Dodgers Success Without Streaking

Sep 13, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers Alex Guerrero (7) Roger Bernadina (18) and JocPederson (65) celebrate their 17-0 win over the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports

The Dodgers success in 2014 has come even without the team constantly streaking.* For a team with a lot of character, the 2014 Dodgers have been a team that has been steady and not as volatile as you would imagine. Although fans love to complain of inconsistencies with the team,** the Dodgers have been winning games at a steady pace without going off the rails at any point this season as well as never exactly catching fire. As the season is about to end, let us look at this Dodgers season and see just how this team is in its place without ever getting the feeling that they went off and destroyed everyone in their path for a period of time.

*Streaking as in winning, of course. I am not sure if their success in in direct relation to constant nudity. If you are available for some undercover work, leave a comment below. 

**I think every fan base believes its team is not consistent, no matter what. The baseball season is very long and slumps create louder noises then hitting streaks. Just one of those things that every fan base loves to say is unique about their team, along with “This team plays us better then others” and other stuff.

To begin with, it was well noted that the Dodgers took some time to get  a 4 game win streak going. On July 29th, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally released themselves of their win streak demons and were able to win their 4th game in a row for the first time in 2014 by defeating the Atlanta Braves. That streak ended up being a 6 game winning streak, which is a good streak but not something that will be vividly remembered even months from now. After this win streak, the Dodgers have only had one more win streak of more then 3 games. From September 5th-September 8th, the Dodgers won 4 games in a row. This marked the 2nd time the Dodgers had at least a 4 game win streak and has been the final time this has occurred.*** Although some people might take this lack of a 4 game win streak to be a negative, the fact that the Dodgers lead the NL West and are close to having the best record in the National League with this in mind shows just how consistent they have been. They haven’t needed to go on a huge win streak to be in this position, but have been patient and consistent enough to simply win 2 out of 3 games, or 3 out of 4 games, or whatever need be to place themselves ahead of the pack.

***The Dodgers currently have a 3 game win streak, so obviously a win today against the Rockies adds one more to the tally but doesn’t really change the main idea behind this article. Unless they win every remaining game, which would mean you should never read this article and anything else by me. 

The flip side of not winning so many games in a row but still being in this spot is the lack of a real huge slump by the team. Everyone loved talking about the Dodgers failing to win 4 games in a row but no one really highlighted that they haven’t lost 4 in a row this year. At all. Even in September, the Dodgers longest losing streak is 3 games long and that has only happened three times this year. That is incredible for this team and throws away so many narratives or assumptions made by people. Although the Dodgers did start the year down in the standings, they didn’t go on a lengthy losing streak and made it a habit to not lose too many games in a row. Of course, the Dodgers could go on and lose 8 games in a row but it’s still incredible that to this point where the Dodgers seem to have locked up a secure playoff spot, they have been very good at their winning pace.

This might not seem like much, but lets compare some of these statistics with the Washington Nationals, another first place team who figures to end the season with a similar record to the Dodgers. The Washington Nationals have been a far streakier team, and I would imagine you might find people arguing that the Nationals are a huge threat to the Dodgers (and others, obviously) because when they are hot, they go on unbeatable tears. They have had four different winning streams of four games, as well as a five game winning streak and an impressive 10 game winning streak. Obviously this is something to not take lightly of this extremely talented team, as they have shown they can win in bunches. However, they have had four losing streaks of three games and two losing streaks of four games. Maybe this isn’t significantly different then the Dodgers, and you can see the Nationals having more impressive winning streaks then the Dodgers impress in their lack of losing streaks. In the end though, the Dodgers record is 86-64 and the Nationals is 86-64. A half game separates the two, even with the vast differences in winning streaks.

I am not saying all this to imply that winning/losing streaks is what you need to look at to determine which of any two teams are better. They are just streaks and are absent of a lot of context. My main point is to simply show a perhaps unique occurrence in the Dodgers this year; they haven’t had a time period where they were completely unstoppable but also haven’t had one where you dreaded watching a game because of the previous 4 games. They have simply kept winning, without letting any one or two losses become a trend.