Los Angeles Dodgers: Top starting staffs in LAD history

The Los Angeles Dodgers made it official Thursday afternoon, introducing Trevor Bauer to the media as he joined the reigning 2020 World Series Champions.

With the free agent signing now official, Bauer joins a staff that includes Clayton Kershaw and David Price, meaning the Dodgers will have three Cy Young winners on their starting staff, something not seen since the 2014 Detroit Tigers rolled with starters Price, Justin Verlander, and Max Scherzer.

Throw in Walker Buehler and his 2020 postseason 1.80 ERA and any combination of Julio Urias, Dustin May, and Tony Gonsolin, and, on paper, the Dodgers have the best starting staff in Major League Baseball.

With a rich pitching history, the Dodgers have never had 3 Cy Young winners on their staff, alongside a collection of young pitchers who cut their teeth in lengthy playoff season to help win a World Series. If everything goes right, the Dodgers may have a staff that could be the greatest since moving to Los Angeles in 1958.

Well, what shall we compare it to? Let’s look at what staffs the 2021 Dodgers will be contrasted with as the season approaches. These are the best rotations in LA baseball history.

1965 Los Angeles Dodgers

Starter Wins: 72

Starter ERA: 2.81

In 1965, in the years before modern bullpens and five-man rotations, the Dodgers’ starting staff carried them to 97 wins and their third World Series title in the seven years since they’d moved to Los Angeles from Brooklyn.

As a staff, the starters’ 2.81 ERA is the fourth best for the franchise since their move to Los Angeles, and they produced 107 quality starts (starts lasting six innings with three or fewer earned runs given up).

The starting staff was carried by their two workhorses, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. Drysdale, the 1962 Cy Young Award winner, and Koufax, who would win his second in the offseason, combined for 47 complete games and 49 wins in 83 starts. This pair carried the headlines, as they both won 20 games.

It was not just a two-man show, as newcomer Claude Osteen won 15 games and had a 2.79 ERA, giving the Dodgers three starters with below-3.00 ERAs. In the World Series that year, the three starters combined for all of the Dodgers’ four wins against the Minnesota Twins in a tough seven-game series win.

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.

Why the 2021 Dodgers could have the greatest rotation of all time

The 2021 Los Angeles Dodgers got even better with Trevor Bauer. The Boys in Blue are so good, in fact, that they could be the best ever.