Best Dodger staffs Part 2

In the last post we left off after the 1988 staff led by its ace, Orel Hershiser. After their Championship year in 88, the 89-team followed that up with a 4th place under .500 finish. There were a few reasons for this. Sax left in free agency; Gibson was hurt and played in just 71 games. There were a lot of new faces, Eddie Murray at 1st, Willie Randolph at 2nd. They hit just .240 as a team with just 89 homers, Murray had 20 of those by himself. Hershiser was 15-15. The team ERA was below 3, but they just did not score. In 1990, Hershiser would be injured and miss the entire season after pitching in just 4 games. But the team rebounded to a 2nd place finish and had a new ace in Ramon Martinez who went 20-6. Mike Morgan, Valenzuela, Belcher and Jim Neidlinger rounded out the starters and Jay Howell remained the closer. Team ERA was 3.72. Martinez was the only starter under 3. The pen's ERA was a little better.

Throughout the 90's, although they had some good seasons and pitchers and racked up five consecutive rookies of the year, success was not something they had a lot of. In 95, shortened because of the 94 strike that stopped the season cold, they won the West, but were swept out of the playoffs by the Mets. Perhaps their strongest staff in the 90's was in 96.

1996: Japanese import, Hideo Nomo, who was the ROY in 95, led the team with a 16-11 record, a 3.19 ERA and he threw the first, and so far, only no-hitter ever at Coors Field in Denver in September. Ismael Valdez 15-7, Astacio 9-8, Ramon Martinez, 15-6 and knuckleballer Tom Candiotti 9-11, were the starters. Jeff Shaw recorded 44 saves as the closer. Antonio Osuna led all relievers with 9 wins and a 3 ERA. They finished 2nd and then lost to the Braves 3-0 in the LDS. This was the season Lasorda had his heart attack and Bill Russell replaced him as manager. That season was the last time they would make the playoffs in the 90's. It would be two owners and two managers plus 8 years before they made it back to the playoffs in 2004.

2003: The 2003 team had mostly a veteran staff. 14 different pitchers got starts that season. Nomo and Brown were the aces of the staff with Nomo 16-13, Brown 14-9 and Odalis Perez 12-2 pulling most of the weight. Guys like Andy Ashby, a mid-season pickup, Kazuhisa Ishii, and Wilson Alvarez also in the rotation. Eric Gagne won the Cy Young with 55 saves. He converted all of his save ops. As a team their ERA was 3.16. It was by far the best ERA in the NL. Cubs were second with a 3.83.

In 2007, although not one of their best staffs, they went to a basic 3-man rotation with a bunch of spot starters. Derek Lowe 12-14, Brad Penny 16-4, Billingsley 12-5, were the only pitchers to make 20 or more starts. Billingsley also appeared in 23 games out of the pen. Randy Wolf made 18 starts, Mark Hendrickson and Bret Tomko, 15 each. Saito saved 39 games.

2008: The 2008 Dodgers would win the NL West. But they were just the 7th best team in the entire NL. The Phillies, Cardinals, Astros, Cubs, Brewers and Mets, all won more games than LA's 84. They tied the Marlins with 84, but the Marlins had one less loss. Despite all that, they were the first LA staff in a while to have a team ERA under 4. They would use 22 pitchers during the season. Billingsley 16 and Lowe 14 were the only pitchers with double digit wins. Saito, the close saved 18 and Broxton saved 14. A 20-year-old named Kershaw pitched in 22 games and was 5-5. The teams stretch run was bolstered by a deadline trade that brought them slugger Manny Ramirez. They trounced the Cubs 3-0 in the LDS with Bills, Lowe and Hiroki Kuroda, another Japanese import all getting wins. The Phillies though, were too much for them winning the LCS in 5 games with Kuroda getting the only win in game 3. This staff is here because they accomplished a lot with very little.

2011: It was the final season of Frank McCourt's ownership of the Dodgers. By May of 2012, they would have new ownership, the Guggenheim Group. 2011's starters were Kershaw 21-5 Cy Young award, Kuroda 13-16, Lilly 12-14, Billingsley 11-11. Jave Guerra was the closer and saved 21 games, Jansen had 5. Despite the won loss records as average as they were, the team had a 3.54 ERA. The lowest by any Dodger team since the 03 squad.

2013: For the first time in a long time, the Dodgers had a devastating 1-2-3 punch at the top of their rotation. Kershaw 16-9 1.83, Greinke 15-4 2.63, Ryu 14-8 3.00, were the aces. Chris Capuano and Ricky Nolasco got 20 and 15 starts each. No one else had more than 10, Steven Fife. Jansen in his first full season as the closer saved 28, Brandon League, 14. As a team the ERA was 3.25. They won the West but were knocked out of the playoffs against the Cardinals. Hanley Ramirez getting his ribs broken in game one by a pitch did not help.

2014: The teams ERA was 3.40. Kershaw had a career year 21-3 1.77 ERA, a 0.857 WHIP. He won the Cy Young and the MVP award. Greinke 17-8 2.71, Haren 13-11 4.02, Ryu 14-7 3.38, Beckett 6-6 2.88 were the starters. Beckett and Kershaw threw no-hitters, Beckett against the Phillies in Philadelphia and Kershaw against the Rockies at Dodger Stadium in June. Only an error by Hanley kept him from a perfect game. He struck out 15. Jansen had 44 of the teams 47 saves. The won the West by 6 games over the Giants but lost the LDS to the Cardinals in 4. Greinke got the only win and Kershaw lost 2.

2015: 2015 was the first season under Andrew Freidman's leadership. Ryu was down with shoulder issues, so Freidman brought in several pitchers in free agency. The teams staff ERA in 15 was 3.44, and there were 31 different pitchers used at the MLB level that year. Greinke was the staff ace in 15. 19-3, he led the league in ERA 1.66 and WHIP 0.844. He would finish 2nd in the Cy Young voting to Jake Arrieta of the Cubs, Kershaw 16-7 2.13 and his 301 Ks led the league. Behind these two were Brett Anderson 10-9 3.69, Mike Bolsinger 6-6 3.62, Carlos Frias 5-5 4.02 and Alex Wood, 5-6 4.35. Jansen had 36 saves, Hatcher 4 and Peralta 3. The won the West for the second straight year but lost to the Mets 3-2 in the LDS.

2017: Dave Roberts had replaced Mattingly as manager in 2016. He would have to shuffle his staff since Kershaw had some injury issues, Ryu was still out and Greinke had left via free agency. Kenta Maeda was signed out of Japan, and Scott Kazmir was signed as a free agent. The team won the west, then beat the Nationals in the LDS. They would lose the LCS to eventual champ, the Cubs. Jansen had a career high 47 saves. Seager won the ROY. They were 13 games better in 17. Kershaw 18-4 2.31 returned to Ace form. Wood 16-3 2.72 finally pitched like the pitcher they traded for, Rich Hill, who had come over in 16 in a trade was 12-8 3.32, Maeda, who also got some pen time, 13-6 4.22, Ryu coming back from surgery 5-9 3.77 and Brandon McCarthy 6-4 who missed almost all of the second half. Jansen was 5-0 with a league leading 41 saves and a 1.32 ERA, arguably his best season of his career. Yu Darvish was 4-3 down the stretch after his mid-season trade. Brandon Morrow pitched in 45 games, had a 6-0 record with 2 saves and a 2.06 ERA. They won 104 games, swept the D-Backs in the LDS, and then beat the Cubs 4-1 in the LCS to advance to the World Series for the first time since 1988. Kershaw, Maeda and Darvish got the wins in the Arizona series, and the same three would win games in the Cubs series with Jansen getting a win in relief. They would lose the World Series to the Astros. That whole mess is public knowledge now. The team ERA that year, 3.38. 26 different pitchers were used. Cody Bellinger, who replaced the injured Adrian Gonzalez won the ROY. 2018, was the last no-hitter up to now by the Dodgers. Buehler, Cingrani, Yimi Garcia and Adam Liberatore combined to no hit the Padres.

2020: Some will say wait, what about the 18 and 19 staffs? Both had sparkling ERAs in the low threes. Hill was the only pitcher in 18 with double digit wins. There were just no standout performances. In 19, they won a team record 106 games. There were four pitchers on that team with double digit wins, Ryu, Buehler, Kershaw and Maeda. Hill had only 4 because he was injured. 2020 makes the list simply because with just a 60-game schedule before the playoffs started, every game became critical. The teams ERA that year was 3.02. Kershaw with 6 wins had double what any other pitcher had. Seven different pitchers had 3, including five relievers. Jansen had 11 of the teams 15 saves. They won the west handily, then had to face Milwaukee in the Wild Card. They won both games, Kershaw one of the wins and the other to Urias. They then swept the Padres, Kershaw, Urias and Dustin May getting wins in that series. They faced the Braves in the LCS. In Game one, Buehler pitched a gem allowing just 1 run in 5 innings. The bullpen imploded in the top of the 9th and allowed 4 runs. Treinen got the loss. Gonsolin got the loss in an 8-7 game two, but it wasn't that close until LA scored 4 in the bottom of the 9th. LA blew Atlanta out 15-3 in game 3 behind Urias and an 11 run first inning. Game four was another blowout, this time 10-2 Atlanta over Kersh. From then on, things got tight. La won game 5, 7-3 with Treinen getting the win in relief. Buehler threw a gem in game six winning 3-1. Game seven was a nail biter. Braves were up 2-0 when LA tied it in the bottom of the 3rd, Atlanta went back ahead in the 4th. Kike Hernandez PH homer in the 6th tied the game. Cody Bellinger would homer in the 7th off of Chris Martin for the eventual game winner. Julio Urias pitched 3 innings of perfect baseball for the win.

His 4th of the post season. They played the Tampa Bay Rays in the series. The teams traded wins over the first four games, LA winning games 1 and 3 behind Kershaw his 3rd postseason win, and Buehler's 2nd. Jansen blew game four with an epic meltdown and some shoddy fielding by the Dodgers. Kershaw got his 4th win with a close 4-2 nod over Glasnow in game five. LA was totally stymied by Blake Snell going into the bottom of the sixth trailing 1-0. Barnes got a single, and the Rays manager pulled Snell. Betts doubled Barnes to third. He scored on a wild pitch by reliever Nick Anderson. Betts then scored on a fielder's choice grounder to first by Seager. Betts would homer in the 8th. Urias pitched 2.1 innings for the save with 4 Ks, including the final out by Willy Adames. LA won their first championship since 1988.

2021-22: These two seasons produced some memorable moments. 2021's team had a 3.01 ERA, 22 was even better with a franchise high 111 wins and a 2.80 ERA. The 21-team started the year off with Buehler, Urias, Kershaw and 2020 Cy Young winner, Trevor Bauer as the starting four, with Gonsolin and David Price as spot starter. Bauer's suspension muddied the water, and Freiman traded for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner at the deadline. Urias was 20-3 2.98, Buehler, 16-4 2.47. Kershaw 10-8 coming back from injury, Bauer 8-5 and Gonsolin 4-1. Scherzer went 7-0 in 11 starts with a 1.90 ERA. He struck out his 3000th batter during a memorable game against the Padres in September. Jansen, in his last season with the team saved 38 with a 2.22 ERA. Treinen had 7 saves. They finished 2nd to the Giants in the West, the first time since 2013 they had not won the West. The beat the Cardinals 3-1 in the Wild Card game on a Chris Taylor walk off homer. Scherzer started but went just 4.1 innings. Jansen got the win. They would beat the Giants 3-2 in the NLDS. Scherzer lost game 3, 1-0 in a wind-blown game in LA. He got the save in game 5. Atlanta beat them in six to win the pennant in the LCS. Scherzer complained of a tired arm and did not pitch. 2022's staff had Tyler Anderson, a free agent signee, 15-5 2.57, Julio Urias 17-7 2.16 to win the ERA title, Tony Gonsolin 16-1 2.14, the best winning percentage in franchise history, Kershaw 12-3 2.28, Andrew Heaney 4-4 3.10, and Buehler 6-3 4.02 before he was lost to injury. The new closer was Craig Kimbrel who saved 22 before he was removed from the role. Eleven other pitchers recorded at least 1 save. They used 31 different pitchers. Despite all that great pitching, they lost in 4 games in the LDS to the Padres.

2023-25: The 23 Dodgers were so far, the last LA team to win 100 games. They had a 4.06 ERA, and just one starter, Kershaw, with an ERA below 3. Urias made 21 starts and had a 11-8 record when he was suspended in September for a domestic violence charge. Kershaw was 13-5. Bobby Miller was impressive at 11-4 3.76. Gonsolin, Michael Grove, and total flop, Noah Syndegaard rounded out the rotation. They picked up Jack Flaherty at the deadline and he went 6-2. Evan Phillips 24, and Graterol 7, were the 1-2 closer's out of the pen. They were swept out of the playoffs by Arizona. The team ERA in 2024 was 3.90. There was exactly one pitcher with double digit wins, Gavin Stone with 11. He was joined in the rotation by Tyler Glasnow 9-6 3.49, obtained in a trade, Yoshi Yamamoto 7-2 3.00, signed from Japan, and James Paxton 8-2 4.43, another free agent signing who would be traded at the deadline. Evan Phillips 5-1 3.62 18 saves was the #1 closer. Daniel Hudson 10, Michael Kopech 6, a deadline pickup and Alex Vesia 5 were the others. Kopech was also 4-0 with a 1.13 ERA in 24 games. The beat the Padres 3-2 in a very close series, shutting them out the last two games 8-0 and 2-0. They then beat the Mets in six winning game one and tying a record with 33 consecutive shutout innings in a playoff with a 9-0 win. They moved on to the World Series against the Yankees. Timely hitting and some excellent defense were the main reasons the Dodgers prevailed in five games. especially in game five. All of the games were close except game four, an 11-4 Yankee win. Walker Buehler, in his final appearance as a Dodger, pitched a 1-2-3 9th in game five for the win.

2025 would be different. Team ERA was just a little higher at 3.95. They added Roki Sasaki to the rotation from Japan. Dustin May rejoined the rotation after being out for almost 2 years, Emmet Sheehan, a rookie, and Shohei Ohtani, finally pitching again, would also make starts for the team. Tanner Scott, signed to be the closer had 23 saves, but was not exactly lights out and blew several chances. Yamamoto's 12 wins led the team and Kershaw, who announced his retirement at the end of the season won 11. Blake Snell had also been signed as a free agent; he went 5-4 2.35 but only pitched in 11 games prior to the post season. Kids like Jack Dreyer, Ben Casparius, Justin Wrobleski, and Landon Knack all made contributions. They beat the Red 2-0 in the Wild Card Series. They then beat the Phillies 3-1 in the LDS. Ohtani got the win in game one, Snell in game two. They had to go 11 in game four to win it. The LCS against the Brewers had to be one of the best pitched series by a Dodger team I have seen since Koufax and the 63 team swept the Yankees. They would allow just 4 runs the entire series. Snell was excellent in game one, he struck out 10 and went 8 innings. The BP almost blew the game, but Treinen came in and got the last out for the save. Yamamoto was excellent in game two, he allowed a first inning homer to Chourio and then allowed just 2 hits and a walk compiling 7 Ks and a complete game win. Glasnow started and went 5.1 innings allowing just 1 run as Milwaukee had a bullpen game. Misiorowski pitched the bulk of the innings for the Brewers 5, but LA tagged him for 2 runs in the 6th and won 3-1. Vesia got the win. Ohtani started game four. He pitched 6 innings, striking out 10, walking 3 and giving up just 2 hits. Treinen would be tagged with the only run the Brewers scored. On the offensive side, it was all Shohei, 3 at bats, 3 homers, 3 driven in and a walk in a 5-1 series clinching win.

In the 25 World Series, the Jays outplayed and outpitched LA for most of the series. Their team batted .269 for the series, LA hit .203. LA's staff ERA was 3.95, Jays 3.21. How then did the defending champs overcome this?? For one, Yamamoto was nails in both of his starts including a complete game 5-1 win in game two. Clutch hitting in game three and performances out of the pen by Dreyer, Sasaki, Sheehan, Kershaw for 1 out, Henriquez and Klein, allowed them to make it to the 18th inning when Freddie walked the game off. They were outpitched and outhit in game four and five and on the brink of elimination. Yamamoto came back for his second win in game six, a six-inning performance allowing just 1 run. the bullpen was unscored on but saved on a 9th inning DP from Kike to Miggy Ro. That followed a ball that was lodged at the base of the outfield wall keeping a runner from scoring. Glasnow replaced Sasaki and got a pop out before the double play. Game seven was in Ohtani's hands. He would last 2.1 innings. A 3-run homer dead central by Bichette sent him to the bench. Wrobleski replaced him and almost touched off a riot when he hit Andres Jiminez in the hand. But he pitched 1.1 scoreless innings. LA got a run back in the 4th. Glasnow replaced Wrobo and pitched 2.1 innings. After LA closed to 3-2, he gave up Toronto's 4th run in the 6th. It would be their last. Muncy homered in the top of the 8th to make it 4-3. Sheehan pitched a scoreless bottom of the. He gave up a leadoff double to Clement in the 8th and was relieved by Snell. In the top of the 9th, Rojas hit a game tying homer off of Jeff Hoffman with 1 out and a full count. Snell opened the bottom of the 9th by getting Guererro to fly out to deep center. Bichette singled and Barger walked. With Kirk coming up, LA brought in Yamamoto, who had pitched the day before. He hit Kirk loading the bases with 1 out. Kiner-Falefa was on third as he pinch ran for Bichette.

Varsho was the hitter and the infield moved in. Varsho hit a sharp grounder to Rojas who stumbled, fired home beating Kiner-Falefa by a eyelash. Jays challenged that Smith's foot was not touching the plate. But the call was confirmed. Just prior to Clement's at bat, Roberts replaced CF Tommy Edman with Andy Pages, who had the stronger arm. Clement hit a drive to deep left center that both Kike and Pages were chasing. Pages crashed into Kike and caught the ball ending the threat. LA loaded the bases in the 10th with no outs but did not score. Jays went down in order in the 10th. Shane Bieber came in to pitch for the Jays. With 2 outs, Will Smith homered to left for a 5-4 lead, LA's first of the game. Guererro hit a leadoff double against Yoshi in the 11th. A sac bunt by Kiner-Falefa moved him to third with the tying run. They unintentionally intentionally walked Barger to bring up Kirk. On a 0-2 pitch, Kirk hit a broken bat grounder to Betts who ran to second for an out and fired to Freeman for the game ending double play.

Missed chances cost the Jays the championship. They were 3-17 with RISP in this game alone. They were 2-12 in game 3. So, in two pivotable games, they went 5-29. Not a winning formula. Yamamoto was the series MVP. So, there you have them. Some of the best staffs in Dodger history. Some of you might have different teams you would pick. But it took a lot of research to come up with these.

There were no MiLB games today. All affiliates are off every Monday, and the two rookie leagues' seasons are over. The DSL just completed last week. DSL LAD Bautista was 24-30, and DSL LAD Mega 22-31. Buatista ended up 4th in a 6 team league. Mega ended up 5th in a 6 team league. As a reminder, the Dodgers ACL team ended up 25-35, good for 5th place in a 5 team League.

The affiliate schedule is wrapping up. Ontario and Great Lakes have 2 weeks remaining. Tulsa has 3 weeks remaining, and OKC has 4 weeks remaining.

Tulsa, having won the 1st half, is already in the playoffs. The likely team they will be playing in the first round of the playoffs looks to be Springfield (Cardinals).

Great Lakes is 0.5 games behind in the 2nd half. Down a half game with 13 games to play.

Ontario is 5.0 games ahead in the standings for the 2nd half. They are in a good position to win the 2nd half of the South Division of the California League.

I did not forget OKC. They have not been eliminated, but they are not in a good position. They have the 4th best record in the 2nd half, and are 4.5 games behind the leader.