Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — There are certain numbers that are a demarcation point for greatness in baseball, these round numbers that indicate a player has had a great year: hitting .300, being a 20/20 or 30/30 man, reaching 20 wins on the mound. For a team, the magic number seems to be 100 wins: the mark of true greatness in the regular season. For the Dodgers’ storied franchise, it’s only happened 10 times. Let’s take a look back (in some cases not so far back) at these amazing teams that crossed the threshold into triple-digit territory.
1. 1899 Brooklyn Superbas (101-47-2 / .682)
Some skullduggery led to this team’s great run at the end of the 19th century. The owners of the then-Brooklyn Bridegrooms and the old Baltimore Orioles (no relation to the current team) were in fact the same guys, a syndicate of owners. And since, Brooklyn was a bigger market and drew more fans, the owners colluded with themselves (if that’s even a thing) to create a “super team” in Brooklyn and a loser in Baltimore. In a single March 1899 transaction, the syndicate reassigned nine Orioles players to Brooklyn, including future Hall of Famers Willie Keeler, Hughie Jennings, and Joe Kelley, right-handers Jay Hughes and Doc McJames, who would combine for 47 wins that season, and first-baseman Dan McGann.
Renamed the “Superbas” by the press (after an acrobatics show that was all the rage at the time) the team cruised to the pennant, finishing 8 games ahead of the Boston Beaneaters. Their .682 winning percentage is still tops of any of the team in the history of the franchise.
2. 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers (100-54-3 / .642)
3. 1942 Brooklyn Dodgers ( 104-50-1 / .675)
These two teams can be looked at together since they have essentially the same line-up. The Dodgers of the early 1940s marked a new era for the team, one that would lay the “dem bums” moniker to rest for good. Led by manager Leo Durocher, the 1941 club won its first pennant in 21, only finally falling in the World Series to the crosstown rival Giants.
Dolph Camilli was the hitting star of the team and eventual MVP for the year. 22-year-old rookie Pete Reiser led the league in batting average, runs scored, and slugging percentage.
On the 1942 team, it was more of the same. That year the Dodgers raced out to a 73-30 record, but an injury to Pete Reiser caused the team to falter, and they didn’t even win the pennant, finishing a disappointing 2 games behind the Cardinals, who would go on to win the World Series that year.
This lineup was stacked, causing baseball stat guru Bill James to name the team one of the the “Greatest Teams that Never Was,” a reference to its lack of World Series hardware.
4. 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers (105-49-1 / .682)
This is probably the version of the Brooklyn Dodgers that is clearest in everyone’s collective memory. This team of Hall of Famers featured stars up and down the lineup: Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella, Carl Furillo, and on and on and on. Pitching for the team was Carl Erskine, Johnny Podres, Preacher Roe, Russ Meyer and Billy Loes.
This team cruised to the National League pennant, winning by 14 games. And the Dodgers were primed for success in the World Series, having a better record than the American League champion Yankees, winners of 99 games. However, it was not to be. The Yankees proved in the series why indeed they were the Yankees, beating the Dodgers in six games. It wasn’t until 1955 that the 98-win version of the team would finally reach the Promised Land and win Brooklyn’s one and only World Series.
5. 1962 Los Angeles Dodgers (102-63 .618)
Oddly enough, the only version of the great LA teams of the 1960’s to win 100 games is the one whose season ended in heartbreak. Led by Maury Wills and Tommy Davis on the offensive side, and pitchers Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax, the Dodgers played great in the regular season, but could never seem to shake the San Francisco Giants all summer. They won their 100th game on September 22, and had a fairly comfortable 3-game lead over the Giants going into the final week of the season. It looked like LA was headed for the city’s second World Series appearance (the 1959 champs, in case you’re wondering, won only 88 games on the year).
However, it was not to be. The team made a historic collapse, losing six of the final seven games and falling into a flat-footed tie for the National League pennant with the Giants. In those days, there were no divisions, so no playoffs (they were still another seven years away). However, the pennant winner had to be decided somehow and so a three-game playoff was held to determine who would be going to the World Series that year.
Sandy Koufax got shelled in Game 1, but the Dodgers won a thrilling walk-off in Game 2, setting up one game for all the marbles at Dodger Stadium. In Game 3, Maury Wills went 4-for-5 and Tommy Davis hit a home run, and the Dodgers went into the top of the 9th with a 4-2 lead, needing three outs to get to the World Series.
They got the three outs, but not before the Giants had hung a four-spot on the scoreboard. The final inning was one of those nightmare innings that fans need to seek counseling after: a bunch of singles, an error, a wild pitch. It was just a mess. The Dodgers couldn’t score in the bottom of the 9th, and thus, the only 100-win season of the 1960’s was squandered.
6. 1974 Los Angeles Dodgers (102-60 / .630)
The 1974 team was one of the first successes of the Garvey/Lopes/Russell/Cey Dodger lineups, but it was actually none of those guys who was the team leader that year. In 1974, it was longtime Astro Jim Wynn who led the charge, hitting 32 home runs and driving in 108 (.884 OPS). Wynn would only play two seasons in Dodger Blue, but he would make the most of his time here, that’s for sure.
On the pitching side of things, it was Andy Messersmith and Don Sutton who posted big numbers that year, winning 20 and 19 games respectively. But the entire staff (including Doug Rau, Tommy John, and Al Downing) all pitched well, and the Dodgers won the NL West easily and bested the Pirates 3-1 in the playoffs to advance to the World Series. It was the first of four World Series appearances in the next years for the Dodgers, but like all the other 100-win teams before them, this Dodger team also fell short, losing to Reggie Jackson and the Oakland Athletics 4-1.
7. 2017 Los Angeles Dodgers (104-58 / .642)
This brings us to the Dave Roberts era Dodgers. And since we’ve all lived through these times in person, no need to go into great detail here. However, each year has its own special character, and all are worthy of a mention or two. 2017 will always have a bitter taste for Dodger fans because of the way it ended, but you have to admit, it was a hell of a ride to get there. This was the second year of Dave Roberts at the helm, and perhaps more importantly, the third year of the Andrew Friedman era of the team.
There was the red-hot summer, followed by the inexplicable losing streak in the fall (12-17 in September, losing 11 in a row at one point). Then, there was the steamrolling of the Diamondbacks and Cubs to get to the World Series. And then… trashcans.
Ugh. One of the biggest disappointments in LA sports history turned out to be one of the biggest scandals in the history of sports. Could there be a rematch in the making in 2022?
8. 2019 Los Angeles Dodgers (106-56 / .654)
The 2019 team was a fun group, filled with a lot of youthful energy. It was the summer of the three straight rookie walk-off homers (from Verdugo, Beatty, and Smith). And, this was the summer of Cody Bellinger. Hard to believe now, but Belli was that good in 2019. He fell off a bit in the second half of the year, but his 8.9 WAR for the year was more than enough to win him the MVP over Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich.
In pitching, it was Hyun Jin Ryu leading the way, and Rich Hill proving an ageless wonder. Clayton Kershaw had a solid year, but was starting to show signs of being on the downslope of his career. His 3.03 ERA, a career year for most pitchers, was the first time in a decade that his ERA had gone above 3.00 for a season. And, it was also the year that Kenley Jansen started to show that he was not the invincible closer that he’d been in the early part of his Dodger tenure. And that led to the horrible scene of Kershaw, and not Jansen being called on to close out Game 5 of the NLDS. Two solo shots off Kersh and a Howie Kendrick grand slam in extras later, and the Dodgers’ season was over.
9. 2021 Los Angeles Dodgers (106-56 / .654)
2021 will always be known as the year of the best Dodgers/Giants race in recent memory. These two teams, the powerhouse Dodgers and the playing-way-above-their-heads Giants, pushed each other hard all season, creating some of the most exciting and heart-stopping regular season action that we’d seen in a good long time. In the end, the Giants won the division on the last day of the year.
Hobbled from the fight, the Dodgers went into the postseason, hoping to ride trade-deadline acquisitions Trea Turner and Max Scherzer back to a second straight World Series. But the Dodgers just didn’t have enough left in the tank after the Battle Royale in the NLDS with the Giants to go any further. They lost the NLCS in Atlanta, and would have to nurse their wounds over the lockout winter until they would get another bite at the apple in 2022.
10. 2022 Los Angeles Dodgers (111-51 / .685)
And so here we are, nearing the end of the 2022 season. Where the season ends up is anybody’s guess, but this team was built to win, and win they have. With the incomparable top of the lineup of Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, and Freddie Freeman, the Dodgers have been a run-producing machine throughout 2022, but especially since the beginning of July.
But perhaps more importantly, this team proved that it could pitch. Getting career years from Tyler Anderson, Tony Gonsolin, and Julio Urias have counteracted the limited availability of Clayton Kershaw and the loss of Walker Buehler. And with a bullpen that has stepped up big time for the most part, this team looks to be headed for another deep run in the playoffs.
But let this list be a cautionary tale to the Dodgers and Dodger fans everywhere. Of these 100-win teams, do you remember how many won the World Series?
Zero! A big fat goose-egg. The Dodgers’ World Series winners have instead come from scrappy teams that had a lot of heart and a lot of desire and were often the underdog in the fight. And the underdog is something the Dodgers most definitely are not this season.
So how will it all end for the 2022 Dodgers? It remains to be seen, but one thing is certain. The best way to be among the all-time greats in the sport is to get that ring. The rest is just noise.
