Dodgers: Recapping Los Angeles’ Magical Season

No matter what happens in the postseason, the 2017 Dodgers will go down as one of the best teams in franchise history.

They had a season for the ages filled with some many thrilling moments that cannot be overshadowed. Their 104 wins are the most in Los Angeles Dodgers history passing the previous record of 102 by the 1974 and 1962 teams.

They tied the 1942 Brooklyn team for second most win in franchise history, although that team did have a higher winning percentage since the regular season was only 154 games long.

They finished just one win short of the 1953 Brooklyn team which went 105-49 for most wins in franchise history. What’s interesting here is that none of these groups when on to win the World Series.

The 1942 and 1962 teams finished 2^nd in the NL and back then there weren’t any playoffs so whichever teams from each league had the best record played in the World Series.

Both the 1953 and 1974 teams lost in the World Series.

If the same thing happens to this year’s Dodgers, we shouldn’t forget about them. Those other teams might not have won the championship, but they all had all-time great players.

In the case of the ’53, ’62, and ’74 teams, they all had a core group of players that eventually won the World Series.

It feels the same way about this years team.

As much as I believe this is their year, I do not doubt in my mind that that this core group of current Dodgers will win a World Series soon if not multiple.

It was a fascinating season for the Dodgers. They went on one of the hottest streaks of all time as well as one of the worst in franchise history.

Over a 50 game span in the middle of the season, the Dodgers went 43-7, the greatest stretch since the 1912 New York Giants.

In that point in time, it seemed like nothing could stop the Dodgers. They had one remarkable comeback win after another.

Soon after that, the team went on one of the worst losing streaks in history, losing 16 out of 17 starting in late August.

All of the sudden the team forgot how to hit and the bullpen, which had been so good all season long, imploded. The team then did close out the season strong winning 8 out of their last ten games.

With all that being said, this has to go down as one of the greatest and most memorable Dodger teams ever.

No playoff Dodger team had ever been so incredibly hot and inexplicably cold in the same season.

1-8 lineup wise, this team hangs with any team in Dodger history. It’s a lineup that produced six players that hit 20 or more home runs. The lineup was so deep that even a guy who hit 8^th on many occasions this year in Yasiel Puig hit 28 home runs.

The two, three and four hitters were all All-Stars, and an argument could’ve been made that their leadoff hitter for a majority of the season, Chris Taylor, should have been an All-Star too.

It is a season that features one of the great rookie seasons of all time in Cody Bellinger’s.

Bellinger, who is going to run away with the ROY award, broke Mike Piazza’s Dodgers rookie record for home runs and finished with the most home runs in NL rookie history with 39.

The starting pitching staff will probably go down as one of the most underrated in franchise history.

Outside of Kershaw and Darvish, there are not a lot big names on the staff, but as a group, they performed at a high level. They led the league with a 3.38 team ERA.

Kershaw had his typical great season, but the staff was held down by breakout performer Alex Wood as well as substantial contributions from Rich Hill among others. Yu Darvish had some rough starts but overall was really solid after coming over from the Rangers.

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Outside of their struggles in September, the bullpen was consistent. It was led by closer Kenley Jansen who had one of the greatest seasons for a closer in history. He shattered a record for most strikeouts without a walk to start a season with 48.

Overall this season had everything. It had the tremendous hot streak as well as the struggle. It has the big names as well the players who came out of nowhere and had breakout seasons. It featured great individual performances as well as excellent team play. It had the big midseason trade.

Even if the Dodgers were to lose in the NLDS, this would still be considered an excellent year for the Dodgers. The playoffs are such a crapshoot.

The best team doesn’t always win the World Series, in fact, one could make the argument that best team usually doesn’t win.

It is a sport, unlike basketball where having the best players usually guarantees you a spot in the finals. The pressure is on the Dodgers to win, and I’m not disregarding that.

Although losing in the playoffs would be a disappointment, it wouldn’t ruin this great season. No matter what happens in October, we should all appreciate what we got from the Dodgers this season.

Next: This October Belongs to Los Angeles

It was extraordinary to watch.