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Are the 2022 Los Angeles Dodgers the best team in baseball history?

By Noah Yingling

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - MAY 27: Trea Turner #6 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates with his teammates in the dugout after hitting a home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the sixth inning at Chase Field on May 27, 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Dodgers won 6-4. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - MAY 27: Trea Turner #6 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates with his teammates in the dugout after hitting a home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the sixth inning at Chase Field on May 27, 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Dodgers won 6-4. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) /
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Entering the 2022 season, it was a foregone conclusion that the Los Angeles Dodgers would make the playoffs and, most likely, be the NL West champions but most people expected a little bit of a regression from 2021 when they went 106-56 to clinch the 1st NL Wild Card spot.

However, the Dodgers are on a pace to do even better. Entering play on Saturday, they are on a pace to go 112-50. That record would put them in some very small company as only two teams (the 1998 New York Yankees and the 2001 Seattle Mariners) have won 112 or more regular season games since 1907.

The Dodgers’ run differential says that they are on pace to be the best team ever, though.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have a run differential of +116 after 45 games

Through 45 games, the 2022 Los Angeles Dodgers have an astounding run differential of +116, meaning that they have scored 116 more runs than they have allowed. That puts them on pace for a run differential of +418. If that happens, by run differential, the Dodgers would be the best team in MLB history.

The current record for run differential in a season was set by the New York Yankees in 1939. In their season (152 games), they had a run differential of +411 so, technically, the 1939 Yankees would still lead because they played 10 fewer games than the 2022 Dodgers will.

But that definitely means that the 2022 Dodgers are in some elite company. The thing that opposing teams have to worry about more is that the Dodgers really aren’t running on all cylinders yet.

Max Muncy is still only hitting .150 with a sub-.600 OPS. He hit .249 last year with an OPS of .895. 2019 NL MVP Cody Bellinger is hitting better than he did last year but his 97 OPS+ is still below league average. Justin Turner has an OPS+ of 74. He hasn’t had an OPS+ below 121 since 2013.

For their pitching, Clayton Kershaw has been on the IL for the past few weeks and will miss a little bit more time. Their closer Craig Kimbrel hasn’t seen the results yet (4.15 ERA) that he should be seeing either (2.68 FIP).

In other words, the Dodgers are currently on pace to be a team in the top 5 best teams in baseball in the last 100 years but if everyone plays as they have shown in recent years, they truly could be the best team in baseball history.

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