Los Angeles Dodgers: The franchise all-time bracket
The Los Angeles Dodgers have been one of MLB’s most successful franchises for eight decades. This bracket pits eight of the best teams from Brooklyn and LA.
Teams representing the Dodgers, either in Brooklyn or Los Angeles, have won six World Series championships, 24 pennants, and made 33 post-season appearances.
The franchise all-time record is a marvelous 1,160 games above .500. So an eight-team bracket pitting the Los Angeles Dodgers best against one another is bound to leave some excellent teams behind.
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In selecting the fortunate eight, we will be looking at the ideal mix of criteria. The teams should represent the panoply of franchise history in both cities, they should at least touch on all the great eras of that history, and when tough calls have to be made they should favor teams that achieved the ultimate success, a World Series win.
We begin with the 100-game winners. There have been eight in franchise history, beginning with an extraordinary 1899 team and continuing through 1941, 1942, 1953, 1962, 1974, 2017 and 2019. Some, however, should be set aside.
The 1899 team was a contrived product of ‘syndicate baseball,’ a moment in time when owners were allowed to control more than one team. The 1942 and 1962 teams both failed to win pennants. In such a crowded field, the 2017 and 2019 teams are too similar to allow both in, and the 2019 team failed to reach the World Series.
That leaves 1941, 1953, 1974 and 2017 as our first four entries.
The 1963 and 1988 World Series champions represent distinct eras not yet in the field, so they must be included.
We have two spots left to fill from among some exceptional candidates, including the 1955, 1959 and 1965 and 1981 World Series winners. Of those four the best regular-season records belonged to the 1955 and 1965 Dodgers, so they fill out the bracket.
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The format is identical to previous bracket challenges. Each matchup in the tournament is decided based on seven criteria. You can think of each as a ‘game,’ the winner of four games advancing. The seven criteria are:
- Game 1: Regular season winning percentage.
- Game 2: Post-season winning percentage
- Game 3: Team OPS+
- Game 4: Team ERA+
- Game 5 (if necessary): Team WAR
- Game 6 (if necessary: Fielding percentage above the league average for the season in question.
- Game 7 (if necessary): Hall of Famers or likely future Hall of Famers
Los Angeles Dodgers: The All-Time Bracket
No. 1 vs. 8 seed
The 1953 Los Angeles Dodgers arguably occupied the peak of the franchise’s most glorious period. Although they lost the World Series to the New York Yankees in six games, the ‘Boys of Summer’ won 105 regular-season games.
These were the Dodgers of Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella, and Pee Wee Reese, most in their physical primes. Snider hit 42 home runs and Hodges 41. Campanella, Hodges, Snider, Robinson, and outfielder Carl Furillo all topped .300, paced by Furillo’s .344.
Campanella’s 142 RBIs led three Dodgers who were over 100.
The club effectively iced the pennant with a 13-game August winning streak.
The 1988 Dodgers pulled off one of the great post-season upsets in history, taking down both the New York Mets in the NLCS and the heavily favored Oakland Athletics in a five-game World Series. Orel Hershiser led the Dodgers with a 23-8 record that included a record late-season streak of 50 consecutive scoreless innings.
He was an obvious Cy Young Award choice. Kirk Gibson was the Dodgers’ MVP but he is best remembered for his walk-off pinch-hit home run off Dennis Eckersley in the first World Series game.
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Game 1: The 1953 Dodgers’ 105-49 season works out to a .682 winning percentage. The 1988 Dodgers were 94-67, .584.
Game 2: The 1988 Dodgers had a .667 post-season record, tying this series. The 1953 team, which lost its World Series in six games.
Game 3: The 1953 club was all about offense, as its 114 OPS+ indicates. The 1988 Dodgers had only a 90 OPS+.
Game 4: The 1988 Dodgers’ pitching superiority shows through. Their staff ERA+ was 114, nine points better than the 1953 team.
Game 5: In WAR, the 1953 Dodgers were clearly superior. They compiled a score of 54.1 that was nearly 15 points better than the 1988 club’s 39.8.
Game 6:The 1953 Dodgers were a superb fielding club whose .980 average was five points better than that season’s National League average. The 1988 Dodgers only managed a .977 average, two points below the NL average.
Result: 1953 in six games
Los Angeles Dodgers: The All-Time Bracket
No. 4 vs. 5 seed
The 1955 Los Angeles Dodgers famously won Brooklyn’s first World Series, ending decades of recurring frustration. The cast was little changed from two seasons earlier: Campanella batted .318 with 32 homers and 107 RBIs, Snider hit .314 with 42 homers and 136 RBIs, and Furillo hit .314.
On the mound, Don Newcombe went 20-5 in 31 starts with 143 strikeouts.
The 1941 Dodgers launched a tradition of winning that has extended largely unbroken to this day. That club beat St. Louis in a pulsating pennant race, needing a 100-54 record to do it. Outfielder Pete Reiser hit .341 while veteran outfielder Joe Medwick batted .318. First baseman Dolph Camilli hit 34 homers and drove in 120 runs.
Kirby Higbe and Whitlow Wyatt led the pitching staff, each winning 22 games in a combined 586 innings. Hugh Casey pitched 162 innings largely in relief, winning 14 times.
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Game 1: The 1941 Dodgers had a 100-54 record, translating to a .649 winning percentage. The 1955 team went 98-55, a .641 percentage.
Game 2: The 1941 Dodgers lost the World Series in five games to the New York Yankees. The 1955 Dodgers famously beat the Yankees in seven games. This series is even through two games.
Game 3: With respect to OPS+, it’s hard to imagine a team better than the 1955 club, which produced a 109 OPS+. The 1941 team nearly matched it but stopped at 107.
Game 4: Behind Wyatt, Higbe, and Casey, the 1941 Dodgers compiled a staff 119 ERA+. The Newcombe-led 1955 Dodgers only managed 111, The series is even again through four games.
Game 5: The 1955 Dodgers generated 53.2 WAR. The 1941 team may be less recalled, but it was every bit as good. Its WAR hit 53.5, giving it a narrow victory.
Game 6: The 1941 Dodgers fielded .974, two points better than the National; League’s .972 average The 1955 team fielded .978, and that was also two points better than the league average. Carried out to extra digits, the advantage goes to the 1941 Dodgers.
Result: 1941 in six games
Los Angeles Dodgers: The All-Time Bracket
No. 2 vs. 7 seed
The 1963 Los Angeles Dodgers are remembered today for that fabulous pitching staff. Sandy Koufax delivered a virtuoso 25-5 record with a 1.88 ERA in 40 starts covering 311 innings. Don Drysdale’s record was only 19-17, but he made 42 starts and pitched 315 innings. Together they struck out 557 opponents.
The closer, Ron Perranoski, added a 16-3 record with 21 saves.
At season’s end, Koufax won both the Cy Young and MVP. In the World Series, he, Drysdale and Podres – with two-thirds of an inning’s worth of help from Perranoski – polished off the Yankees in four straight, allowing a total of just four runs and 22 hits. Thirty-seven Yankees struck out.
Offensively the Dodgers were not a great team; had they been, nobody would have ever beaten them. But they did have Maury Willis with a .302 average and 42 steals, and they did have outfielder Tommy Davis. His .326 average led the National League. Outfielder Frank Howard hit 26 home runs.
The 1974 Dodgers won 102 regular-season games before losing to Oakland in five games in the World Series. This was the famous infield of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, and Ron Cey, which started for LA throughout the decade of the 1970s. Garvey hit .312 with 111 RBIs while left fielder Bill Buckner hit .314 and center fielder Jim Wynn drove in 108.
Andy Messersmith won 20 games against just six losses, and Don Sutton followed close behind at 19-9. But the pitching story was Mike Marshall, who made 106 relief appearances and worked 208 innings, producing a 2.42 ERA and 21 saves alongside a 15-12 record. Marshall won the Cy Young Award and finished third in MVP voting.
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Game 1: The 1963 team had a 99-63 regular-season record, but that was three games worse than 1974’s 102-60.
Game 2: The 1963 team swept New York; the 1974 Dodgers lost a five-game World Series.
Game 3: Although not known for its offense, that 1963 team at least produced a decent 99 OPS+. But the 1974 Dodgers got to 112.
Game 4: During the regular season, only Koufax and Perranoski truly stood out in 1963. As a result, the team only produced a 105 staff ERA+. The 1974 Dodgers were deeper and more balanced, and their ERA+ reached 115.
Game 5: The 1974 Dodgers compiled a 52.9 WAR. Despite Koufax’s 10.7 individual WAR, the rest of the Dodgers only raised the team total to 44.8.
Result: 1974 in five games
Los Angeles Dodgers: The All-Time Bracket
No. 3 vs. 6 seed
The 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers were similar, but not identical, to the 1963 team. Podres was reduced to the role of No. 4 guy, supplanted by Claude Osteen (15-15 in 40 starts). Tommy Davis was an injury-plagued sub; in fact, no Dodger regular batted over .286, and the team’s .245 average ranked only seventh in the league.
That was OK because of Koufax and Drysdale. The two starters combined for a 49-20 record across 83 starts and 644 innings, striking out 592 batters. Koufax fanned 382. Since the 1880s, only Nolan Ryan – by one in 1973 – has topped that.
The Dodgers’ 2.81 team ERA led the league by nearly a quarter-point.
The 2017 Dodgers won 104 games to claim the hearts of Dodger fans and win the franchise’s first National League pennant since 1988. Third baseman Justin Turner batted .322 and Cody Bellinger hit 39 home runs.
Dodgers pitchers led the league in ERA at 3.38 and they fanned a league-leading 1,549 batters. Combine that with the fact that they allowed just 3.58 runs per game, a half run less than any other team, and the reason for their success becomes clear. Clayton Kershaw was 18-4, Alex Wood added 16-3 and Kenley Jansen provided 41 saves.
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Game 1: The 1965 team had a .599 regular-season percentage. But the 2017 Dodgers were 104-58 .642.
Game 2: The 2017 team went .667 in post-season, sweeping Arizona and defeating Chicago before losing to Houston in a seven-game World Series. The 1965 Dodgers compiled a .571 post-season percentage in their seven-game World Series win over the Minnesota Twins. That’s a 2-0 lead for the 2017 Dodgers.
Game 3: The 2017 Dodgers had a 104 team OPS+. The 1965 team did no better than 89.
Game 4: The 2017 team’s balanced pitching takes on Koufax and Drysdale in team nERA+ seeking a sweep. They get it, their 123 beating the 1965 club’s 116.
Result: 2017 Dodgers in four games
Los Angeles Dodgers: The All-Time Bracket
The Semi-finals
The first semi-final pits the 1941 and 1953 teams in a battle of legendary Dodger post-season losers.
Game 1: The 1941 club had a .649 regular-season percentage. But in 1953 the Dodgers played .682 ball, a full five games better.
Game 2: The 1941 team lost the World Series in five games. The 1953 team also lost, but lasted six games. If only technically, that’s a win for 1953.
Game 3: The 1953 Dodgers 114 team OPS+ is seven points better than 1941’s 107.
Game 4: The 1941 Dodgers finally win one. Their 119 staff ERA+ is 14 points better than 1953’s 105.
Game 5: The power of the 1953 club is too crushing. They had a 54.1 team WAR, a half-point better than the 1941 club’s 53.5.
Result: 1953 in five games
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The second semi-final throws the 2017 Dodgers against the 1974 National League champions of Garvey, Lopes, Cey et. al.
Game 1: In 1974, the Dodgers had a .630 regular-season percentage. The 2017 team bettered that by two games, at .642.
Game 2: The 2017 Dodgers won 67 percent of their post-season games. The 1974 team only won 44 percent of their post-seasons schedule. That’s a 2-0 lead for 2017.
Game 3: The 2017 Dodgers had a 104 OPS+. That’s not far enough above ordinary to stay with 1974’s 112.
Game 4: The 1974 Dodgers present that deep 115 staff ERA+. But the 2017 team is even better, reaching a 123 staff ERA+. They take a 3-1 series lead.
Game 5: In WAR, the 1974 Dodgers reached 52.9. The 2017 team could not scale beyond 47.8.
Game 6: The 1974 Dodgers fielded .975, one point below the league average. In 2017, the Dodgers fielded .985, exactly at the league average.
Result: 2017 in six games
Los Angeles Dodgers: The All-Time Bracket
Championship
The 1953 Los Angeles Dodgers have a roster of heroes. The 2017 team is deep and talented. This should be a war.
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Game 1: The 1953 club’s 105-49 .682 bests 2017’s 104-58 .642.
Game 2: In post-season, 2017 had a .667 percentage, based on a 3-0 division series sweep of the Diamondbacks, a 4-1 NLCS win over the Cubs and their seven-game loss to the Houston Astros. That’s far better than 1953’s .333 in a six-game World Series loss to the Yankees.
Game 3: The 1953 Dodgers compiled a 114 team OPS+. The 2017 Dodgers got to only 104. That gives 1953 a 2-1 lead.
Game 4: The 2017 team’s 123 staff ERA+ is far superior to 1953’s 105. The series is even again.
Game 5: The 1953 team compiled a 54. WAR. In 2017, the Dodgers only managed 47.8.
Game 6: The 2017 Dodgers fielded .985, right at the league average. That leaves an opening for the 1953 club, and the seized it. Their .980 fielding average was five points better than the league average.
Result: 1953 in six games
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Worth noting, although the 1953 Dodgers were never extended to a seventh game in defeating the 1988, 1941 and 2017 teams, they would have been formidable in any census of Hall of Famers. The 1953 Dodgers rostered five certified immortals: Robinson, Campanella, Snider, Reese, and reserve Dick Williams, who was inducted as a manager.