Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES — To quote noted Dodger fan Thomas Paine, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” With the Dodgers slipping five games off the pace this week, a lot of fair-weather fans are about ready to jump ship. It looks like it will be a nearly impossible task to overtake the hated Giants for first place in the NL West before the end of the season. Well, dear fans, I’m here to tell you that not only is it possible, but that it has been done by the Dodgers no fewer than THREE times in the last few years. Let’s look at each comeback and see if there are any parallels with 2021.
Comeback #1: 2013
Largest Deficit: 9 1/2 games on June 22
The Dodgers sat in fifth place at the end of June, not even in the same zip code of first place. But with the addition of Yasiel Puig in early June, and second-half offensive explosions from Hanley Ramirez and Andre Ethier, the team not only erased the deficit, but ran away with the division, too.
After June 21, the team won nine of its next 10 games and then blitzed through July and August to the tune of a 42-12 record — matching a stretch of games last pulled off by the Cardinals in 1942. Granted, by August 15, they were safely ensconced in first place, but the season showed what a team of a great run can do.
Comeback #2: 2014
Largest Deficit: 10 games back on June 8.
The very next season, the Dodgers were slow out of the blocks again, and found themselves in a huge whole in early June. Little by little though, they climbed back into the race, aided especially by a dominant Clayton Kershaw and a summertime collapse from the front-running Giants. True, the Giants did come back to do okay in the postseason that year, but it was the Dodgers who were on a tear in the summer. On August 15 they too had climbed into first place and had a comfortable five-game lead, which they would hold onto the rest of the season.
Comeback #3: 2018
Largest Deficit: 9 games on May 8
The 2018 Dodgers are the most comparable in my opinion to the 2021 squad in terms of the trajectory of the season. They spent some time in first, but were pushed hard most of the year by the Colorado Rockies (if you can believe it). In fact, on August 22, the Dodgers found themselves 4.5 games out of first place. Pretty much where the 2021 Dodgers find themselves today.
However, they won seven of the next eight games and by September 1, the team had pulled into a flat-footed tie with Colorado at the top of the division. The two teams traded the division lead through most of September and it took a three-game sweep of the Giants in San Francisco on the final weekend of the season to preserve the tie. Enter Walker Buehler and his awesome pitching performance on that hastily scheduled Game 163 the following Monday. Buehler pitched 6.2 shutout innings in the game, and the Dodgers survived a little Kenley trouble in the ninth to win the game 5-2 and secure yet another division crown. This version of the team would ultimately go to the World Series, where they would fall in five to Mookie Betts and the Red Sox.
2021 has a chance to be legendary
So take heart, Dodger fans. There is a lot of baseball left to play. This is totally doable, especially considering that the Dodgers have three more head-to-head games against the Giants. Hopefully, if they can shave the lead down to two or three games by the time they head into Oracle Park, they can set the stage for some really memorable pennant race baseball.
And if the Dodgers do pull it, off, you can say you knew it all along.
