In 2022, the Los Angeles Dodgers set a franchise record with 111 wins and became the first team in major league history to win 106+ games in three consecutive full seasons.
The Dodgers won 106 games in both 2019 and 2021 (setting and then tying a new franchise record). In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the Dodgers went 43-17, setting a new franchise record with a .711 winning percentage (a 116-win pace).
In 2022, the Dodgers had a 334+ run differential, tied for third-best since 1901. It was 96 runs better than the Yankees (+240) and 115 runs better than the Astros (+219).
The all-time run differential record is 458 runs, set in 1884 by the St. Louis Maroons (94-19) of the Union Association (the league lasted only one season; it had issues), who scored 887 runs and allowed only 418 runs. (Ten of the top 15 seasons were recorded prior to 1901.)
Teams With 300+ Run Differential (Since 1901)
DIFF W/L RS RA +411 - 1939 New York Yankees 106-45 967 556 +371 - 1927 New York Yankees 110-44 976 605 +334 - 2022 Los Angeles Dodgers 111-51 847 513 +334 - 1936 New York Yankees 102-51 1065 731 +333 - 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates 103-36 774 441 +323 - 1906 Chicago Cubs 116-36 704 381 +309 - 1998 New York Yankees 114-48 965 656 +308 - 1937 New York Yankees 102-52 979 671 +307 - 1931 New York Yankees* 94-59 1067 760 +300 - 2001 Seattle Mariners 116-46 927 627
Jayson Stark posted this wild factoid one day before the regular season ended:
Yankees Second-Half OPS
Aaron Judge: 1.321
All other Yankees: .653
If the Guardians or Rays can shut Judge down, beating the MFY should be easier than citing a Herschel Walker lie.
Stark had a full recap of Friday's four games, including the Phillies' shocking 6-3 win over the Cardinals, who had been two outs away from a 2-0 victory before Philadelphia (in its first postseason game in 11 years) scored six runs in the top of the ninth.
Sarah Langs reported that the Phillies were the 10th team to score six runs or more in the ninth inning (or later) of a postseason game, but they were the first team to do it after entering that inning while trailing AND the first team to do it after getting shut out for the first eight innings.
Katie Sharp of Baseball Reference found that (before the Phillies) the most runs a postseason team had scored in the ninth inning, when trailing by two or more runs, was four: Game 2 of the 1985 World Series (Cardinals vs Royals), Game 5 of the 2012 NLCS (Cardinals vs Nationals), and Game 4 of the 2016 NLDS (Cubs vs Giants).
Max Scherzer had not allowed four home runs or seven runs in any of his 23 starts this season. But he did both yesterday as the Padres walloped the Stems 7-1. The only other postseason pitcher to give up four dongs and seven runs was Gene Thompson of the Reds, in Game 3 of the 1939 World Series.
Scherzer in 2022
April: 94 batters faced, 1 HR
May: 99 batters faced, 4 HR
July: 117 batters faced, 2 HR
August: 164 batters faced, 2 HR
September: 57 batters faced, 2 HR
October 7: 21 batters faced, 4 HR
The Guardians/Rays game was the first postseason game in history in which both starting pitchers were named Shane (Bieber vs McClanahan). In the sixth inning, Jose Siri homered off Shane Bieber and José Ramírez homered off Shane McClanahan. Stark assured us that was "the first time in postseason history that two hitters with the same first name homered off two pitchers with the same first name in the same game".
Guardians 2, Rays 1. Time of Game: 2:17! Langs says it's the shortest postseason game since 1999 NLDS Game 2 (2:13).
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