Which Is The Best Dodger Team Ever?

                                               Interesting question. I am sure each fan has his or her favorite. Since I have been alive to see each and every one of the Dodgers eight World Series wins, I have my favorites. Best doesn’t always win. We have seen that over and over. The Giants won the World Series as a wild card team in 2014. It has been accomplished 8 times, five times by NL teams. The first was the 1997 Marlins who defeated the Yankees. The Angels did it in 2002, and then the Marlins did it again in 2003. 

                                             The Red Sox run in 2004 was probably one of the more exciting runs. They were down 3-0 to the Yankees and then swept the next 4 games. Dave Roberts was on that team. The Cardinals did it in 2011, and as every Dodger fan knows, the Nationals pulled it off in 2019. Then there was Texas, in 2023, who were playing another wild card team, the Diamondbacks. The Dodgers fell short the one year they were the wild card in 21.

                                                                                                                                                                                                         1955 Brooklyn Dodgers    

                                            The best Dodger team? I have a couple of candidates. First, the 1955 team that led pole to pole winning the pennant by 13.5 games over a very good Milwaukee Braves team. They were led by the league’s MVP, Roy Campanella. Duke Snider bashed 42 homers and drove in 126. Hodges, 102, and Campy, 107 all drove in 100 or more. Furillo, Snider and Campanella all hit over .300. Campy, 32, Furillo, 26, and Hodges, 27, supplied the power. The team hit 201 homers that year. 

                                          They had solid, but unspectacular pitching. Newcombe won 20, and Labine 13 out of the pen, but only Erskine and Loes won in double figures. The teams ERA was in line with what the MLB average was in those years, 3.68. The pen recorded 37 saves, with seven different pitchers. Roebuck led the team with 12, and Labine had 11. They hit .271 as a team and scored 857 runs. Another plus for this team was they did not strike out very often, 718 Ks in 5193 at bats. They did not walk a lot either, just 674 times. 

                                          Their World Series win over the Yankees was one of the more exciting in Dodger history. Losing the first two in New York, then sweeping the Yanks at Ebbets Field. Losing game six and then having 22-year-old Johnny Podres pitch in that game and throw a complete game shutout, 2-0. He was of course saved on the great catch by Sandy Amoros on Yogi’s drive down the line. In their history, only one other time have they won the series with a shutout, Koufax’s 2-0 win over the Twins in 1965. 

                                               1953 Brooklyn Dodgers

                                           My choice for maybe the best Dodger team that did not win the World Series would be the 1953 team that went 105-49. They won 60 games at home and lost just 17. They were 45-32 on the road. The team was 90-40 against RHP with really just one left-handed slugger in the lineup, Duke Snider. They were 15-5 against lefties. They batted .285 as a team and scored 955 runs. They hit 208 homers, 274 doubles and 59 triples. They had five pitchers win in double figures led by Erskine’s 20. 

                                           Five different pitchers recorded saves, with Hughes leading the team with 9. Campanella, Snider, Hodges, Robinson and Furillo all hit over .300 with Furillo winning the batting title at .344. Snider led the league in slugging .627, runs 132, OPS 1.046, total bases, 370, and WAR 9.1. Campy led in RBIs 142 and Gilliam led the league with 17 triples. Gilliam was the only starter with less than ten homers, and Wayne Belardi led the bench corps with 11. They won the pennant by 13 games over the Braves.

                                           1963 Los Angeles Dodgers

                                          I for personal reasons would have to put the 1963 Dodgers among their best teams. Maybe not statistically do they stack up against the Dodgers 100 wins or more teams, but they had in my opinion, the best pitching staff of any team I have watched. Koufax, Drysdale and Podres in the starting rotation, Koufax winning the Cy Young and the MVP. They had the league’s leading hitter, Tommy Davis, .326. They had the best closer in the majors, Ron Perranoski who won 16, lost 3 and saved 21 games. On top of that, they had the league’s leading base stealer in Maury Wills.

                                      They did win 99 games, and the pennant by six. But it was not like they clinched early. They had to fight to stay in the lead. Also, there were 9 teams they had to be better than just to get to the World Series. They were a good defensive team, not great and surely not the best in the league, but more than adequate to win close games. They hit .251 as a team and only had 110 homers. Only 322 of their 1361 hits were for extra bases. But their team ERA was 2.85 and they allowed just 111 homers in 1469.2 innings of work. 

                                    They then used just 4 pitchers in four World Series games to sweep the Yankees. Perranoski, the closer, pitched exactly 2/3rds of an inning in the series. There were three complete game wins, Koufax, games 1&4, and Drysdale in game 3. So far it is the only World Series where they have won on their own field. They were the home team in 2020, but the game was in Texas. They hit just .214 in the series and scored 12 runs, but the pitching held the Yankees to 4 runs and a .171 average. LA hit 23 homers, and the Yankees hit just 2. Granted, the Yankees lost Maris to injury in the first game, but Dodger pitching shut down the rest of the Yankees. Mantle hit .188 with one homer, and that was a solo shot off of Koufax in game 4.

                                  LA got homers from Bill Skowron, Johnny Roseboro and Frank Howard, who hit his off of Whitey Ford in game 4. Drysdale’s complete game was a 1-0 shutout in game three beating Jim Bouton. Koufax beat Ford in both of his wins, and the game two win, pitched by Podres and Perranoski, beat Al Downing. Tommy Davis hit .400 and Skowron .386 to lead the team. Willie Davis hit just .167, but along with Roseboro and Skowron, tied for the team lead in RBIs with 3.

                                Now I do not expect you guys to agree with all of my suggestions. These are just my own choices. My next group of guys might not have been the greatest, but they for sure were the most resilient. That would be the 1988 team. They won the west over the Reds by seven games. The two driving forces on this team were Orel Hershiser and Kirk Gibson. Gibson had signed with the team as a free agent, and when he arrived at spring training, he quickly put his stamp on the type of baseball he was used to playing. 

                               LA had several other free agents, Mike Davis of the A’s for one. They also had some new players who came over in trades. They had received Jesse Orosco, Jay Howell and Alfredo Griffin in a three-team trade with the A’s and Mets. Before a spring training game, Orosco thought he would play a prank on Gibson, so he lined the inside of his cap with eye black. Bad idea. Gibson stormed off of the field after removing his cap and seeing what had been done. He stated in no uncertain terms that he was there to win baseball games, not fool around.

                           In doing so, he changed the culture in the clubhouse. Gibby led by example. As for Hershiser, he was coming off of a 16-16 season. He took to heart Lasorda’s suggestion that he be more aggressive. Lasorda called him Bulldog to inspire that kind of mindset. The team went 13-7 in April, finishing the month one-half game back. They were 14-13 in May but were in first place in the west by a half-game. They were 4.5 games in front by the end of June. They were 49-35 over the last three months of the season.

                           They accomplished that with a less than robust offense. As a team they hit just .248. They had little power, just 99 homers. Only Gibson and Mike Marshall hit 20 or more. Not one single hitter batted over .290 except Mickey Hatcher who hit .293 in limited action. They stole 131 bases and were caught just 46 times. They struck out twice as much as they walked. The strength of the team was their pitching. The teams ERA was 2.96. Howell had 21 saves and Pena 12. Jesse Orosco added 9. Hershiser 23, Leary 17, and Belcher 12, were in double figures in wins. The three of them had sub 3 ERAs. As a staff they only gave up 84 homers in 1483 innings. 

                          On one hand, they dominated the Phillies going 11-1 against them. But they were 1-10 against the Mets. And as fate would have it, the Mets were their opponents in the NLCS. The first two games were in LA. They lost game one, 3-2 when Jay Howell blew a 2-0 ninth inning lead allowing a 2-run double to Gary Carter for the winning runs. Hershiser had pitched 8 scoreless innings before getting into trouble in the 9th. Game two was a 6-3 win by Belcher, who also went 8.1 innings. All three runs were charged to him. Pena got the last 2 outs for the save. 5 of the Dodgers 6 runs were scored with 2 outs. 

                        Game three in New York was a back-and-forth affair until LA took a 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth inning. Then after Howell was ejected because the umpires found pine tar on his glove, Pena and then Orosco imploded, and the Mets scored 5 runs for an 8-4 win. Game four was the pivotable game in this series. New York’s Dwight Gooden held the Dodgers to 2 runs and had a 4-2 lead going into the 9th.

                       John Shelby led off the 9th and walked. Gooden then got 2 strikes on Mike Scioscia, who had hit 3 homers all season. Scioscia hit the next pitch into the right field stands to tie the game. Had LA lost this game, the Mets would have had a 3-1 lead. It stayed tied until the top of the 12th when Kirk Gibson, mired in a 1-16 slump for the series, hit a 2-out shot off of Roger McDowell to give LA the lead. The Mets put two on with one out in the bottom of the inning, and Lasorda brought in Orosco to face Hernandez and Strawberry. Orosco walked Hernandez, loading the bases. Lasorda went out to chat with Orosco, supposedly asking WTF is wrong with you??? 

                     Orosco got Strawberry to pop out for the second out, then with McReynolds coming up to hit, he brought in Hershiser. Howell was suspended, and Belcher, the next day’s starter was in his hotel room. Hershiser, who had pitched 7 innings the day before was his last option. Hershiser got McReynolds to hit a shallow fly to center which Shelby caught while sprinting in for the last out.  The Dodgers jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the 5th and held on for a 7-4 win behind Belcher. Gibson hit his second homer of the series. The downside of this game was in the 9th inning; Gibson beat out a infield grounder. On the first pitch, he took off for second but injured himself sliding. He immediately asked to be removed from the game. He did not know that the ball had gotten away from the catcher, so the slide was not necessary. He was already battling a left hamstring issue, and he tore his meniscus. He was hampered by this the rest of the playoff. 

                 Back in LA for game six, David Cone made up for his bad outing in game 2 and pitched a complete game, 5-1 win. LA had just 5 hits and made 2 errors. Hershiser started game 7 and twirled a masterful 5 hit complete game shutout to send LA to the World Series against the Bash Brother A’s. For the second time, LA was facing a superior team. Hershiser was named MVP of the series.

                  They met the Bash Brother A’s in the World Series, and Bob Costas made a remark that they were the weakest NL representative. Lasorda used that as their rallying call. Game one was Belcher against Dave Stewart. LA got on the board first when Mickey Hatcher, filling in for Gibson, who was not expected to play at all in the series, clubbed a 2-run shot to left with one out. The A’s scored 4 on one swing by Jose Canseco in the top of the second with 2 outs.  Scioscia drove in Mike Marshall with a single in the bottom of the 6th. Meanwhile, Leary, Holton and Pena kept the A’s scoreless. In the bottom of the 9th, A’s relief ace, Dennis Eckersley came in to pitch. 

              He got Scioscia and Hamilton for a quick 2 outs. Mike Davis, who hit just .196 during the season, pinch hit for Griffin. Davis drew a walk. Up out of the dugout popped Kirk Gibson. The fans went nuts. Gibby obviously could not run very fast. He worked the count to 3-2, one of his foul balls dribbled down the first base line and he limped down the line before returning to the batter’s box. Meanwhile, Davis stole second.  Gibson only needed to hit a solid single to score the tying run. Just before Eckersley made his 3-2 pitch, Gibby backed out of the box. He had been talking with a scout earlier who told him that with a 3-2 count, Eckersley liked to throw a back door slider. 

               That is exactly the pitch he threw and Gibson, ready for it, hit a drive into the right field pavilion winning the game. Dodger Stadium went bonkers, as did the bench. Gibby limped around the bases and was mobbed at home plate. It would be his only at bat in the series. It is still considered the most dramatic walk off in Dodger history. Well, at least until Freeman hit the granny in game one last year. The rest of the series, except for a 2-1 loss in game three, LA pitching held the Bash Brothers to a team BA of .177. They hit just 2 homers, one by Canseco, and the other by McGwire. They scored just 11 runs. LA slugged 5 homers, 2 by Hatcher, with Davis and Marshall hitting the other 2. They batted .246 as a team. The pitchers ERA for the series was 2.02. The A’s was close to four. It would be 2017 before they returned to the World Series.  A 29-year drought.  Hatcher led all hitters with a .368 mark and drove in 5 runs. Hershiser was the MVP with a 2-0 mark and an ERA of 1.00.

                                            2017 Los Angeles Dodgers

               The Dodgers had a lot of very good teams after McCourt sold the team to Guggenheim. The 2017 team was the first 100 plus win team since 1974. They were a powerhouse who hit 221 homers and scored 770 runs. The pitching staff’s ERA was 3.38. They had 4 pitchers with double digit wins, and Jansen saved 41. As we all remember, the Series was tainted by the Astro’s cheating scandal. They were dominant in the playoffs, going 7-1 in the two series. Chris Taylor and Justin Turner were Co-MVPs in the NLCS against the Cubs with 4 homers and 10 driven in between them. What you might not remember is that Charlie Culberson batted .455 in that series, highest on the team. Kike batted .444 and did all his damage in game 5 with 3 homers and 7 driven in.

            Yu Darvish, their main deadline pickup, pitched well in the playoff, but the Astros lit him up in the World Series. Kershaw was nails in game one in LA. But in the pivotable game 5, it seemed like the Astros knew what was coming as they lit him up for 6 runs. Later we learned they did know what was coming. Brandon Morrow, who had not allowed a homer all season, gave up 2 and 4 runs in his worst outing of the year. He did not register an out. The Astros hit six homers in the 10-inning game and the Dodger bullpen blew 3 leads. They tied the game with a 3-run 9th. But the Astros scored the winning run in the 10th off of Jansen.

         LA won game 6, 3-1 beating Verlander. But Darvish gave up 5 runs in the first two innings of game 7 and LA could never claw their way back, losing 5-1. The news about the cheating came out in 2019. None of the players were suspended, just the manager, AJ Hinch, and the GM, Jeff Luhnow. The team was fined 5 million dollars and stripped of their first and second round picks in 20 and 21. The only player named in the investigation was Carlos Beltran, but no punishment was handed down to him. Alex Cora, the mastermind of the scheme, was suspended until the end of the 2020 postseason. He of course is now the manager of the Red Sox. Hinch now manages the Tigers, and Luhnow is an owner of a soccer team in Mexico. Beltran was hired to manage the Mets, but once the report came out, they parted ways.

                                       2020 Los Angeles Dodgers

            I know many will disagree with my next selection, but because of the way they won, and the fact that they were the first team in MLB history to have to win 13 games in the playoffs and World Series, it is the 2020 LA Dodgers. The pandemic year may have been the hardest season players have ever had to endure. 

             Spring training was stopped in March. Just before the season began in July, they had a short ramp up to the regular games. The games were played with no fans in attendance, just cardboard cutouts and piped in crowd noise. Had to be a surreal atmosphere. In the offseason, Freidman had been aggressively trying to upgrade his roster. In February, he traded Alex Verdugo, Jeter Downs and Connor Wong to the Red Sox for Mookie Betts and David Price. The same day he sent Kenta Maeda and a minor leaguer to the Twins for Brusdar Graterol and Luke Raley. Just prior to the season, he signed Mookie Betts to a 12-year deal. 

              On July 21st, he signed LH reliever, Jake McGee. On August 31st he made the only in season trade sending Ross Stripling to the Jays for two players to be named later. Kendal Williams and Ryan Noda were the players. Teams were going to play a 60-game season against teams in their region. For LA that was the NL West and the AL West. Play began on the 23rd of July. LA went 5-3 in July and were 1 game back. Rosters were set at 28 players. LA took off in August and had one of their best month’s ever going 21-7. By the end of August, they were up by 5 games. They went 17-7 in September and finished 43-17. That gave them a 6-game lead over the Padres. 

              They did not lose a single season series. They were 27-13 against their own division. They batted .256 as a team and hit 118 homers in 60 games, you average that out to 162, they were on pace for over 250. Pollock and Betts led the team with 16 each. Seager hit 15, Muncy and Bellinger 12. Seager and Turner were the only players over .300, both hit .307. Seager led the team with 45 driven in. Pederson and Muncy hit below the Mendoza line, and their most productive players off of the bench were Kike Hernandez and Edwin Rios. Both of them clubbed 8 homers. 

             The pitching staff was led by Kershaw who was 6-2 with a 2.16 ERA. May, Stripling and Urias won 3 games each. Gonsolin who was 2-2 had the second lowest ERA at 2.31. Jansen had 11 saves, and Adam Kolarek had a minuscule ERA of 0.95. Six relievers, Jansen, Treinen, Floro, Kolarek, Gonzalez and McGee, won 3 games each. The staff ERA was 3.02. They faced the Brewers first and beat them 2 games to none. Those first two games were at Dodger Stadium. 

           The NLDS, NLCS and World Series would be played at Globe Life Field in Arlington Texas. Home of the Rangers. Their opponent in the LDS was the Padres. They swept them, winning game 1, 5-1 behind Dustin May. Kershaw pitched game two and won, 6-5. Jansen gave up 2 in the 9th and Kelly had to come in to get the save. Game 3 was a blowout, 12-3. Will Smith set a Dodger record going 5-6 with 3 driven in. No Dodger had ever had 5 hits in a postseason game. The only homer for LA in the series was hit by Cody Bellinger.

           The NLCS was against the Braves. The outcome of this series is one of the reasons I chose this team as one of my picks for a best team. The first two games, the Dodgers were the home team. They lost both. But they made a statement in game three, coming out with their hitting shoes on, they scored 11 runs in the first inning, 4 coming on a Muncy grand slam, and were up 15-1 until the Braves scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th. Urias got the win.

          They lost game three to go down 3-1. Atlanta jumped out to a 2-0 lead. LA scored 1 in the 4th. Will Smith’s 3-run homer off of Will Smith put LA up 4-2 in the 6th. Helped by Seager’s second homer of the game, they scored 3 in the 7th. Now up 7-2, the Braves scored a run in the bottom of the 8th, but Treinen shut them down for the win. Now the home team for the final two games, they faced elimination with Buehler on the mound. Buehler had pitched in just 8 games all year and was 1-0.

         LA scored 3 in the first inning, aided by homers from Turner and Seager. Buehler took care of the rest. He pitched 6 shutout innings in a must win game. The Braves only run came off of Treinen in the 7th. Baez then Jansen, pitched 2 perfect innings of relief, with Jansen getting his second postseason save. That set the stage for the deciding game 7. Atlanta started Ian Anderson. LA countered with Dustin May in what would be a bullpen game. 

        The Braves scored in the first and second innings, taking a 2-0 lead. LA tied it in the bottom of the second on a 2-run single by Smith. Atlanta took the lead, 3-2 in the top of the 4th off of Gonsolin. It stayed that way until the bottom of the 6th when Kike Hernandez hit a gamy tying pinch hit homer off of A.J Minter. In the bottom of the 7th, Cody Bellinger crushed a 2-out homer off of Chris Martin to give LA the lead. Over the final six innings, three Dodger relievers held the Braves to just a walk. Urias pitched the last four innings for the win. LA was headed to the World Series.  Corey Seager, who batted .310 with 5 homers and 11 RBIs was named the MVP.

        They faced the Rays in the World Series. It was a seesaw battle the first four games with LA winning games 1 & 3, and the Rays games 2 & 4. They should have won game four, but a comedy of errors in the 9th inning allowed the Rays to score 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th. Kershaw started game 5 with the Rays as the home team. Kershaw was making his 5th postseason start and was having his best postseason of his career with 3 wins and a loss. LA jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 2.5 innings on the strength of a Pederson homer and RBI singles by Bellinger and Seager. 

         Tampa scored 2 in the bottom of the 3rd and that is the way the game stayed until the 5th when Muncy clubbed his 3rd playoff homer off of Tyler Glasnow. Kershaw pitched 5.2 innings and the pen, May, Gonzalez and Treinen, pitch 3.1 innings of scoreless relief allowing just 2 hits and a walk. Game six saw the Dodgers as the home team. Blake Snell started for the Rays and LA employed a bullpen game with Gonsolin as the opener.

         Randy Arozarena led off with his 10th homer in the playoffs, putting the Rays on top. Meanwhile, Blake Snell just kept mowing down the Dodger hitters through the 5th inning. He struck out 9 Dodgers, Betts, Seager and Turner all struck out in both at bats against him. He also struck out Muncy, Smith and Bellinger. In the bottom of the 6th, with one out, Austin Barnes singled. Cash made a very controversial decision to pull Snell after only 73 pitches. Nick Anderson relieved, and Betts doubled sending Barnes to third. A wild pitch scored Barnes, then Seager hit a ground ball to first and Betts beat the throw home. Betts then homered in the 8th off of Pete Fairbanks for the final run. Six relievers held the Rays to just 2 hits over the last 7.1 innings with Gonzalez getting the win, and Urias with 2.1 scoreless inning got the save. He struck out Willy Adames to end the series. Seager was named the series MVP.

                                          2024 Los Angeles Dodgers

           Finally, I chose the 2024 World Champs. The reasons are many. One, they overcame injuries to their entire starting rotation. They also overcame injuries to Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, and at the end of the year, Freddie Freeman. They did have free agent signee, Shohei Ohtani who had a historic 50-50 season. Their premier free agent pitching signee, Yoshi Yamamoto, and Tyler Glasnow, who was acquired in a trade, both went down with injuries. Yamamoto would return for the playoffs, but Glasnow would not. Kershaw was injured also as were Gonsolin, Stone, Ryan, and Hurt. Buehler was coming back from TJ surgery and largely ineffective.  James Paxton won 8 but had a high ERA and was traded just before the deadline.

                  Betts played in just 116 games due to his broken hand. Muncy played in just 73. Freeman missed two weeks with his son’s illness. Even Will Smith was playing banged up. At the deadline they brought in Kopech and Edman in the same trade, Kiermaier and Flaherty came aboard just before the deadline expired. They brought back Amed Rosario, who played just 5 games, was placed on waivers two weeks later and picked up by the Reds.

                       Of course, the team was carried by Ohtani. The offense at times was lethal. The pitching, erratic. The teams ERA was 3.92. Stone won 11 to lead the team. Yamamoto had the lowest ERA among the starters at 3.00. 14 different pitchers had saves. The team totaled 59 of those. Phillips led with 19 and Hudson had 10. They had 1 complete game, Stone, and 1 shutout, Stone. Just like this year, their worst month was July 11-13. They were 19-8 in August and 16-10 in September. The critical series came against the Padres the last week of the season with just a 3-game lead. They lost the first game, then went on a 5-game winning streak to end the season and finished 5 games in front. 

                       For the second time in 3 years, they met the Padres in the NLDS. Yamamoto started game one and gave up 3 runs in the first. Ohtani tied the game with a 3-run shot in the bottom of the second. Padres got 2 in the third to go up 5-3. Yamamoto left the game and the bullpen took over. LA scored 3 more in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead. They scored another in the fifth.  Teo drove in 2 runs. Cease was charged with 5 of the Dodger runs, and Morejon, who gave up one, got the loss. Brasier, who got the win, Vesia, Phillips, Kopech and Treinen kept the Padres off of the board although they walked four guys. 

                     Flaherty started game two and allowed 4 runs in his 5 innings, but the bullpen gave up 6, LA never solved Darvish and the series was tied. They moved to SD for the third game. Buehler started against King. LA jumped to a 1-0 lead on a Betts homer. But in the bottom of the second, the Padres scored 6 runs. Buehler went 5 innings and was relieved by Banda. The Dodgers had made it 6-5 when Teo hit a grand slam off of King in the top of the third, but neither team scored the rest of the way, and the Padres led the series, 2-1.

                        Backs against the wall in game 4, the Dodgers opted for a bullpen game against Cease. The Dodgers jumped Cease for 3 runs in his 1.2 innings of work and then scored 2 more off of Hoenig. They would score 3 more in the 7th. Betts, Smith and Lux hit homers. The Dodgers used 8 pitchers in the win. Phillips got the win. The teams headed back to Los Angeles for the deciding game five.  It was Darvis against Yamamoto. Both pitched great games. Yoshi gave up just 2 hits in his 5 innings, the only 2 the Padres would get. Meanwhile other than a homer by Kike in the bottom of the second inning, Darvish was mowing the Dodgers down. But in the 7th inning, Teo sent a shot to deep left field for the Dodgers second run. Kopech and Treinen pitched perfectly the last 2 innings, and the Dodgers were off to the NLCS.

                    Game one would be at Dodger Stadium. The opponent? The New York Mets. The Mets were a surprise winner over the Phillies. They had finished 6 games back of them in the East. The bigger surprise was their win over the Brewers in the wild card series. They came into LA a confident bunch. Francisco Lindor, their SS, was getting serious MVP talk. Game one pitted Kodai Senga against Flaherty. Senga would last 1.1 innings as LA jumped on him for 3 runs. He allowed just 2 hits, but he walked 4. Flaherty kept the Mets quiet allowing just 2 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings of work. The Dodgers added 3 runs in the 4th off of David Peterson and 3 more in the bottom of the 8th off of Butto. Hudson and Casparius threw scoreless innings, and the Dodgers had a 9-0 win. It was their third consecutive shutout in the post season and ran the staff’s scoreless streak to 33 innings, tying a MLB record.

                   Sean Manaea started game 2 for the Mets. LA opted for a bullpen game, and Ryan Brasier was the opener. The scoreless inning streak ended quickly as Lindor homered to deep right leading off the first. LA went quietly in the first. Knack took over in the second inning and imploded. He gave up 5 runs. The crusher was a grand slam homer by Mets 3rd baseman, Mark Vientos. Basically, that was the game. The Dodgers managed to score 3 runs off of Manaea. One in the 5th on a Max Muncy homer, and Edman’s 2 run single chased Manaea in the 6th. The Dodgers never threatened again, and the Mets scored an insurance run in the 9th for the 7-3 win.

                  The series shifted to Citi Field in New York. Walker Buehler got the start for the Dodgers against Luis Severino. The Dodgers scored 2 in the 2nd inning to take the lead Smith singled in Muncy and Edman hit a sac-fly scoring Teo. Meanwhile, Buehler, pitching much better than he had against the Padres, shut the Mets down for 4 innings. He allowed 3 hits and walked 2. Kopech took over in the 5th and would be credited with the win. Brasier, Treinen and Casparius followed allowing the Mets just 1 hit and 2 walks over the last 4 innings. The Dodgers would score 6 more runs, all on homers. Kike hit a 2-run shot in the 6th, Ohtani a 3-run shot in the 8th, and Muncy a solo blast in the 9th. LA won going away, 9-0. A team that had 1 shutout all year, had 4 in the span of 6 games. The Dodgers became the first team in history to have 3 shutout wins by 7 runs or more. It was also the first time in Dodger history that they had 3 by 7 or more runs in a 5-game span. 

                Jose Quintana started game four for the Mets, with Yamamoto on the mound for the Dodgers. Ohtani got the scoring started with a homer to lead off the game. The Mets answered right back with a shot by Viento’s in the bottom of the first. In the top of the third, Edman hit an RBI double scoring Ohtani. Kike then singled scoring Betts. LA was up 3-1. The Mets got the run back on a Nimmo ground out that scored Alvarez. After that, it was all Dodgers. Yoshi would pitch 4.1 innings allowing 4 hits, 2 runs, walking 1 and striking out 8. Phillips replaced him after he made 73 pitches. In the top of the 4th, Betts doubled scoring Taylor and Ohtani. In the 6th, Betts hit a 2-run homer off of Maton making it 7-2. 

              Phillips loaded the bases without recording an out in the bottom of the 6th. Treinen relieved and got all three men he faced, preserving the 7-2 lead. In the top of the 8th, Edman struck again with a 2-run double, making it 9-2 LA. Smith singled in Edman for the 10-2 final score. After Treinen pitched his 1.1 scoreless, Henriquez, a rookie who had been called up, pitched 2 scoreless innings allowing just 2 hits and a walk. LA led the series, 3 games to 1.

              The Mets turned the tables in game five. They scored 8 runs off of Flaherty in his 3 innings of work. Jumping to a 3-0 lead on Alonzo’s homer in the first. Tey pounded Jack for 8 hits and 4 walks. The Dodgers were never really in the game. The Mets starter, Peterson, would pitch only 3.2 innings. And even though the Dodgers had 6 hits and 4 walks off of him, they scored just 2 run’s. The first came on a wild pitch that scored Kike in the 2nd. The second came on a homer by Pages that chased Peterson in the 4th. The Dodgers had their best chance to get back in the   game in the top of the 4th loading the bases, but Garrett struck out Freeman to end the threat. 

           The Mets scored 2 in the bottom of the 4th making it 10-2. In the top of the 5th, Pages hit a 3-run homer off of Garrett making it 10-5. But that is as close as the Dodgers would get. Betts would hit a solo shot in the 6th, but the Mets added 2 for the 12-6 final. Dodger pitchers did not strike out a single Mets batter. They walked 5 and gave up 14 hits. The series went back to Dodger Stadium for game 6. 

           The Dodgers opted for a bullpen game against game 2 winner, Sean Manaea. Kopech was the opener. He was a bit shaky walking 2 and allowing an RBI single to Alonzo. LA answered right back on a 2-run double by Edman scoring Ohtani and Teo. Casparius came in and shut the Mets down in the second. LA did not score in the second and Casparius went back out to pitch. He got 1 out but loaded the bases on a hit and 2 walks. Banda came in and kept the Mets off of the board. In the bottom of the inning, The Dodgers got a pair of 2-run homers by Edman off of Manaea, and then Smith hit his off of Maton. Dodgers led 6-1 In the top of the 4th, Viento’s hit a 2-run homer off of Brasier. 6-3. Ohtani put LA up by 4 with a RBI single scoring Smith in the 6th. Mets cut it to 7-4 on a sac-fly in the 7th. Betts doubled for 1 in the 8th, Teo hit a sac-fly scoring Ohtani, and then Kike singled Edman to make it 10-4. McNeal hit an RBI single in the 9th scoring the Mets 5th and final run. Treinen got the save and Casparius the win. Edman, who joined the team vis a trade at the deadline, and was on the IL at the time, was the series MVP. He hit .407 for the series with 11 hits, four for extra bases and 11 runs driven in. His teammates had nicknamed him, Tommy Tanks for his clutch homers during his short time with the team.

           The Dodgers then awaited the arrival of the New York Yankees for the World Series. They were meeting in the series for the first time since 1981 when LA won in 6 games. The first two games were going to be at Dodger Stadium. Gerritt Cole would start for the Yankees and Flaherty for the Dodgers. Flaherty kept the Yankees scoreless through the fifth inning. In the bottom of the 5th, Kike tripled and scored on a sac-fly by Smith. In the top of the 6th, Soto singled. Stanton then hit a monster homer to left, knocking Flaherty out of the game. Cole came out of the game in the seventh after Teo singled, but LA did not score. In the bottom of the eighth, Ohtani doubled high off of the wall in right. Soto’s throw got away from Torres, and Ohtani went to third. Betts then hit a sac-fly scoring Ohtani to tie the game.

           Kopech came in to pitch the top of the 9th. He got the first two outs and then Torres hit a ball that was caught by a fan, but instead of a homer, he was given a double on fan interference. He walked Soto intentionally and Treinen came in to pitch to Judge. Judge popped out ending the inning. Weaver set the Dodgers down in the 9th, and the game went into extra innings. In the top of the 10th, Treinen gave up a one-out single to Chisholm. He stole second and Rizzo was walked intentionally. Chisholm then stole third. Volpe then hit a grounder that Edman bobbled scoring Chisholm. NY led, 3-2. 

          Cousins came in to pitch the bottom of the 10th for the Yankees. Smith flied out and Lux walked. Edman got an infield single, and Cortes came in to relieve him. Ohtani came up and hit the first pitch down the left field line. Verdugo raced in, caught the ball but went into the stands. Because he went out of play, the runners were allowed to move up 90 feet. With first base open, they elected to walk Betts and face the left-handed hitting, Freeman. On the first pitch, Freeman hit a high drive into the right field pavilion for a game winning grand slam. The stadium went nits. LA won 6-3.

             It was Yamamoto against Rodon in game 2. Edman hit a solo homer in the bottom of the second to put LA up 1-0. Soto answered with a shot of his own in the top of the third to tie the game. In the bottom of the third, Betts singled and Teoscar Hernandez hit a 2-run homer. Freeman then followed with his second homer of the series; 4-1 LA. Yoshi pitched 6.1 innings allowing just one hit. In the bottom of the 7th with two outs, Ohtani slid into second and dislocated slightly his left shoulder. It would hamper his performance the rest of the series. The bullpen kept the Yankees scoreless through the 8th inning. Treinen came in to pitch the 9th. Soto singled and went to second on a wild pitch. After Judge struck out, Stanton hit a ball that hit the third base bag scoring Soto. The Yankees then loaded the bases. Treinen struck out Volpe for the second out. Vesia replaced him and got the pinch hitter, Trevino to fly out on the first pitch. LA won, 4-2 and went up 2-0 in the series. The teams headed to New York for the next 3 games.

            It was Clarke Schmidt against Walker Buehler in game 3. Ohtani led off with a walk, still playing despite his shoulder injury. Freeman then hit a 2-run homer, his third of the series. LA was up, 2-0. It was Freeman’s fifth consecutive World Series game with a homer, going back to the 21 Series, and that tied a record. Meanwhile, Buehler was keeping the Yankees at bay. Dodgers scored again in the third when Edman walked, went to second on a groundout and then scored on a single by Betts.

             In the bottom of the 4th, Stanton doubled with one out. After Chisholm struck out, Volpe singled to left, but Stanton was cut down at the plate on a strong throw by Teo from left, Smith applied the tag and the inning was over. Lux was hit by Cousins in the top of the 6th. He then stole second and scored on a single by Kike. LA up 4-0. Buehler left after five scoreless innings allowing just 2 hits and walking 2. He struck out 5.  Graterol came in to pitch the 6th. He got 2 outs, although he gave up a hit and a walk. He left the game and Vesia, with 2 men on, got the final out. Hudson followed Vesia, he pitched 2/3rds of an inning, giving up a hit, but striking out 2. Banda relieved him. He gave up a walk but struck out the next hitter to end the inning. The Yankees pen held the Dodgers scoreless after the 6th.

           Brasier came in to pitch the 8th inning. He gave up a walk but struck out 2 and held the Yankees scoreless. The game went into the bottom of the 9th with the Dodgers up, 4-0.  Kopech came in to close the game. He got 2 quick outs before Rizzo singled. Verdugo followed with a homer deep to right. Torres then grounded out to end the game. The Dodgers were up 3-0 in the series. Buehler got the win. The Yankees left 8 runners on in the game.

            Game four pitted Gil against a Dodger bullpen game. Casparius got the start. The Dodgers jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Freeman hit a 2-run homer, his fourth of the series, and set a record for the most consecutive World Series games with a home run at six. It was the last lead the Dodgers would have that day. In the bottom of the first, Torres hit a fly ball down the right field line that Betts caught, but a couple of Yankee fans tried to strip the ball out of his glove. They were ejected from the game. The Yankees scored 1 in the bottom of the second. 

         Hudson relieved Casparius and surrendered a grand slam homer to Volpe. Knack came in to relieve Hudson in the 4th. He would allow a run in his four innings of work on a homer by Wells. The Dodgers pulled to within 1 run by scoring 2 in the 5th off of Gil. Smith homered, and Freeman plated Edman with a ground out. Leading 6-4 in the bottom of the 8th, the Yankees teed off on Brent Honeywell, getting 4 hits and a walk, scoring 4 runs. The big blow was a 3-run shot by Torres, the Yankees third of the day. They staved off elimination and were still alive for a fifth game.

           The game 1 starters, Gerritt Cole and Jack Flaherty matched up again for game 5. Cole set the Dodgers down in the first. The Yankees came to bat and immediately jumped on Flaherty. Soto walked, and the Yankees sleeping giant, Aaron Judge, blasted a 2-run shot into the stands. Chisholm followed with a solo shot and the Yankees, for the first time in the series scored the first runs of the game. In the bottom of the second, Volpe doubled and scored on a single by Verdugo, knocking Flaherty out of the game after just 4 outs.

         In the third, Stanton homered off of Brasier for a 5-0 lead. Cole breezed through 4 innings giving the Dodgers nothing but 2 walks. Then came the top of the 5th. Kike singled, the Dodgers first hit, to lead off the inning. Edman then hit a line drive to center. Judge came in and he made his first error of the year dropping a routine fly ball. Will Smith hit a grounder to SS Volpe, who threw wide to Chisholm at third loading the bases. 

         Cole struck out Lux and Ohtani. Betts hit a slow roller down the first base line that Rizzo fielded, but Cole failed to cover the base and Betts was safe, with Kike scoring the first Dodger runs. Two errors and a mental lapse had LA on the board. I don’t know if Cole was rattled by all of this, but Freeman then singled to right-center scoring Edman and Smith. Teo followed with a double to deep left-center and Betts and Freeman scored tying the game. 

         Behind the scenes, this changed Dave Roberts mind set on how to manage the rest of the game. Now with a chance to win, he would empty the tank so to say with an off day scheduled if they should lose. They were already making plans to put Yamamoto on a early plane home so he could rest in his own bed.  The Yankees meanwhile continued to get men on, and the Dodgers continued to burn through pitchers. 

        In the bottom of the 5th, the Yankees loaded the bases, but Vesia got out of the jam.  Graterol came in for the 6th. He walked the first two batters, Soto would then score on a sac-fly by Stanton putting the Yanks back on top, 6-5. Treinen came in to get the last out. Cole left the game with 2 outs in the 7th and his team up, 6-5. Treinen got the Yanks out in the bottom of the 7th with no more damage. The Yankees sent Tommy Kahnle out to pitch the 8th. Kahnle, a former Dodger for a short time, was unscored on in the playoffs. 

        Kike led off with a single. Edman then hit a broken bat infield single. Smith walked loading the bases. Weaver, pitching in his 3rd straight game, relieved Kahnle. Lux hit a sac-fly to center scoring Kike and tying the game. Edman advanced to third. Ohtani then was awarded first base on catcher’s interference. Betts then hit a deep fly to center scoring Edman with the go-ahead run. Treinen went back out for the 8th inning. 

       With one out, he gave up a double to Judge and walked Chisholm. Roberts came out of the dugout, and everyone thought he was going to pull Treinen from the game. Instead, he put his hands on his chest showing he had faith in him. Stanton flied deep to center for the second out and then Treinen struck out Rizzo to end the inning. At 2.1 innings, it was his longest relief stint of the year. But who would pitch the 9th? The pen was depleted. 

      Before the Dodgers took the lead, Buehler had told Roberts he would be in the pen if needed. He started warming up as the Dodgers came to bat in the 9th. LA did not score, and Buehler strode in from the pen to face the Yankees in the bottom of the 9th with the win on the line. Buehler was pitching on one-days’ rest. He got Volpe to ground out to third. He then struck out Wells. Verdugo came up as the Yankees last chance. Buehler struck him out on three pitches and the Dodgers won their 8th World Championship. It was their fourth win against the Yankees. 

      Buehler threw his hands in the air and was mobbed by his elated teammate. Freeman was named the MVP of the series; he had 4 homers and drove in 10. Denied their parade in 2020 because of the pandemic, LA would get one this time. Roberts joined Lasorda as a 2-time World Series winner. 

         I also think I should mention some record setting teams that did not win the big prize. The 53 Dodgers set a team record for wins with 105. That record was not broken until the 2017 Dodgers won 106 games. That team was an offensive monster. They batted .257 as a team but slugged a record 279 homers. They scored 886 runs, had 302 doubles and 20 triples. Oh yeah, 2 of those homers were hit by pitchers, Ryu and Buehler. The pitchers were not all that bad either, finishing with a 3.39 ERA. Bellinger, the MVP of the league, slugged 47 homers and drove in 115. 

        They tied that mark in 2021 when they finished 2nd in the division for the first time since 2013. They were not the same offensive juggernaut that they were in 19, but they put up some very good power numbers despite a down year from Bellinger and Betts not having a great season average wise. But their entire starting lineup had double figures in homers with the 10 by Bellinger being the lowest. He did however only play in 95 games. Taylor hit 20 in a reserve role. The won the wild card game, beat the Giants in the NLDS but lost to eventual World Series winner Atlanta, and Freddie Freeman in the NLCS. 

        The 2022 team not only beat the record, but they also smashed it. Kenley Jansen, and Corey Seager were gone as free agents. Also gone was Kike Hernandez. The new guys were Trea Turner, traded for in 21, he moved to the starting SS spot after playing second when he came over. Freddie Freeman came aboard on a six-year deal after the Braves signed Olson. Trayce Thompson returned in a trade and slugged 13 homers for the team. Bellinger was a little better hitting 19 homers. But Freeman and Betts were the catalysts for this team. Both of them scored 117 runs to lead the league, Betts clubbed 35 homers, to lead the team. Freeman had a .407 OBP and led the league in hits, 199, and doubles, 47. Freeman and Trea Turner both hit 21 homers and drove in 100 runs. The team scored 847 runs and hit 212 homers, 323 doubles and 31 triples. 

          The pitching staff had a combined 2.80 ERA. Kimbrel, who came over in a spring trade from the White Sox for AJ Pollock had 22 of the teams 43 saves. Like the 24 Dodgers, this team was devastated by injuries. Starting pitchers, Buehler, Heaney, Gonsolin and Kershaw all went down to various ailments. Blake Treinen, Dustin May, Kahnle also went down. But them getting rolled in the NLDS by the Padres was a total shock. And it was their usually reliable bullpen that did them in. One other record set was by the 2023 team that scored 906 runs. The most ever by an LA team. Brooklyn’s 53 team scored 955. 

       So, those are my picks, who are yours? One last note. Prior to 2017, Dodger teams had won 100 or more exactly six times, four of those coming in Brooklyn. From 2017 to 2024, they won 100 or more five times, none of those seasons did they have less than 100 wins. The also had 100 or more three consecutive seasons, 21-23 and just missed last year with 98.