Los Angeles Dodgers: Ranking the greatest teams of all-time
By Jamaal Artis
Honorable Mentions
1965 Dodgers 97-65 World Series Champions
Despite having the fifth most wins since moving to Los Angeles, this Dodgers team doesn’t quite make the cut. Thanks to a pitching staff lead by the dominant one-two punch of Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale the Dodgers had a staff that ranked in the top 5 of most pitching categories.
The reason they missed the cut though was because they frankly couldn’t hit, ranking last or near it in hits, runs, home runs, and batting average. Despite this great fielding and pitching carried them to a World Series win over the Minnesota Twins.
1978 Dodgers 95-67 National League Champions
These Dodgers repeated as National League champions and contained much of the core from the year before but they weren’t a s dominant as the year before. They won the west but it was harder only winning by 2 1/2 games.
The Dodgers were a balanced team leading the league in most pitching and hitting categories but the 1977 team had better stats overall. Like 1977 team though this team would lose a six game World Series to the New York Yankees.
1985 Dodgers 95-67 NL West Champions
The 1985 Dodgers won the most games out of any Dodgers team of the 1980’s but alas they missed out on the World Series losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS. They still deserve recognition though. Again the Dodgers had a great pitching staff finishing first in ERA, they also were decent at hitting finishing second in batting average and fourth in home runs.
The problem for this team was two fold, a bad bullpen and terrible defense. The Dodgers were dead last in the National League in both errors and fielding percentage. Meanwhile, their bullpen was responsible with 25 of their team’s losses and ranked 8 out of 12 in saves.