Baseball history: 2017 sixth seasonwith three 100-win teams
2017—Dodgers, Indians, Astros
104-58 Los Angeles Dodgers
102-60 Cleveland Indians
101-61 Houston Astros
So much has happened with the Dodgers this year that it can get lost that they were in third place well into May and in second place as late as June 20. The Rockies and Diamondbacks were making headlines for their early season success in the NL West, while the Giants were just as surprising for how terrible their season began. The Dodgers, meanwhile, were off to a solid start with a 35-25 record through June 6. Then they went 16-1 over the next two-and-a-half weeks and shot into first place.
They kept their winning ways going well into August. From June 7 to August 6, they were 44-7. They just couldn’t lose. By August 25, they were 91-36, with a winning percentage that would get them to an MLB record-tying 116 wins if they could keep up that pace.
Then, suddenly, they couldn’t win at all. They lost 16 of 17 games and saw their division lead drop from 21 games to nine games. It just didn’t seem possible that a team that had looked so unbeatable was suddenly very beatable. The Dodgers recovered from their ugly stretch of play to easily win the NL West and still had the best record in baseball. They didn’t equal the 2001 Mariners’ record of 116 wins, but still finished tied for 25th all-time in wins in a season.
Like the Dodgers, the Cleveland Indians didn’t run away with their division early. They were in second place as late as June 25, when they had a record of 39-35. They had a nice winning streak of nine games from July 21 to July 29 that would be a preview of what was yet to come. They later went 9-4 from August 11 to August 23 and opened up a 4.5-game lead in the AL Central.
On August 24, Cleveland beat Chris Sale and the Red Sox, 13-6. That was the first of an AL-record 22 straight wins, propelling the team from 69-56 and 4.5 games ahead to 91-56 and 13.5 games ahead. The streak ended with a 4-3 loss to the Royals on September 15, but the team closed out the year by winning 11 of their final 14 games. Overall, from August 24 to the end of the season, Cleveland was 33-4. They had the second-most wins in the history of the franchise, behind only the 111-win 1948 squad.
The Houston Astros didn’t have a record-setting winning streak like Cleveland and didn’t have a stretch like the Dodgers’ 44-7 run. Instead, they took over first place in the AL West in mid-April and ran away with the division. Their best month was May, when they went 22-7 on their way to a first-half winning percentage of .674, best in the AL. They had a lull in August, when they went 11-17, but bounced back by going 21-8 in September/October to win their division by 21 games.
Only one other Houston team has won more games than this year’s group. The 1998 Astros won 102 games before losing in the NLDS. Their top player was second baseman Craig Biggio, who finished fifth in NL MVP voting. Their best player this year is Jose Altuve, who should finish first or second in AL MVP voting.