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The 2019 Dodgers are 43-20 with a 10-game lead in the National League West. Their record after the first 63 games is tied with the 1962 and 1974 Dodgers for the best record at this point in Los Angeles franchise history.
And because the 2019 Dodgers are on pace to win 110 games, it is hard to think of another recent Dodger team that could be playing even better at some point during their season.
Well there were two, the 2013 Dodgers and the 2017 Dodgers. The 2013 Dodgers were 8½ games back when they went 42-8 over their next 50 games. When those 50 games were over, the Dodgers had a 8½ game lead.
But the 2013 Dodgers were 30-42 when they started that run, they had not played well yet.
In 2017, the Dodgers were 10-12 before they won 25 of their next 38 games to get to ten games over .500. Before they started play on June 7, 2017, they were 35-25, just two games back of the Colorado Rockies.
Even very good Major League Baseball teams don’t win 100 games in a season. Winning six of out ten games would get you about 97 wins in the regular season. A rough calculation of winning 17.5 games out of 30 would get around 95 wins.
I say all that because the 2017 Dodgers were about to go on a 44-7 run. At the end of that run, they would have a 15½ game lead in the NL West. Not only that, they would have a 13 game lead of the Nationals for best record in the league. And they even shot out in front of the Astros, leading them by eight games.
However, I know what you are thinking, that is only 1½ games better than their 2013 42-8 run so this must happen all the time.
Well, it doesn’t happen all the time, the 42-8 record in 50 games is the tied for third best 50-game stretch since 1906. Only the 1906 Cubs and the 1912 Giants had better 50 game stretches.
No one thought they’d see the Dodgers run off another run for many seasons and certainly not four years later.
The 2017 team did it with winning streaks. They had an 11, 10 and nine-game winning streak during their 44-7 stretch. In contrast, the 2013 team had one 10-game winning streak.
Longest winning streaks in LA Dodger history
| Rank | Team | Streak Start | End | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Team | Streak Start | End | Games |
| 1 | LAD | 1965-09-16 | 1965-09-30 | 13 |
| LAD | 1962-05-21 | 1962-06-01 | 13 | |
| 3 | LAD | 1976-04-24 | 1976-05-07 | 12 |
| 4 | LAD | 2017-07-04 | 2017-07-19 | 11 |
| LAD | 2006-07-28 | 2006-08-08 | 11 | |
| LAD | 1993-05-17 | 1993-05-29 | 11 | |
| 7 | LAD | 2017-06-16 | 2017-06-25 | 10 |
| LAD | 2013-08-07 | 2013-08-17 | 10 | |
| LAD | 2003-05-14 | 2003-05-25 | 10 | |
| LAD | 1980-04-20 | 1980-04-30 | 10 | |
| 11 | LAD | 2017-07-22 | 2017-08-01 | 9 |
| LAD | 2010-05-09 | 2010-05-18 | 9 | |
| LAD | 2001-06-26 | 2001-07-04 | 9 | |
| LAD | 1974-05-08 | 1974-05-15 | 9 |
The 2017 Dodgers had those three winning streaks of nine or more games. No other LA Dodger team had more than one in their season.
- The Dodgers hit .269/.356/.510 in those 51 games. They hit 98 home runs and scored 298 runs.
- The Dodgers pitching staff had a 2.91 ERA in 457⅓ innings pitched. They gave up 160 runs (148 earned) in those 51 games.
- Their record in each month for those 51 games, for June it was 19-3; that was followed by a 20-3 record in July and then 5-1 in August to finish 44-7.
Finally, like I said in the beginning, the 2019 Dodgers are playing really well. But in order for them to even approach a 44-7 segment of their season, if you took the 2019 team’s last 21 games, they went 17-4. They would now have to go 27-3 to match that.
No team in Dodger franchise history has ever won 27 out of 30 games. Their best record for 30 games is 26-4.
So now there is something else for the 2019 Dodgers to aim for this summer.