Loaded Dodgers have chance for greatness
It’s always mesmerizing to watch greatness in real time.
A young Mike Tyson. An ageless Tom Brady. The Boston Celtics of the 1960s. The New York Yankees of, well, several different eras.
Which brings us to the 2021 Los Angeles Dodgers.
This group could become the most exceptional team in baseball history.
The defining answer is still six months way, of course.
You can’t claim the ultimate title without a championship attached to your resume.
But, with the baseball season less than a month old, all signs point to the Dodgers making a serious run at being included in a very elite club. Maybe even the lead member. Their starting pitching is off the charts. Their lineup is stacked from top to bottom.
Their player development is the best in the game. And, for good measure, they’re sitting on an apparently limitless pile of money to plug any leaks that may arise during the course of the 162game grind.
“We have a chance to do something really special,” manager Dave Roberts said just before the start of the season. “When you look at the talent, potential, it could be as good as any team that the Dodgers have ever fielded.”
Comparing teams from different decades is a precarious exercise, at best, but Los Angeles sure seems to match up well with some of baseball’s most iconic teams.
“The pedigree is there, the talent is there,” Roberts added.
“There’s no telling how good this club can be.”
For starters, we’re not going to consider any team prior to 1947, since a large, very talented segment of the population was barred from playing in the big leagues.
That rules out the 1906 Chicago Cubs, who still hold the mark for best winning percentage (.763) from a season in which they claimed 116 victories and lost only 36 times.
Besides, there’s a very glaring mark against that squad: a shocking defeat in the World Series to a team known as the “Hitless Wonders,” the crosstown rival White Sox.
With some regret, we’re also removing the 1927 Yankees – the famed Murderers’ Row squad of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig – from the conversation. Sure, they won the American League title by a staggering 19 games and swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series, but who knows how they would have fared in a world where the Hank Aarons and Willie Mayses of their era were allowed to suit up?
So, with those parameters in mind, let’s see how the Dodgers might stack up against the best of the best since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.
h 1954 Cleveland Indians. This team won 111 games in a 154-game season and still holds the AL record for highest winning percentage (.721). Advantage: 2021 Dodgers.
h 1976 Cincinnati Reds. The Big Red Machine won the NL East by 10 games and swept through the two-round postseason without a single loss. Advantage: 2021 Dodgers.
h 2001 Seattle Mariners. This team matched the Cubs’ record with 116 wins (albeit, while playing 10 more games) but feels like a complete blip on the radar. Big advantage: 2021 Dodgers.
h 1998 New York Yankees. This might be the only modern-era team that can stand up to these Dodgers. In the midst of winning four World Series titles in five seasons, the Yankees went 114-48 during the regular season and 11-2 in the postseason for a record 125 victories overall. Advantage: Toss-up.