The Greatest Dynasty Of All Time
Today's Dodgers
The Greatest Dynasty Of All Time
The Los Angeles Dodgers are in the midst of the greatest dynastic run in Major League Baseball history.
And, no, I’m not talking about the Shohei Ohtani deal — though that’s certainly not going to hurt matters.
No, I’m talking about how much better the Dodgers have been than their competition on the field over the past few seasons. They’ve been better than the rest of the National League for the last 7 years — and, honestly, it’s not even close.
Yes, I know that the Dodgers only managed to win the World Series in the pandemic shortened 2020 season. We’re not talking about the World Series here. We’re also not talking about won-loss records. Nope — we’re talking about the Domination Index, about the theory behind that old Dynasties book.
Let’s take a look.
Dominance
I knew something was up when I looked at the all-time National League Domination Index leaders and saw this:
This is a list of the top 25 Domination Index records of all time. This includes the 1986 Mets, who finished 5th, as well as the 1975 Reds, who finished 8th. There is no question that this represents the best of the best of National League teams relative to their respective leagues.
Yes, I know there are a few surprises on this list — the 2008 Cubs (a better team than you might think), and the 2016 Cubs, to name two. But look at how the modern Dodger teams are represented:
The 2022 Dodgers are currently 1st in the Domination Index race, with the highest Domination Index score since 1893 (including the Federal League and Japanese teams).
The 2020 Dodgers are 6th on the list, though I suppose we could argue that they benefited from a short season.
The 2021 Dodgers are 7th on the list, just a tad behind the 2020 Dodgers. So much for the short season explanation.
The 2019 Dodgers are 11th on the list, again lending credence to the idea that the 2020 Dodgers really were that good.
The 2018 Dodgers are 22nd on the all-time list.
It gets even more ridiculous when you look down a bit:
The 2023 Dodgers finished 56th on the all-time list, right behind the 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates and right ahead of the 1994 Montreal Expos.
The 2017 Dodgers finished 60th on the all-time list, right behind the 1977 Philadelphia Phillies and right ahead of the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates.
To put it in context — my list includes 1,413 National League teams, from 1893 to 2023. Between 2017 and 2023, Los Angeles Dodgers teams finished as follows in the all-time rankings:
2017: 60th, with a 2.552 score
2018: 22nd, with a 3.052 score
2019: 11th, with a 3.295 score
2020: 6th, with a 3.566 score
2021: 7th, with a 3.429 score
2022: 1st, with a 3.937 score (best of all time)
2023: 56th, with a 2.597 score
Nobody comes close. Certainly nobody in the National League comes close. Even the Yankees in the late 1930s don’t come close.
Here’s how the Yankees look from 1933 to 1939, with rankings relative to other American League Domination Index scores:
1933: 242nd, with a 1.551 score
1934: 129th, with a 2.155 score
1935: 149th, with a 2.008 score
1936: 21st, with a 3.123 score
1937: 14th, with a 3.22 score
1938: 33rd, with a 2.957 score
1939: 4th, with a 3.517 score
The 1940 Yankees were 232nd on the all time list, with a 1.586 domination index score. They did better in 1941 and 1942, but it was still nothing close to that 2020-2022 run that the Dodgers had.
I mean, I don’t really need to dig into this any more, do I? We’ve never seen anything like the dominance the Dodgers have enjoyed over the past 7 years. And they’re only getting better.
What Does This Mean?
There are a few reasons why I think the Dodgers have had such an unusually dominant run.
Free agency, combined with a lack of revenue sharing, means that great players in their prime are more likely to go to the richest teams, and the Dodgers are simply the richest.
The extended postseason means it’s more likely than ever that a great team will lose — causing the Dodger front office to continue to spend in hopes of a World Series winner.
At any rate, I think it’s obvious that we need to include at least one of these teams in our Greatest Team Of All Time lists. To be blunt, you can’t even begin to talk about all-time baseball dynasties without starting with this team. They’ve been that good.
Let me know in the comments what you think. I’m opening this one up to comments from everybody, not only subscribers.
Also, if you are interested in the Domination Index, check out the member’s area, where you can download the complete spreadsheet and mess around with it yourself. Membership costs only $5 a month, and helps keep this project alive!