20. The kid hit .275 and added 15 homers to the team’s total. Mark Grudzielanek led the team with a .326 BA. Karros .304 and Sheffield .301 joined him. They fell just short of having four 30 HR players again, Sheffield and Karros hit 34 each, Mondesi 33. Hundley had 24. Karros led the team with 111 RBIs and Sheffield had 101. Mondesi just missed 99. As a team they hit .266 with 187 homers, 793 runs and 167 stolen bases. So, the offense was not the problem. 

           The pitching though was not as good. The team ERA was 4.45. Brown was 18-9 with a 3.00 ERA which was by far the best of the starters. Everyone else was higher than Valdez’s 3.98 mark. Park and Dreifort won 13 each, Valdez 9 and Carlos Perez went 2-10. Jeff Shaw, who had come over when Lasorda was the interim GM in a trade for Paul Konerko, saved 34 games. The rest of the bullpen saved just 3. The 90’s ended with a thud. What did the sheriff have planned for the year 2000???

                                                                                                                                        2000-2009

            Malone’s first move of the off season was trading Raul Mondesi and Pedro Borbon to the Blue Jays for a minor leaguer and Shawn Green. This might have been his best contribution to the organization during his short term as GM. Green would be a Dodger for five years, Mondesi was with the Jays for a little over 2 and a half years. Green would have five really strong seasons in LA and hold the Dodger’s season record for homers until Ohtani beat it last year. He picked up reliever Terry Adams from the Cubs in December.

           The 2000 Dodgers did improve. They finished second with a 86-76 record. Sheffield had his best year in LA batting .325/43/109. Karros joined him in the one hundred RBI club with 106. He hit just .250 but slammed 31 homers. Green and Hundley added 24 each. They hit .257 as a team and slugged 211 homers. Six of those homers were hit by pitchers, Dreifort had 3. The pitching staff was led by Park 18-10. Brown led the league with a 2.58 ERA. Dreifort won 12 and Brown 13. Eric Gagne, whose success would come later as a reliever, was 4-6. Shaw had 27 saves; the rest of the pen combined for 9. Matt Herges was 11-3 out of the pen and pitched a team high for relievers, 110.2 innings. 

         2001, the year not the movie, brought more change to a team that had been so consistent in the O’Malley years. Dave Wallace, a former pitching coach for LA, took over for Malone as the interim GM. Jim Tracy replaced Davey Johnson. Tracy had been the Dodgers bench coach. Because of the changes, LA was not very busy in the off-season. The first big trade in February of 01 sent Devon White to the Brewers for Marquis Grissom and Ruddy Lugo. Lugo never would pitch for LA. 

          The two big changes in the starting lineup were LoDuca taking over as the starter after backing up Hundley for two years, and Joey Cora becoming the starting SS. Cora was the only starter to not hit double figures in homers. Green set the team record with 49, Sheffield 36, Karros 25, Grissom 21, were the big guns. Green led the team with 125 RBIs and Sheff had 100. Green was second to Tom Goodwin who led the team in steals with 22, Green had 20. They hit 206 homers, stole 89 bases and scored 758 runs.

          Park 15, Terry Adams 12 and Brown 10, were the pitching leaders. Shaw saved 43 games. Herges won 9 out of the pen. They finished with a 86-76 record in 3rd place in the West. The trade deadline was now at the end of July. They made several small moves, but none moved the needle on wins. 2002 would bring even more changes. Dan Evans took over as the GM. One of his first moves was to hire Logan White as Director of Scouting. This single hiring would impact the Dodgers for years. 

          Evans had previously been with the White Sox and was instrumental in the building of that team’s roster. He was not averse to moving big names in trades. His first move sent a couple of minor leaguers to the Phillies for Omar Daal. He then traded a minor leaguer and Luke Prokopec, for Paul Quantrill and Cesar Izturis. In January, he traded Sheffield to the Braves for Brian Jordan, Odalis Perez and a minor leaguer. I myself had never cared much for Sheffield and was glad to see him go. I know the guy was a great player and probably should be in the Hall. I just never really cared for him much. And considering how many times this guy was traded in his career; he must have made someone upset! In a 22-year career, he was never with any team more than 6. 

         White’s first draft class: Loney, Broxton, Delwyn Young, James McDonald, Eric Stults, and Russell Martin. All of those guys would eventually make it to the majors. As for the Dodgers, they won 92 games and finished 3rd, 6 games back of Arizona. Green had his second 40 or more homer season, 42. He drove in 114 runs. Dave Roberts was the CF. Jordan took over in left for Sheff and hit 18 homers and drove in 80. Beltre added 21 homers. They hit .264 as a team. 155 homers, 713 runs scored and 96 steals. 45 of those came from Roberts.

         Nomo who had resigned with LA after having left in 98, led the team with 16 wins. Perez had 15, Kazuhisa Ishii 14, and Daal 11. Andy Ashby had 9. Gagne was the new closer and he saved 52 games. He would eventually save 88 in a row, setting a record for MLB. The rest of the pen saved just 4. Kevin Brown pitched in just 17 games. Their ERA was 3.69.  The 2003 team had seven less wins, but finished in 2nd, a distant second, I might add, 15.5 games back of the Giants. 

        Karros and Grudzielanek were traded to the Cubs for Hermanson and Hundley prior to the season. Evans signed Fred McGriff, and Wilson Alvarez before spring training. Offensively, this team was not as good as the 02 team. They hit just .243 scoring 574 runs and their homer total dropped to 124. Green hit .280 which was the high for the team. He hit just 19 homers and drove in 85 runs. Beltre led the team in homers with 23. Nomo led the staff with 16 wins. Brown rebounded and won 14. Perez won 12. Gagne won the Cy Young and saved 55 games. The rest of the pen had 3. Alvarez, 2.37 and Brown 2.39 had excellent ERAs. The staffs ERA was 3.16.  White’s second draft class: Billingsley, Xavier Paul, Kemp, Wesley Wright, Lucas May, Russ Mitchell, AJ Ellis, Andy LaRoche. He also drafted Mark Melancon, but he did not sign.

        2004 would see new ownership, a new GM, and the first Dodger team to make the playoffs since 1996. Frank McCourt purchased the Dodgers from Fox late in 2003. He funded the purchase with debt. His property in Boston was used as collateral. One of the first things he did was fire Dan Evans and hire Paul De Podesta to be the GM in February of 2004. Before he was fired though, Evans traded Kevin Brown to the Yankees for Jeff Weaver and Yhency Brazoban. One of his last moves was signing Jose Lima as a free agent. 

         De Podesta, who was mentioned in the book Moneyball along with Billy Beane, was a proponent of sabermetrics. His first trade in March sent reliver Jason Frasor to the Jays for Jason Werth. Just before the season began, he made another trade sending Franklin Gutierrez and a PTBNL to the Mariners for Milton Bradley. Excuse me, but Bradley was a head case. De Podesta loved his sabermetrics. His big trades came at the deadline. He first sent LoDuca, Guillermo Mota and Juan Encarnacion to the Marlins for Brad Penny, Hee-Seop-Choi, and Bill Murphy. The next day he traded Murphy, Koyie Hill and Reggie Abercrombie to the D-Backs for Steve Finley and Brent Mayne. When those trades were made, LA was 60-43, 2.5 games ahead in the West.  At the time of the trade De Podesta declared that he had traded for one of the best hitters in baseball in Choi.

     The Dodgers won the West with a 93-69 record, finishing 2 games in front of the Giants. Steve Finley hit a walk off grand slam in game 161 to clinch the West. The lost 3 games to 1 in the NLDS to the Cardinals. The only win came in game 3 on a 4-0 shutout by Jose Lima. For the year, they hit .262 as a team with 203 homers, 761 runs and 102 stolen bases. Adrian Beltre hit .334/48/121 in his walk year. His 48 homers led the league. Shawn Green added 28. Izturis led the team with 25 steals. 

    Weaver, Lima and Ishii all won 13 games. Gagne was 7-3 out of the pen with 45 saves. They would sign Gagne to a three-year deal after the season, but injuries kept him from ever being an elite reliever again. Belte left as a free agent and signed with the Mariners. In December, De Podesta signed Jeff Kent.  Then he signed J D Drew and Derek Lowe in January then he traded Shawn Green to the D-Backs for Dioner Navarro and three minor leaguers. It did not matter, the team dropped to 71 wins, 91 losses and sank to 4th in the West. 

     Kent was the team’s best hitter with a .289/29/105 line. J.D. Drew played in just 71 games. The offense hit just .253 with 149 homers and 685 runs. Weaver was the only pitcher with a plus .500 record at 14-11. Brazoban had 21 saves as the new closer. De Podesta was fired on the 29th of October. His so-called great hitter, Choi, hit just .253. 17 days later, McCourt hired Ned Colletti to be the GM. Colletti’s first move was to trade Milton Bradley and Antonio Perez to the A’s for OF Andre Ethier. It would end up being one of his better moves.

    Logan White was still the Director of Scouting. He had missed on some of his draft choices like Luke Hochevar, who he drafted twice, but never could sign. His 2004 draft had brought Scott Elbert, Blake DeWitt, Javy Guerra, and Corey Wade to the organization. He also drafted a pitcher named David Price, who did not sign. 05 brought Ivan De Jesus, Josh Bell and Scott Van Slyke. His 06 draft would bring them a gem, Clayton Kershaw, a first-round pick and one of only two players they drafted that signed. One who did not, Paul Goldschmidt.

LOS ANGELES – DECEMBER 19: (L-R) General Manager Ned Colletti, Nomar Garciaparra and Tommy Lasorda of the Los Angeles Dodgers address the media at the press conference while announcing Nomar Garciaparra?s signing with the team on December 19, 2005, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California.

      They had a new manager again; Tracy was let go and former Red Sox skipper, Grady Little was hired. The team would finish 2nd in the West even though they had the same number of wins as the Padres. They were swept by the Mets in the NLDS. Russell Martin was the new catcher. Nomar Garciaparra, a free agent, changed positions and was the primary first baseman. Rafael Furcal, another free agent, was the starting SS and hit .300. Andre Ethier became the starting LF with free agent Kenny Lofton in center. Nomar and Drew led the team with 20 homers each and Drew drove in 100 and Nomar 93. They hit .272 as a team with 153 homers and 820 runs scored. Lowe and Penny were the only starters in double figures with 16 wins each. Takashi Saito, who was brought over from Japan, saved 24 and had a 2.07 ERA. As a team the ERA was 4.23. 

      In the offseason Colletti sought to improve the pitching staff and he signed Jason Schmidt, the Giants ace, to a free agent deal. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, Schmidt was injured for almost the entire contract and would be considered one of the worst free agent signings made. But Schmidt wasn’t the only free agent Ned brought on board that winter. He resigned Nomar. He also signed, Luis Gonzalez, Randy Wolf, Juan Pierre, Mike Lieberthal, and Pedro Baez.

      The 06 draft class was Logan Whites last. Tim Hallgren took over his position. The team slipped under .500 and into 4th place in the West. James Loney became the primary 1st baseman and hit .331 in 96 games. He finished 6th in the ROY voting. Jeff Kent hit .302 and led the team with 20 homers. Matt Kemp made his debut as a semi-regular and batted .342 mostly playing RF. They hit .275 as a team but hit just 129 homers scoring 735 runs. Penny won 16, Weaver and Billingsly 12 each. Saito saved 39 games and had a sparkling 1.40 ERA.

       That winter, Colletti made another bad free agent signing when he signed former Braves All-Star, Andruw Jones. Jones would report to spring training out of shape and would not even finish the year. The more important move was reaching an agreement with Grady Little to step down as manager so they could hire Joe Torre. He signed Hiroki Kuroda as a free agent along with many other organizational depth type players. He made no major trades during the winter meetings.

# 99 Manny Ramirez

        The team improved to a first-place finish with a 84-78 record. What got them there were two important trades around the deadline. First, he sent Jon Meloan and Carlos Santana to the Indians for Casey Blake. He then made a 3-team trade with the Pirates and Red Sox that landed slugger Manny Ramirez with the Dodgers. The Dodgers traded Andy LaRoche and Brandon Morris in the deal. He would trade for Hall of Famer, Greg Maddux in a deal with the Padres in August. 

         Left field became Mannywood. Ramirez had maybe one of the best 53 game stretches in Dodger history. He hit .396/17/53 in those 53 games. Fans were wearing Manny dreadlocks in the stands. Ethier led the team with 20 homers. Loney led the team win 90 driven in. They hit .264 as a team and hit 137 homers and scored 700 runs. Billingsly led the team with 16 wins and Lowe had 14. Saito saved18 and Broxton 14. Kuroda was under .500 with a 9-10 record. The team ERA was 3.68. Kershaw made his debut and went 5-5. They swept the Cubs in the NLDS, their first playoff win since 1988. They would lose the NLCS to the Phillies in five games. Ramirez hit .500 with 2 homers in the NLDS and .533 in the NLCS with 2 more homers. 

       The 08 draft class netted Dee Gordon, Josh Lindblom, Nathan Eovaldi, Jerry Sands and Matt Magill. The big question was would Manny resign with LA that winter. Colletti brought in Mark Loretta, resigned Blake, resigned Furcal, and made no trades at the winter meetings. He signed Brad Ausmus to be the backup catcher, and Orlando Hudson to play second. Then in March, Manny signed a two-year deal. The team went 95-67 and won the West again, finishing 3 games in front of Colorado.

     Ramirez was found to have violated the league’s drug policy and received a 50-game suspension in May. He was batting .347 at the time with 6 homers and 20 driven in. He would hit just 13 the rest of the way. Matt Kemp led the regulars with a .297 average. Ethier, 31 and Kemp, 26 led the team in homers. Blake added 18. Kemp 101 and Ethier 106 led in RBI’s. Pierre 30 and Kemp 34 were the team’s best base stealers. As a team they stole 116. Wolf 11 and Billingsly 12, the only starters with double digit wins. Kershaw was 8-8 with a 2.79 ERA. Broxton, the new closer was 7-2 with 36 saves. They swept the Cardinals in the NLDS. Ethier and Loney both hit .500 in that series, Ethier hit 2 of the Dodgers 3 homers. Kemp had the other. They lost the NLCS to the Phillies in five games again. The only win came in a 2-1 decision in game 2. They hit 6 homers in the series, but their pitchers gave up 10. 

                                                                                                                                   2010-19

           2010 would not be a great year for the team. Manny would play just 66 games. He would eventually be placed on waivers and picked up by the White Sox in August. He hit .311 for the Dodgers in his short stint that year. Kemp led the team in homers, 28 and RBIs, 89. Kemp also played in all 162 games. Ethier added 23 homers and drove in 82. Loney, Blake, Kemp and Ethier were the only primary starters to play in more than 100 games. Jamey Carroll, was the team’s super sub, getting into 133 games. Kershaw at the age of 22 was the team’s ace. 13-10 with a 2.91 ERA. Kuroda won 11, Billingsly 12. Broxton had 22 saves and Kuo 12. Torre retired after the season, and Don Mattingly was named his successor. Logan White returned to the team in a new position as Scouting Director. De Jon Watson was the Farm Director entering his third season.

Donny Baseball in the dugout

       2011 would bring some rumblings of problems with the Dodgers finances. The McCourt’s had been under investigation by the state of California for some irregularities in the charitable foundation. McCourt and his wife were getting a divorce, and it wasn’t very amicable. It got messier as the Dodgers filed for bankruptcy in May of 2011. MLB appointed a representative to oversee the team’s everyday operations. There was much wrangling between MLB and McCourt in the bankruptcy court, and they finally reached an agreement that McCourt would sell the team. 

    Meanwhile, baseball had to be played. Mattingly’s first shot at managing resulted in a 82-79 record and a third-place finish in the West. Matt Kemp had a MVP like season batting .324/39/126, leading the league in homers and RBIs and just missing a 40-40 season. He finished second in the MVP race to Ryan Braun of the Brewers. Later it was revealed that Braun had used PEDs. Fans felt the MVP award should have been vacated and awarded to Kemp. As a team they hit just .257 and hit 117 homers. Kershaw was the Ace again with a 21-5 record a league leading 2.28 ERA and his first Cy Young award. Kuroda 13, Billingsly 11 and Lilly 12 were the other starters. Javy Guerra saved 21 and Kenley Jansen 5 in his first season.

      The Dodgers were sold to the Guggenheim Group in May of 2012. The price was a hefty 2.15 billion dollars. Mark Walter, Magic Johnson, Todd Boehly, Stan Kasten, Peter Guber and Robert Patton were the primary owners with Walter having the controlling interest. They made no changes in the front office that year. Accordingly, Colletti made no major moves except signing Mark Ellis to play second base, because of the ownership issues during the off season other than to sign several players for organizational depth. He did sign Bobby Abreu shortly after the ownership change. 

     The team would finish in second place, 8 games back of the Giants. Matt Kemp got off to a really great start, but he ran into the fence at Coors Field and injured his shoulder. He was hitting about .350 when he got hurt. He probably came back too soon, and he finished with a .303 average. He would never really be the same player after that. He and Ethier were the only players to hit 20 or more homers. But some in season deals changed the face of the franchise. First on July 25th, he traded Nathan Eovaldi and Scott McGough to the Marlins for Randy Choate and Hanley Ramirez. On the 30th he traded two minor leaguers to the Mariners for Brandon League. On the 31st he traded Ethan Martin and Josh Lindblom to the Phillies for Shane Victorino. You could still make trades up until August 31st in those days, so he shipped a minor leaguer to the Phillies for Joe Blanton. Then on August 25th, he made the biggest August trade the Dodgers have ever done. They sent Ivan De Jesus, James Loney, and Allen Webster to the Red Sox for Josh Beckett, Nick Punto, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and cash. There were two players to be named later who turned out to be Ruby De La Rosa and Jerry Sands. Danny DeVito became a regular at Dodger Stadium wearing the jersey of his favorite player, Nick Punto. 

    The draft that year brought Corey Seager, Paco Rodriguez, Ross Stripling, Darnell Sweeney and Jharel Cotton to the team. Yasiel Puig was signed as a free agent in July. In August they would sign another young Mexican lefty, Julio Urias. Finally having some resources behind him, Colletti went into the winter with a shopping list. His first purchase was Hyun Jin Ryu from Korea. The next day he signed Zack Greinke. He traded a minor leaguer to the Cardinals for Skip Schumaker. He then signed J.P. Howell for the bullpen.

# 13 Hanley Ramirez

    The Dodgers entered the 2013 season with a pretty solid lineup. They suffered a blow when Hanley Ramirez injured his hand playing in the World Baseball Classic and would require surgery. He would miss the first two months. Matt Kemp was recovering from off season shoulder surgery and then sprained his ankle badly when he did not slide on a play at the plate and landed awkwardly. He would play in just 73 games. A J Ellis was the primary catcher for the second year in a row. He was not the best offensive catcher, but he worked at bats, and his game calling skills were excellent. He would eventually be Kershaw’s personal catcher.

     Ramirez hit .343/20/57 in his 83 games. Gonzalez also hit 20 homers, but he drove in 100 runs. Vinny called him the Dodgers butter and egg man. Yasiel Puig was called up in May and took the league by storm. “The Wild Horse” got off to a very hot start and would have a nice rookie year with a .319/19/42 line. He showed a cannon for an arm in RF and had 8 outfield assists. Carl Crawford played in 116 games. Ethier had what would be a mediocre offensive year by his standards .272/12/52. Skip Schumaker was the main super sub. The June draft brought Cody Bellinger, Jacob Rhame, Brandon Dixon, Kyle Farmer, and Jose De Leon.

    Kershaw would win his second Cy Young. He led the league in ERA 1.83, shutouts 2, strikeouts 232 and WAR 8.2. He had a team leading 16 wins. Greinke 15, Ryu 14. Jansen had 28 saves and League added 14. Another of Colletti’s late season pickups, Brian Wilson, the former Giant closer, pitched in 18 games winning 2 and posting a 0.66 ERA. They used 27 different pitchers during the season. As a team they had a 3.25 ERA. They beat the Braves in the NLDS 3 games to 1. They split the first two in Atlanta then came home and won game 3, 13-6. Game four was a nail biter. In the bottom of the 8th inning, Juan Uribe hit a two-run homer to give LA a 4-3 lead. Brian Wilson nailed down the save. 

    They played the Cardinals in the NLCS. In game one, Joe Kelly hit Ramirez in the ribs, fracturing one of them. Ramirez finished the game, but for the remainder of the series he was basically a non-factor. LA lost that game 3-2 in extra innings. Kershaw lost a 1-0 pitcher’s duel in game two to Michael Wacha. LA was shorthanded because Hanley sat out and Andre Ethier was given the day off after playing all 13 innings the night before. Kershaw allowed just 2 hits. Back in LA, they got into the win column with a 3-0 win from Ryu. A Gonzalez double scored Ellis and Puig’s triple scored Gonzalez in the 4th inning for the lead. Ramirez returned to the lineup and had 2 hits including a RBI single in the 8th. Adam Wainwright took the loss. St. Louis took a 3-1 lead with a 4-2 win in game four. Lance Lynn allowed 2 runs in the bottom of the fourth to make it 3-2. Shane Robinson homered off of Howell in the 8th to give the Cardinals the win. The Cardinals pen allowed just 2 hits after the 6th inning. Ramirez left the game in the sixth.

# 21 Zack Greinke

     On the brink, LA won game five, 6-4. Greinke allowed just 2 runs in 7 innings. LA took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second. St Louis tied it with 2 in the top of the third. Gonzalez hit a homer in the bottom of the 3rd for a 3-2 lead. LA would pad the lead with homers by Crawford in the fifth, AJ Ellis in the seventh and Gonzalez second in the eighth. Jansen allowed 2 runs in the 9th and the Dodgers sent the series back to St. Louis. Kershaw started and had his worst game of the year. LA was never in this one as the Birds won 9-0. 

      Colletti went to work in the offseason. He signed Dan Haren, Jamey Wright, Miguel Olivo, Chone Figgins as free agents. He resigned Uribe and Howell. In February, he signed a former Met, Justin Turner as a free agent. He would turn out to be one of Ned’s best signings. The biggest change to the lineup was Dee Gordon taking over at second base. Gordon added speed to the lineup. Matt Kemp was healthy, but Mattingly and he did not see eye-to eye on him playing CF. Matt felt he could do it, but DM thought different and used him mainly in right and left. He played just 41 games in center. In those 41 games he made 4 errors. In 103 games in left and right he made just 3. Mattingly had a point. His leg issues had slowed him down. He was second on the team with 25 homers to Gonzalez’s 27. Ethier played the bulk of the games in center but had an off year offensively and hit just 4 homers. Gordon led the league with 64 steals and 12 triples. Gonzalez led the league in RBIs with 116. Turner hit .340 as a utility player.

      Kershaw was back on his game, 21-3, 1.77 ERA and his 6 complete games all were league highs. He would win his 3rd Cy Young. Greinke was 17-8 with a 2.71 and pitched 202.1 innings to lead the team. Ryu 14 and Haren 13 had solid years. Josh Beckett was 6-6 but on the 25th of May, he no-hit the Phillies. Drew Butera, the backup catcher was behind the plate for that one. On June 18th, Kershaw no-hit the Rockies at Dodger Stadium. Only a Hanley Ramirez error kept him from a perfect game. Kershaw struck out 15 Rockies. His no-no was saved by a great play at third by rookie, Miguel Rojas. It was the shortest time between no-hitters in franchise history. Jansen recorded 44 of the teams 47 saves. They were beaten in the NLDS 3 games to 1 by the Cardinals. After scoring 9 runs in a 10-9 loss in game one, they scored just 6 over the final three games. Kershaw lost game four on a 7th inning 3-run homer to Matt Adams.

Freidman

        The winter brought changes in the front office as Guggenheim brought in Andrew Freidman to be the President of Baseball Operations. Freidman in turn hired Farhan Zaidi to be his GM. Ned Colletti moved upstairs as an advisor. Mattingly was still the manager, but AF began reshaping the team almost immediately. He let Ramirez leave in free agency. He would eventually land in Boston. 

       He began in November by trading a minor leaguer and Jose Dominguez to the Rays for Adam Liberatore and Joel Peralta. He purchased Mike Bolsinger from Arizona and traded a minor leaguer to the Rockies for Juan Nicasio. He then traded Matt Magill to the Reds for CF Chris Heisey. On December 11th, he made his first major deal sending Dee Gordon, Dan Haren, Miguel Rojas and cash to the Marlins for Austin Barnes, Enrique Hernandez, Chris Hatcher and Andrew Heaney. He then flipped Heaney to the Angels for Howie Kendrick. He signed Brandon McCarthy on the 16th and then on the 18th he pulled off another block buster. He sent Matt Kemp, Tim Federowicz and cash to the Padres for Zack Elfin, Joe Wieland and Yasmani Grandal. The next day he sent Elfin and a minor leaguer to the Phillies for Jimmy Rollins. Whew! Busy guy.

     But he wasn’t done. He signed another free agent starter, Brett Anderson the day before new year’s. He continued stockpiling organizational depth right up to the end of spring training. Many of those guys would never play in LA. Some would get a cup of coffee with the team. But there was a ton of talent in the system that was for sure. Another change was Logan White and De Jon Watson leaving the organization. Gabe Kapler replaced Watson and Billy Gasparino replaced White. 

      The team would win the West by 8 games over the Giants. Kershaw had another stellar year, 16-7, 2.13 ERA, he led the league in innings pitched, 232.2, shutouts 3, complete games 4, and games started 33. He also led the league in strikeouts 301. Greinke though was the staff Ace, 19-3, 1.66 ERA to lead the league and he pitched 222.2 innings. Brett Anderson was the only other starter in double figures with 10 wins. Alex Wood came over in a deadline deal and won 5 of his 11 decisions. Jansen saved 36 of the teams 47 saves. Hatcher 4 and Peralta 3 were the only other relievers with more than one. Brandon McCarthy pitched in just 4 games going 3-0 before he hit the IL.

      Joc Pederson, a rookie hit 26 homers, second only to Gonzalez’s 28. He was hot the first half but cooled off considerably and had just a .210 BA. Only 3 players in the starting lineup were under 30, Pederson, Puig and Grandal. Kendrick had a nice year with a .295/9/54 line. Turner took over the third base job and did very well .294/16/60. Rollins hit a homer on opening day and that was pretty much his Dodger highlight. He would finish at .224/13/41. Gonzalez drove in 90, 30 more than the second-best Turner’s 60. Ethier hit .294 in a reserve role usually replacing Crawford who saw action in just 69 games. Hernandez would hit .307 in a reserve role. They traded with the Braves in May landing Alberto Callaspo, Ian Thomas, Eric Stults and a minor leaguer. At the deadline they made a three-team trade with the Braves and Marlins sending Hector Olivera, Paco Rodriguez and a minor leaguer to the Braves and three minor leaguers to the Marlins getting Matt Latos and Mike Morse from Miami, and Bronson Arroyo, Alex Wood, Luis Avilan, Jose Peraza and Jim Johnson from the Braves.  As a team they hit .250 with 187 homers. They had playoff disappointment again this time losing the NLDS to the Mets in five games. Greinke was the one tagged for a late homer that lost the game this time, A solo shot by Daniel Murphy in the sixth inning was the game winner. The first draft class by AF’s team brought Walker Buehler, who was out with TJ surgery at the time, Josh Sborz, Willie Calhoun, Edwin Rios, Kyle Garlick, and Matt Beaty. 

      AF just never seemed to stand pat. He let Greinke walk in free agency. He would eventually sign a huge deal with Arizona. He also decided to change managers. After an extensive interview process, Dave Roberts got the nod over Gabe Kapler. They resigned Anderson, signed Charlie Culberson, Utley. They made a three-team trade with the Reds and White Sox at the winter meetings sending Dixon, Peralta and Scott Schebler to the Reds getting Micah Johnson, Frankie Montas and Trayce Thompson from the Sox. Todd Frazier went to the Sox in the deal. He signed Scott Kazmir and Japanese pitcher, Kenta Maeda as free agents.

     The team would win the West again, this time by 4 games over the Giants. AF would release Carl Crawford in June despite owing him a lot of money. They had a new SS, Corey Seager, who had impressed in his short stint with the team in September of 15. He would win the ROY, first one since Hollandsworth. He had a .306/26/72 line. Turner and Grandal led the team with 27 homers each. Pederson 25, Utley 14, Gonzalez 18, Puig 11, and Thompson 13, supplied the power. Ethier was injured most of the season and played in just 16 games. A late season trade with the A’s landed Josh Reddick and Rich Hill. A trade in June brought Bud Norris from the Braves. Then in August they traded AJ Ellis to the Phillies for Carlos Ruiz. It was also the last season in the booth for Vin Scully. On the day of his last broadcast at Dodger Stadium, Charlie Culberson hit a 2 out walk off homer in the 10th inning. 

    They played a tight five game NLDS with the Nationals. They won game 1 behind Kershaw, then lost 2 and 3. In game 4, after taking a 5-2 lead, they had to score a run in the bottom of the 8th off of Blake Treinen to win the game after DC tied it in the 7th. Game 5 was a tight game until LA scored 4 in the top of the 7th inning off of Max Scherzer. Pederson started the rally with a homer. The Nats scored 2 in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-3. Kershaw relieved Jansen with one out in the 9th and secured the save for Urias. Turner was LA’s leading hitter in the series with a .400 BA and 5 driven in. They faced the Cubs in the NLCs. After giving up 8 runs in game 1, they got shutouts from Kershaw 1-0 and Hill 3-0 to go up 2 games to 1. But the staff got hammered the next three games giving up 10, 8 and 5 runs and the Cubs advanced to the World Series where they would win for the first time since 1908. 

       2017 would see LA finally make it back to the World Series for the first time since 1988. For the first time since 1974 the team won 100 or more games finishing with a 104-58 mark. They won the West by 11 games over the D-Backs. The offseason after 2016 was busy for AF. He traded Kendrick to the Phillies for 2 players. He resigned Turner and Jansen. He traded Jose De Leon to the Rays for Logan Forsythe. He signed Brandon Morrow as a free agent, and that would be an important signing later in the year. In April he would sign another free agent to a minor league deal after he was released by the A’s, Max Muncy. 

       The season was not without some challenges. Adrian Gonzalez had to go on the IL in late April. Cody Bellinger was called up to take his place. Bellinger would go on to pass Mike Piazza’s rookie homer total, smashing 39 homers. Five other Dodgers hit 20 or more homers, Grandal 22, Seager 22, Turner 21, Taylor 21 and Puig 28. Bellinger led the team with 97 driven in. Kike Hernandez added 11 homers off of the bench. They only hit .249 as a team but slugged 221 homers and scored 779 runs. They only stole 77 bases. AF traded for Yu Darvish at the deadline. Darvish would have a couple of decent games for them.

     Kershaw led the league with 18 wins and won another ERA title with a 2.31 mark. Wood was 16-3, Hill 12-8 and Maeda 13-6. Ryu battled injury and was 5-9. McCarthy pitched in just 19 games and was 6-4. Jansen was nails out of the bullpen. He was 5-0 with a league leading 41 saves and a outstanding 1.32 ERA. Brandon Morrow was 6-0 out of the pen with 2 saves. He did not give up a single homer in his 45 games. They swept Arizona in the NLDS and then beat the Cubs 4 games to 1 in the NLCS. Kike Hernandez hit 3 homers in the clinching game 5. One of them a grand slam. 

     They went to the World Series and faced former NL West rival, the Houston Astros. Kershaw dominated the Astros in game one at LA. He gave up just 3 hits and struck out 12 in the 3-1 win. LA went into the 9th inning of game 2 with a 3-2 lead. They had gotten the 3 on two homers off of Justin Verlander, one by Pederson, and the other a 2-run shot by Seager. The leadoff man for the Astros, Marwin Gonzalez homered off Jansen to tie the game. In the top of the 10th, Altuve, then Correa hit solo homers off of Josh Fields for a 5-3 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Puig hit a solo homer off of Ken Giles and Kike drove in Forsythe, who had walked to tie the game. In the top of the 11th, George Springer homered off of McCarthy, and LA did not score in the bottom of the 11th and Houston tied the series. It was just Jansen’s second blown save all year.

       They went to Houston and split the next two games. Then came game 5. Kershaw got the start. We all know the story. Kershaw was hammered for 6 runs in just 4 innings. The Astros after the season would be found to have been cheating using electronics to steal the signs. This pivotable game was basically a travesty ending in a 13-12 Astros win. LA beat Verlander again in game six, 3-1. Tony Watson got the win in relief and Jansen got the save. Darvish started game seven and like game three, he did not get out of the second inning allowing 5 runs. Later the Astros would be fined and a couple members suspended. No players were disciplined. That winter Brandon Gomes replaced Kapler as the Farm Director. 

       2018 saw LA in a tie for the NL West title on the last day. That forced a game 163. Walker Buehler, who had joined the rotation, pitched and won the game, 5-2. On June 18th in Mexico City, Buehler had been part of a combined no-hitter against the Padres. Cingrani, Yimi Garcia and Adam Liberatore were the other pitchers. In January of 2018, Freidman traded Adrian Gonzalez, Brandon McCarthy, Scott Kazmir and Charlie Culberson to the Braves for Matt Kemp. 

       Other than some other depth signings, they did not make any major moves. But early in the year, Corey Seager went down and needed surgery. Chris Taylor was getting most of the work at SS. Matt Kemp, who was not expected to make the team, had a great spring and then was the offensive leader early in the year. Through the first 92 games, Kemp was hitting .310 with 15 homers and 60 driven in. Max Muncy was called up from AAA early in the year and would blast 35 homers in his first full season in the majors. Kemp 21, Grandal 24, Bellinger 25, Pederson 25, Puig 23 and Kike 21, supplied the power. Just after the All-Star game, they sent 5 players to the Orioles for SS Manny Machado. Machado, hitting well over .300 before the trade hit .273 with 13 homers in his 66 games with the team. They hit 235 homers and scored 804 runs. 

     Hill led all the pitchers with 11 wins. Kershaw battled injury and won just 9 games. Buehler was 8-5 placing 3rd in the ROY voting. Jansen was 1-5 with 38 saves. No other reliever had more than 3, Maeda saved 2 and won 8 games in his 39 starts. They beat the Braves in the NLDS 3-1. Kershaw, Ryu and Madson got the wins. They then faced the Brewers in a exciting 7-game NLCS winning it 4-3. They won game seven 5-1. Bellinger despite hitting just .200 won the MVP award for the LCS. They were overmatched in the World Series dropping it in 5 games to the Red Sox. Steve Pearce, who the Sox picked up at the deadline, was the MVP. Machado, who had just 4 hits in the Series, struck out to end it. 

     Zaidi left to run the Giants after the 2018 World Series, so Andrew had no GM. Machado left for the Padres. With Seager coming back, they did not make him an offer. His bad sportsmanship during the NLCS might have been part of it. He definitely was not an engaging personality. He signed Joe Kelly as a free agent, then he traded Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig, Alex Wood, Kyle Farmer and cash to the Reds for Homer Bailey, Jeter Downs and Josiah Gray. Bailey, like Bronson Arroyo before him, would never suit up for LA. He was released the day after the trade.

     He brought Russell Martin back to the team in a trade with the Jays in January. Grandal had left as a free agent, so Martin would be Austin Barnes back up. Muncy became the starting first baseman with Bellinger moving to the outfield, usually in right. Kike took over as the starting second baseman, Seager was back at SS. AJ Pollock came over as a free agent and manned CF most of the games. Joc Pederson was in left. Bellinger led the team with 47 homers, batted .305 driving in 117 runs winning the NL MVP award. Muncy 35 and Pederson 36, joined him as the main sources of power. Barnes was the only starter with less than double digit homers. Kike 17, Seager 19, and 44 doubles to lead the league, Turner 27, Pollock 15, Taylor 12, Verdugo 12, Will Smith, a call up early to replace Barnes while he was on the IL, 15, David Freese 11. The team slugged a team record 279 homers. They scored 886 runs. They won 106 games passing the record 105 recorded by the 1953 team. 

    Ryu won the ERA title with a 2.32 mark; he had 14 wins. Kershaw led the team with 16, Buehler 14 and Maeda 10. Hill only pitched in 13 games winning 4 and losing 1. Jansen saved 33. Maeda led all other pitchers with 3 saves. They played the Washington Nationals in the NLDS. The Nats were the wild card team. Buehler shut out DC in Game one at Dodger Stadium, 6-0. He allowed 1 hit and 3 walks in his six innings of work striking out 8. Patrick Corbin took the loss as the Dodgers scored 2 runs off of him in his 6 innings, then added 4 off of the pen. Hunter Strickland allowed solo homers to Lux and Pederson in the 8th inning. 

    DC scored 3 early off of Kershaw, and Strasburg struck out 10 and allowed just 1 run in his six innings of work Doolittle allowed a homer to Muncy in the 7th and DC got a 4-2 win to tie the series. LA brought out the lumber in game three in DC. Sanchez had a 2-1 lead when he was pulled after the 5th inning. Corbin replaced him and the Dodgers got to him in the 6th for 6 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks in .2 innings of work. Suero replaced Corbin and surrendered a 3-run homer to Turner for the last 3 runs of the inning. 2 of those charged to Corbin. Martin homered in the 9th for the final 10-4 score. LA had 14 hits. LA scored a run in the first inning, but DC shut them down the rest of the way and chipped away at the Dodger relievers for a 6-1 win for Max Scherzer. Urias took the loss. The teams returned to LA for game five. LA jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 2 innings on a 2-run homer by Muncy off of Strasburg and then a solo shot by Kike. Buehler pitched 6.1 innings, allowing just 1 run. He ran into trouble in the 7th and Kershaw came in to relieve him. Kersh got the last out keeping the Dodgers in front 3-1. 

    For whatever reason, Roberts sent Kersh back out to pitch the 8th. Kersh gave up a leadoff homer to Rendon, then surrendered another to Juan Soto. Maeda replaced Kersh and got out of the inning. Kelly pitched a clean 9th and LA was held scoreless by Daniel Hudson. Kelly went back out to pitch the 10th and he would give up a grand slam homer to Howie Kendrick, allowing 3 hits and 2 walks and 4 earned runs. Jansen got the last 2 outs. Doolittle came in and shut LA down in the 10th. The second decade of the century ended with a loud thud. DC would eventually win the World Series. For fans and the team it was a disappointing loss ending a historic season. 

                                                                                                  2020-2025

                The last five years leading up to this season, have been both exciting, frustrating and downright maddening. There have been some free agent additions and trades that have brought some very good players to LA. 2020 would end up being a truncated year due to the pandemic. Before the year, Freidman traded for a player he had wanted for years, Mookie Betts, he then signed Betts to a 12-year extension, ensuring that if not traded, Betts would end his career a Dodger. He also got David Price in the deal, a player he had drafted while in charge in Tampa Bay.

            LA would win the West and had the best record in the majors. This time, all of the games were played in empty ball parks. The first playoff round was at Dodger Stadium, and they beat the Brewers in two games. After that all of the playoff games were played in Globe Life Field in Dallas. They then swept the Padres in the NLDS, Will Smith had 5 hits in game 3 becoming the only Dodger to have 5 hits in a postseason game. The NLCS went the full seven games. LA was down 3-1 and facing elimination. They then won the next three starting with a 7-4 win in game five, 3-1 behind Buehler in game six. In game 7, they fell behind 2-0. The tied the game in the third on a Smith 2-run single. Atlanta went back ahead in the 4th. Kike then tied the game with a solo homer off of Minter in the 6th, and Bellinger hit what would be the game winner off of Martin in the 7th. Urias pitched 3 innings of spotless relief for the win.

       They would win their first Championship since 1988 by beating the Rays in six games. Corey Seager was the MVP of both the NLCS and the World Series. He hit 9 homers during the Dodgers playoff run. They would not win the West in 21. The Giants won 107 games to their 106. LA had to play the Cardinals in a playoff game. They won 3-1 on a Chris Taylor Walk off homer in the 9th inning. They then beat the Giants in 5 games with Max Scherzer getting the save in game five. Bellinger knocked in the go ahead run. They would lose the LCS to the Braves in 6 games. Tayloe had a 3-homer game in game five in LA staving off elimination. Just the second Dodger to ever do that, Kike in 2016 was the other. Trea Turner who came over in the same trade as Scherzer won the batting title but did most of his work while in DC.

    No real need to rehash the last 3 seasons. They are very fresh in our memories. The team has had an unprecedented run of success since 2013. Never before in team history have they won as consistently as they have over these last 12 seasons. This year, they are in a fight for their playoff lives. Last year, when they won the whole thing, they were very close to being caught by the Padres the last week of the year. But they took the last two games of the last series with the Padres to clinch the West. The Padres then almost sent them home in the LDS. But they won, and it was about as satisfying a season as I have ever seen.

   Signing Shohei, all of the injuries, they overcame so many hurdles and basically had just two healthy starters heading into the playoffs, Jack Flaherty and Yamamoto. This season, they are going to have to overcome some of those same obstacles. We did get to see Kershaw strike out his 3000th batter. Hopefully we get to see Kersh win another ring. Only time will tell. 

MiLB GAME SUMMARY REPORTS

OKC Comets 4  – Memphis Redbirds (St. Louis) 3

OKC was down 3-2 going into the bottom of the 9^th.  José Ramos led off the with a single. Ryan Ward worked a 2-out BB.  Luken Baker then doubled (5) to score both José Ramos and Ryan Ward for the walk off OKC win.

LUKEN FREAKIN’ BAKER!!!! 🧑‍🍳

Baker walks it off on this 2-RBI rope to left field! ☄️

Goodnight OKC‼️ pic.twitter.com/tyP7vgmHMf

— Oklahoma City Comets (@OKC_comets) September 1, 2025

Memphis scored the first 3 runs in the game.  They scored 2 in the 4^th off SP Christian Romero.  With one out, Romero hit a batter and allowed a pair of singles to score 1.  After a ground out, Romero was relieved by José Rodríguez with 2 runners on.  He walked 2, scoring 1, before he got the final out.

Bobby Miller entered in the 5^th. After the 1^st out, Miller walked on, hit another, and gave up a single to score a run.  He got the final out without another run scoring.  Bobby will probably not getting the call to be on the playoff roster.

OKC scored 2 in the bottom of the 5^th.  With one out, Ben Rortvedt singled.  He moved to 2^nd on a groundout and scored on a Hyeseong Kim single.  Three successive walks plates the 2^nd run.

Sam Carlson, Paul Gervase, and Robinson Ortiz completed the final 3.1 scoreless innings before the Luken Baker walkoff double.

• Hyeseong Kim – 2-4, 1 BB, 1run, 1 RBI, double (9)
• Austin Gauthier – 2-4

Box Score

Tulsa Drillers 2  – Corpus Christi Hooks (Houston) 1 – 11 innings

The Tulsa Drillers got another strong effort from their pitching staff on Sunday night, and they needed it against the Corpus Christi Hooks. Drillers’ pitchers limited the Hooks to just one hit through eleven innings before securing a dramatic win on Taylor Young’s walk-off single in the bottom half of the eleventh. Young’s clutch hit plated Chris Newell with the winning run in a narrow 2-1 victory.

Despite the strong effort, the Hooks were still in a position to pick up a victory in the series finale. Tied at 1-1, neither team scored in the tenth inning, but the Drillers came close. With runners at first and third and one out, Newell struck out on a checked swing on a ball in the dirt. The ball skipped to the backstop and Zach Ehrhard attempted to score from third, but the ball caromed directly to Corpus Christi pitcher Wilmy Sanchez who applied a tag on a headfirst slide.

As he did in the tenth, Christian Suarez kept the Hooks off the scoreboard in the top of the eleventh to set up the winning run in the bottom half of the inning.

Newell started the inning as the placed runner at the second, and Corpus Christi elected to intentionally walk Kole Myers. Griffin Lockwood-Powell walked to load the bases and bring Young to the plate who singled plating Newell with the walkoff game winner.

The Drillers struck first in the game, scoring the first run in the bottom of the second inning. Newell led off with a base hit, and he moved into scoring position with his 23rd stolen base of the year. He came home on Lockwood-Powell’s one-out single.

It stayed 1-0 until the Hooks scored a run in the fourth inning without needing a hit. Tulsa starting pitcher Wyatt Crowell hit leadoff batter with a pitch to set up the run. Sullivan stole second base, and when catcher Lockwood-Powell’s throw sailed into centerfield, he raced to third. Sullivan scored the tying run on Orlando Martinez’s slow roller in front of the plate, sliding in safely ahead of Crowell’s glove throw to home.

Pitching dominated from there, with relievers for each team, Chris Campos for Tulsa and Joey Mancini for Corpus Christi, each throwing four shutout innings.

Newell is now a perfect 23 for 23 in stolen base attempts this season. The Texas League record for most consecutively steals in one season was set by Jeff Cross with 27 straight while playing for Houston in the 1942 TL season. In parts of two seasons, Newell is now 30 for 30 in career steal attempts with the Drillers.

Crowell worked five complete innings, allowing just one hit and one run, which was unearned. The lefthander walked two batters and struck out five. In two appearances in the series with the Hooks, Crowell combined for 9.0 innings pitched and gave up just two hits and the one unearned run.

GLP was the lone Tulsa hitter with 2 hits.

Box Score

West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit) 7 – Great Lakes Loons 2

Great Lakes Loons pitching permitted seven runs and 12 hits to the West Michigan Whitecaps as the Whitecaps earned the series split in a 7-2 win.

West Michigan scored three runs in the fifth and sixth. Izaac Pacheco led the way with a two-run double in the fifth and was plated on an RBI single by Andrew Jenkins.

The Whitecaps had three straight hits in the sixth. Brett Callahan crushed a solo home run to right field. Patrick Lee and Archer Brookman had back-to-back singles. Lee moved into scoring position after an error and was plated by Brookman. Jack Penney doubled to right field with two outs to make it 7-0.

Christian Zazueta made his Loons debut. He pitched the first inning scoreless, leaving one runner on.

The Loons were limited to two runs and five hits. Elijah Hainline had a two-run home run to deep left field in the seventh. Dodgers’ No. 1 prospect Josue De Paula went 2-for-4 with two singles. Whitecaps rehabber and former Loon Lael Lockhart threw five scoreless.

 Alex Makarewich, Christian Ruebeck and Reynaldo Yean each tossed a scoreless inning.

With a Lake County win today, Great Lakes is now back by a half-game for a playoff spot with six remaining.

Box Score

Lake Elsinore Storm (San Diego) 5 – Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 2

The Quakes dropped their final road game of the regular season, as they suffered a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the Lake Elsinore Storm on Sunday evening.

Angel Diaz homered (4) and drove in both runs, but it wasn’t nearly enough, as the Quakes finished with just five hits on the day.

Rancho starter Hyun-Seok Jang surrendered a two-run homer in the first inning and suffered the defeat.

Landyn Vidourek had a pair of hits including his 4^th double.

Box Score