Dodgers road performance by uniforms

The road portion of the Dodgers regular season schedule is complete, with the caveat that it’s still technically possible to add one more game should Los Angeles tie the Giants for the National League West. But barring a Game 163 on Monday in San Francisco, let’s look at how the Dodgers did this season on the road, and what they were wearing.

The Dodgers were 48-33 on the road this season, a .593 winning percentage that ranks as 16th-best for the franchise in the modern era (since 1901). Last year’s truncated pandemic season saw the Dodgers go 22-8 (.733) on the road in empty stadiums, but for a full season the 1952 Brooklyn team set the standard, at 51-24 (.680). The only other Dodgers team to win 50 road games was in 1974, also a pennant-winner.

Forty-eight wins this year is right in line with recent Dodgers years, shaping up to potentially be the gold standard in franchise lore. Los Angeles was 47-34 on the road in 2017, 2018, and 2019. This is normal now, it seems.

But within the road schedule there is one signifier to identify particular games. The Dodgers have two standard road gray uniforms. One says “Los Angeles” on the front, a style they’ve used since 2000, a nod to the jerseys worn away from home from 1959-69. These are technically the official road jerseys of the Dodgers.

The alternate jerseys says “Dodgers” on the front, which was the norm for most of their history. And despite being the secondary choice, “Dodgers” was used more than twice as often as “Los Angeles” while on the road.

One outlier was the all-blue “Los Dodgers” city connect uniforms, which were worn on September 5 in San Francisco. The Dodgers started that day tied atop the National League West, but lost that game and haven’t reached that lofty divisional perch since.

The choice for what uniform to wear falls on Dodgers director of clubhouse operations Alex Torres. The pattern this year has been using the same jerseys for an entire road trip, save for the lone “Los Dodgers” appearance.

• April 1-7: “Dodgers” for seven games in Denver and Oakland
• April 16-20: “Los Angeles” for five games in San Diego and Seattle
• April 29-May 9: “Dodgers” for 10 games in Milwaukee, Chicago, and Anaheim
• May 21-26: “Los Angeles” for six games in San Francisco and Houston
• June 4-10: “Los Angeles” for six games in Atlanta and Pittsburgh
• June 18-23: “Dodgers” for six games in Phoenix and San Diego
• July 1-8: “Dodgers” for eight games in Washington D.C. and Miami

Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images

• July 16-18: “Dodgers” for three games in Denver
• July 27-August 1: “Dodgers” for six games in San Francisco and Phoenix
• August 10-15: “Dodgers” for six games in Philadelphia and New York
• August 24-26: “Dodgers” for three games in San Diego
• September 3-9: “Dodgers” for six of seven games in San Francisco and St. Louis
• September 17-26: “Los Angeles” for nine games in Cincinnati, Denver, and Phoenix

Last year was even more lopsided, with the team wearing “Dodgers” in road games in 25 out of 30 regular season games, and in all seven postseason games in which they were the road team (even though every such October game was at Globe Life Field in Texas).

Dave Roberts back in May insisted he wasn’t superstitious.

“The last thing I’m worried about is uniforms and thinking a uniform has an impact on performance,” Roberts said. “I like process, plan, and preparation.”

But just in case he gets a tad bit superstitious in October, the Dodgers were 5-2 when wearing “Dodgers” road jerseys last postseason. But they were 17-8 (.680) when wearing “Los Angeles” this season. Choices, choices.