Los Angeles Dodgers: Top starting staffs in LAD history

1974 Los Angeles Dodgers

Starter Wins: 73

Starter ERA: 2.98

The 1974 Dodgers set a record for wins (102) since moving to Los Angeles and had their relief ace, Mike Marshall, win the Cy Young Award, but their starters proved quite capable, too. Dodgers starters combined to win 73 starts, good for fifth in LA Dodgers history, while also posting a 2.98 ERA.

Andy Messersmith and Don Sutton were twin aces, as they combined for 39 wins, 23 complete games, and eight shutouts. Both players were instrumental in the Dodgers winning their first NL Pennant since 1966, as they took all three wins in the NLCS.

Doug Rau proved to be a capable starter, winning 13 games in 35 starts and giving the Dodgers 198 innings while backing up Messersmith and Sutton.

One of the reasons the Dodgers had to rely so much on Marshall was the loss of another starting pitcher, Tommy John. Before John went down with an elbow injury (the surgery to repair it would bear his name), John had a 13-3 record with a 2.59 ERA and three shutouts. Geoff Zahn would step in when John went down, starting eight games, pitching 52 innings and carrying a 1.90 ERA.

1978 Los Angeles Dodgers

Starter Wins: 81

Starter ERA: 3.12

In 1978, the Los Angeles Dodgers won back to back NL pennants for their first time since 1965-66, mostly on the strength of their strong batting lineup.

But they also had a strong and durable starting staff.

Don Sutton, Tommy John, Burt Hooton, and Doug Rau all were double-digit winners, and except for Rau, who missed it by one inning (199), all pitched over 200 innings on the year. As a staff, the starters combined for 81 wins, the most since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles.

Sutton was the veteran ace, but it was Hooton who was a revelation. He easily posted his best season in a Dodgers uniform, winning 19 games with an ERA of 2.71 to finish second in the Cy Young Award race.

Unfortunately for the Dodgers, their strong staff could not prevent another World Series loss.

1981 Los Angeles Dodgers (Shortened Season, 110 Games)

Starter Wins: 46

Starter ERA: 3.01

The Los Angeles Dodgers won their first World Series title since 1965 in a weird season that was interrupted by a players’ strike midseason. This season was known by most fans as “FernandoMania,” thanks to the Dodgers 20-year-old rookie Fernando Valenzuela.

Valenzuela marked his debut as a starter with a 2-0 shutout of the Houston Astros and then took off from there, leading the league in starts (25), complete games (11), shutouts (8), innings (192.1), and strikeouts (180) on the way to winning the NL Rookie of the Year and NL Cy Young Awards.

The Dodgers were more than just one starter in ’81, with veterans Burt Hooton and Jerry Reuss rounding out the staff, and young fireballer Bob Welch also contributing. Valenzuela (2.48), Hooton (2.28), and Reuss (2.30) all had ERAs below 3.00.

The team’s main trio was so strong they accounted for nine of the Dodgers’ 10 postseason wins and went the distance four times en route to the World Series title.

1985 Los Angeles Dodgers

Starter Wins: 73

Starter ERA: 3.00

Some Dodgers fans may not agree, but it’s very likely the 1985 starting staff was their best staff of the 1980s, better than the World Series-winning staffs in 1981 and 1988 and the division-winning squad in 1983.

The 1985 staff was very balanced, getting at least 34 starts from Fernando Valenzuela, Orel Hershiser, and Jerry Reuss. Bob Welch and Rick Honeycutt rounded out the staff, helping to combine for 73 wins — good for sixth best all-time since the Dodgers’ move to Los Angeles.

The staff combined for 37 complete games to lead the league and they were number one in shutouts, too, with 16. Every starter but Honeycutt had double-digit wins, and they also had ERAs below 3.00.

Perhaps it was their workhorse attitude that did in the Dodgers in that fall when they blew 2-0 NLCS lead to the St. Louis Cardinals, ending their season without a World Series trip.

1991 Los Angeles Dodgers

Starter Wins: 65

Starter ERA: 3.07

The 1991 Los Angeles Dodgers hold no real lore in team history; they finished one game behind the Atlanta Braves in the old NL West. It was a transition year of sorts, as a wave of rookies would follow, changing the dynamic of the Dodgers.

The 1991 staff was led by a young Ramon Martinez, who won 17 games after winning 20 the year before, as well as two veterans in Tim Belcher and Mike Morgan who collected 24 wins while each pitching over 200 innings, posting ERAs under 3.00. All three men started at least 33 games.

Orel Hershiser returned to the staff midway through the season after losing all of 1990 to shoulder injury and won seven games, and veteran Bob Ojeda made 31 starts, winning 12 games to round out the staff.

With no postseason, the lowest starter wins and one of the higher ERAs on this list, why should this staff be considered among the best? For one, the staff put up 109 quality starts, which is tied for third-most in team history since they moved to Los Angeles, and their quality start percentage (QS%) of 67% is fourth in LA Dodgers history.

If the bullpen hadn’t blown 18 saves, this staff would have been able to prove itself in the playoffs.

2017 Los Angeles Dodgers

Starter Wins: 72

Starter ERA: 3.38

The 2017 starting staff is the best of the Clayton Kershaw era of Dodgers pitching, a modern staff where no player made more than 30 starts nor threw 200 innings. The starters’ 72 wins is good for eighth among LA starting staffs, and they did it on the strength of their depth.

Six starters made at least 15 starts and five had at least 24; those same five starters all threw at least 125 innings, while six starters had an ERA+ above 110 (100 being considered average). Kershaw was the ace, winning 18 games with a 2.31 ERA (both first in the NL), but he missed time with a back injury and the other starters picked up the slack, going 16-6 in his absence.

Trade deadline pickup Yu Darvish made the staff even stronger; he won four of his nine starts with a 121 ERA+. Dodgers starters would win five of their 10 postseason games, taking Los Angeles to the brink of the World Series title, but ultimately losing the series in seven against the Houston Astros.

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