unbreakables: Dodger records that won't be broken

The old saying is that records are made to be broken. But there are some that just seem insurmountable. Records like DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak. Cobbs's career .366 career BA, and for sure any pitching record Cy Young holds. Jack Chesbro's 41 wins in a season.

Teams have records that especially in this era, will probably never be broken. With pitch counts monitored and pitchers protected like they are, even 20 game winners have become an endangered species. .300 hitters? Not many of those around either. Two years in a row? Just the way teams are assembled in this era. Being old school, I prefer 20 game winners and hitters who win batting titles. But that is not going to happen anytime soon. So, here are some Dodger records unlikely to be broken. We will start with career pitching numbers.

WINS: Sutton is the leader with 233. Yamamoto in his 3rd season as a Dodger has 30 right now which doesn't dent the top 50. He probably has maybe 4 more starts. LA has 47 games left after today's tiff with the Cubs. He might win all four, he might not. But if he averages 12 wins a season, over the next 9 years of his deal, he will finish with 138. That would put him 2 ahead of Podres and 3 behind Valenzuela. He gets less chances because of the six-man rotation.

Saves: Kenley Jansen is the career leader with 350 which is 189 more than the #2 guy on the list, Eric Gagne. Jansen spent 12 seasons with the team. It is doubtful that some 24-year-old is going to be handed the closer's job and hold it for 10 seasons, which is what Kenley did. Converted from catcher, his career high in saves in LA was 47 in 2018.

Strikeouts: It is probably a safe bet that Kershaw's 3,052 Ks will stand. 17 seasons with the team, because of free agency there are very few players who start and end with the same team. Yamamoto is in his 3rd season and has 9 more to play, but he would have to average 292 Ks a year to pass Kersh.

Games Played: Jansen had 701 in LA. Sutton, who pitched in a different type of pitching environment, had 550. A reliever, if he stayed with the Dodgers for 12 plus years might reach that, but again, in this era, relief pitchers just do not stay with an organization that long.

Innings Pitched: Sutton holds this one with 3816.1. He and Drysdale are the only pitchers on the list with more than 3000. Brickyard Kennedy at 2866 is 11 ahead of Kershaw. Most of the unbreakable pitcher records can be attributed to longevity.

Three more that are pretty safe, games started, 533 by Sutton, complete games, 280 by Kennedy, and the 52 shutouts recorded by Sutton. As good as Kersh was, he only had 15. Sutton's 181 losses seem pretty safe to. We will move on to some career hitting records that seem extremely safe.

Just for the sake of argument, one of the main stats used to judge players is WAR. The highest WAR for a position player in Dodger history is 68.4 by Pee Wee Reese. As we all know, that includes his defense. About 10 points of his WAR came from defense. The highest offensive WAR is held by Duke Snider who posted a 68.2 offensive WAR while a Dodger. His overall career WAR is 66.0. Players today who could exceed that mark, maybe one, Ohtani. Ohtani has a 19.0 WAR with LA right now. He has seven years left on his deal. He might be able to generate enough WAR to pass that, but he would have to average around a 7 WAR. Only time will tell.

Batting Average: The leader board on batting average is skewed some because they have players on there who played less than 6 years, but whose average was high. Willie Keeler is a prime example of this Keeler played for Brooklyn for five years and posted a .352 career average with Brooklyn. The highest LA average is Mike Piazza at .331 who played seven years for LA. For my purposes, the .317 BA compiled by Zack Wheat in his 18-year career is the true team leader. The way the game is played today, that mark is safe unless they sign some contact hitter who hits for average. Manny Mota's .315 would be the high-water mark for an LA Dodger. Manny was with LA for 13 seasons.

Games Played: Wheat holds the record here with 2,322. This is another longevity record. Ohtani and Betts, if they played all 162 games for the rest of their contracts would still fall short by 300 games or so. Pretty sure this is unbreakable.

At Bats and Plate Appearances: Wheat holds both of these marks with 8,859 at bats and 9,731 plate appearances. Safe to say, no player will approach either of these. Pee Wee is the only other Dodger with 8,000 or more at bats, and 9,000 or more plate appearances.

Hits and Singles: Wheat again holds both of these records. 2,804 hits, 2,038. Wheat also holds the career marks for doubles, 464 and triples 171. Both seem pretty safe. Triples are rare, and a player would have to spend close to his entire career in LA averaging close to 47 doubles a year to pass Wheat. Freeman, who is a doubles machine, has just 204 in his LA career.

No one has hit more homers as a Dodger than Duke Snider did. At one time, I thought this record would not be broken. It still might not, but Ohtani, who has power off of the charts, could do it if he averages 38 homers a year over his next 7 seasons. But will he be that kind of hitter after he passes 35 years old. He is a much better athlete than most players of that era, but still, I am not convinced he can keep up that kind of pace into his late 30's.

RBIs: Snider holds this record with 1,271. I feel it is doubtful that either Ohtani or Betts, the two offensive players with the longest contracts, will be able to even come close to this number. Betts has 479, Ohtani 303. He is going to have to really pick up the pace to drive in 100 this year. If he does not hit that mark, it will be the second straight year his total has dropped.

Stolen Bases: Maury Wills had 490 as a Dodger which is 72 more than Lopes has. A speedster like Kendall George could probably steal a lot of bases in the majors, but LA has not had a real pure base stealer since Dee Gordon left. Trea Turner does not really count, wasn't with the team long enough.

Extra Base Hits: Snider had 814 with the Dodgers. No one else has come close to that number. Ohtani has 238 in his 3 plus years in LA. So far this season, he only has 50, and there are just 45 games left in the season. Ohtani could end up with this record, but he will definitely have to have some big years to do it.

Hit By Pitch: Justin Turner was hit 96 times. I don't think any player really wants to match or come close to this record. But just for the record, Will Smith is just 30 behind JT. Not sure Smitty wants this record.

Well that about cover's the ones I believe are relevant, next time I will do one of the season records that in all reality, have little chance of being matched or broken.

OKC Comets 6 – Salt Lake City Bees (LAA) 5 – 10 innings 

RHSP Tyler Glasnow was making his 2nd start of the week.  The goal was 3.0 innings or 45 pitches.  Glasnow completed 2.2 innings and was pulled after a strikeout on his 47th pitch.  In the 1st inning, he gave up a one out single.  The runner stole 2nd and moved to 3rd on a ground out.  The runner then scored on a WP.  He had not thrown a WP all year. Judge whether you think this should have been caught. 

He also walked one in the 2nd, and the runner also stole 2nd.  Glasnow’s delivery does favor stolen bases, but at this stage of his rehab, holding runners on is not his top priority. 

He got through 47 pitches, but how he feels on Monday is the key for his continued rehab.  

In the 2nd inning, LF Alek Thomas hit a one out single.  SS Hyeseong Kim walked.  Both runners scored when C Griffin Lockwood-Powell doubled (7). 

In the 3rd, CF Zach Ehrhard singled and scored on a 2-run HR (22) from RF James Tibbs III. 

The previously announced SP was RHP Christian Romero.  He entered the game with 2 outs in the 4th and gave up a solo HR.  

In the OKC 6th, with 2 outs, 2B Austin Gauthier singled and scored on a single by GLP. 

In the bottom of the 6th, Romero got the first two outs, but 3 straight singles scored a run, before getting the final out. 

RHRP Ben Casparius finally had a good appearance.  He pitched a scoreless 7th with one hit.

RHRP Paul Gervase pitched a scoreless 8th with 1 BB. 

LHRP Ronan Kopp was summoned to get the save in the 9th.  Unfortunately, Kopp’s clean innings are very rare this year.  He struck out the first batter, but then allowed a single and BB.  He was replaced by RHRP Jerming Rosario.  Rosario allowed a run-scoring single.  He induced a force out.  He then got the ground ball he was hoping to end the game with, but it was booted and the tying run scored. 

In the 10th inning, Ehrhard was the free runner at 2nd.  He reached 3rd on the second groundout and scored on Alek Thomas’ clutch single. 

RHRP Griff McGarry was tasked with shutting down the Bees in the 10th.  With the runner starting at 2nd, McGarry got two quick outs.  He issued a  IBB to the next batter, and then struck out the final batter for the save. 

·      Alek Thomas – 3-5, 1 run, 1 RBI, double (15)

·      Austin Gauthier – 2-4, 1 BB, 1 run

·      Griffin Lockwood-Powell – 2-5, 3 RBI, double (7)

·      James Tibbs III – 1-4, 1 BB, 1 run, 2 RBI, HR (22) 

After a 4-hit night, Thomas came back with a 3-hit night including the game winning single. 

Austin Gauthier reminds me of one of my favorite MiLB players…O’Koyea Dickson.  Dickson was coming to the end of his 7th MiLB season and was going to be a MiLB FA.  Back when teams could add anyone on the 40 man to the MLB roster in September, Dickson got the call and went 1-7.  He spent the next two years in Japan but was not able to make it back to MLB.  I hope Austin (who was a UDFA) will get his call, even for just 1 MLB AB. 

Box Score 

Tulsa Drillers 3 – Corpus Christi Hooks (Houston) 1 

RHSP Patrick Copen started.  In the 2nd inning, Copen hit the leadoff hitter.  He stole 2nd and continued to 3rd on a catcher’s throwing error.  The runner scored an unearned run on a SF.  

Tulsa put up a pair in the 3rd.  RF Kole Myers singled.  When the next batter struck out, Myers stole 2nd and moved to 3rd on the catcher’s throwing error.  Myers scored when 2B Taylor Young reached on a fielding error as he continued to 2nd.  Young scored when LF Josue De Paula singled.  CF Mike Sirota followed with a single moving JDP to 2nd.  JDP was thrown out at home on an attempted double steal to end the inning. 

Myers led off the 5th with his 4th HR and a 3-1 lead. 

Copen completed 5.0 IP.  He allowed the one unearned run on 2 singles and 3 walks, while striking out 7. 

Tulsa scored three more in the 7th.  Leading off, C Frank Rodriguez was HBP.  Myers followed with a BB.  With one out, Young was walked to load the bases.  Rodriguez scored on a WP with the other runners moving up to 2nd and 3rd.  Myers and Young scored on JDP’s 30th double of the season, and a 6-1 lead. 

Three relievers followed Copen, and all three were productive.  The Hooks scored an unearned run in the 8th.  Combined the three relievers allowed one run, 2 hits, 1 BB, and registered 5 K. 

·      Josue De Paula – 2-5, 3 RBI, double (30)

·      Kole Myers – 2-3, 1 BB, 3 runs, 1 RBI, HR (4) 

Box Score 

Great Lakes Loons 8 – Dayton Dragons (Reds) 6 

This very much looked like a pitch count preservation game.  RHP Brooks Auger threw 32 pitches, 18 for strikes, before being lifted with 1 out in the 2nd by RHRP Nicolas Cruz.  He left with the score 0-0 but with a runner on 2nd after a double.  Cruz got an out, but after a WP, gave up an RBI single. 

The Loons took the lead in the 3rd.  2B Mairo Martinus hit his 1st Great Lakes triple and scored on C Gio Cueto’s 2-run HR (2).  LF Charles Davalan and CF Eduardo Quintero followed with singles. With one out, SS Emil Morales walked to load the bases.  3B Eduardo Guerrero hit a SF to score Davalan. 

The pre-game reported SP was RHP Tyler Gough.  He entered in the 4th, but after he retired the first two batters, he gave up a HR.  He retired the side in order in the 5th. 

In the 6th with 1 out, 1B Jose Meza walked.  With 2 outs, in a game where Martinus hit his first GL triple, he hit his 1st GL HR, a 2-run shot.  

Gough threw 38 pitches, 24 for strikes.  LHRP Justin Chambers entered the 6th in relief of Gough.  He struck out 2 around a BB and HBP before he was lifted for RHRP Robby Porco.  Porco served up a 2-run double, before getting an inning K. 

With Porco back on the mound, he walked the 1st batter.  Back-to-back WP pushed the runner to 3rd.  He walked the next batter, and the following batter reached on an error to load the bases.  The tying run scored on a SF.  LHRP Cody Morse came in to relieve Porco.  He struck out the 1st batter, but walked and hit the next two hitters forcing in a run giving the Dragons a 1-run lead. 

In the 8th, Morales walked and scored the tying run on the catcher’s throwing error. 

In the 9th with 2 outs, Davalan tripled (3) and scored ahead of Quintero’s 11th HR to put GL back in front. 

RHRP Davis Chastain pitched 2 scoreless innings for the win.  7 Loons pitchers in the game, and not one pitched more than 38 pitches (Gough). 

·      Charles Davalan – 2-5, 2 runs, triple (3)

·      Eduardo Quintero – 2-5, 1 BB, 2 runs, HR (11)

·      Mairoshendrick Martinus – 2-4, 2 runs, 2 RBI, triple (1), HR (1)

·      Gio Cueto – 1-3, 1 BB, 1 run, 2 RBI, HR (3) 

Quintero with a little D.

Box Score

Inland Empire Storm (San Diego) 5 – Ontario Tower Buzzers 4 

2B Kellon Lindsey and DH Ching-Hsien Ko led off the game with walks.  They both scored on 1B Oswaldo Osorio’s 3-run HR (9). 

In the bottom of the 1st, RHSP Marlon Nieves allowed a single and SB.  The next batter walked , and the lead runner stole 3rd.  He scored on a groundout.  He got the final 2 outs of the inning without any further runs. 

In the 3rd, Nieves gave up a triple and 2-run HR to tie the game. 

Ontario went back in front in the 4th inning.  LF Brendan Tunink doubled (16).  He moved to 3rd when C Francisco Espinoza reached on an error.  Tunink scored on a groundout, taking a 4-3.  

LHRP Ian May pitching in his 2nd game for Ontario, pitched a scoreless 6th frame with 1 K.  RHRP Jose Vasquez pitched a scoreless 7th with a BB. 

RHRP Jecsua Liborius was called to have a 2 inning save.  He retired the side in order in the 8th with 2 K.  But that 9th inning.  He walked the first two batters in the inning.  After a strikeout the two runners pulled a double steal, and scored when the next batter hit a 2-run single for the walkoff win. 

·      Joendry Vargas – 2-5

·      Oswaldo Osorio – 2-5, 1 run, 3 RBI, HR (9)

·      Doubles – Brendan Tunink (16), Francisco Espinoza (3) 

Box Score