Best Dodger Team Ever: Poll

                Okay guys let’s hear it from you. Tell us which year you believe the Dodgers fielded their best team. There are a lot of candidates out there. I know I have a couple of favorite nominees. The 1963 Dodgers. Had perhaps the best 1-2 punch as starting pitchers in Drysdale and Koufax. They won 99 games with a mediocre offense. But four of their starting pitchers won in double figures, Koufax, 25, Drysdale, 19, Podres, 14, and Miller, 10. Ron Perranoski won 16 out of the bullpen and had 21 saves. Team ERA was 2.85, best in the league. 

                    Their best hitter was Tommy Davis, .326, he won the batting title for the second straight year, Howard led the team in homers with 28. They only hit 110 as a team and batted .251.  The only rookie who was in the starting lineup was third baseman, Ken McMullen. He had 79 starts at the position. They went into the World Series with the Yankees as underdogs. But their pitching totally shut down the Yankees and the offense did just enough for them to sweep New York. After scoring 9 runs in the first two games at Yankee Stadium, the Dodgers scored only 3 in the next two at home. But Koufax and Drysdale shut down the Yankees on just 9 hits the last two games. Big D had a 3-hit shutout, and Koufax only gave up a homer to Mantle in his clinching 2-1 win. So far, still their only World Series clinching win at home. 

                 Maybe one of the best hitting Dodger teams was the 1953 group. The 53 Brooklyn Dodgers won 105 games. the most in franchise history until the 2019 team won 106. The 2021 team matched that 106 and the 22-version won 111. What all of these teams have in common is that none of them won the World Series. Of course, in 53, that was the only post season series they had to play. 

                 The 53 team had a team BA of .285. They scored 955 runs. They hit 208 homers, first in the league. They stole 90 bases, for a team relying on their power, that was a decent number. They had a team ERA of 4.10, third in the league. Considering the size of most ballparks in the day, that was pretty normal. They gave up 169 homers, and that was seventh in the league. 

                 The team featured five future Hall of Famers in the starting lineup. Campy, Hodges, Reese, Robinson and Snider. Campy, 41, Snider, 42 and Hodges, 31 combined for 114 of the teams 208 homers. Furillo added 21. Campy, 142, Hodges, 122 and Snider, 126, were the big guns RBI wise. Pee Wee and Jim Gilliam stole 22 and 21 bases respectively. Five of the starters hit .300 or better with Furillo, .344 winning the batting title. At .271, Reese had the lowest BA in the starting 8. The pitchers hit .161 with a couple of homers. But two pitchers, Podres, .306 and Hughes, .286 hit well enough. Erskine had the most AB’s 101, hits, 20 and RBIs, 8. He hit .215. Wade and Preacher Roe hit the homers. 

              The pitching staff had 29 saves, this of course before all the specialized stats there are today. Erskine won 20 games, Meyer, 15, Loes, 14, Roe, 11 and Podres, 9. Labine won 11 out of the pen and had 7 saves. Hughes won 4 and had 9 saves, Milliken 8 with 2 saves, Wade 7 with 3 saves, Black won 6 and had 5 saves. Erskine had 3 saves to go along with his wins. The most games played by any of their bench players was 90 by Don Thompson, an outfielder. Wayne Belardi contributed 11 homers. 

               This team bludgeoned the opposition. They had decent pitching for the era, and they led the league in fielding percentage with a .980 mark. They made 118 errors and had 161 double plays, #1 in the league, and their catchers threw out 53% of the baserunners attempting to steal. Campy had a 54% caught stealing rate. All in all, a very good team. But they just could not beat the Yankees. 

             So, let us hear who you think belongs on this list. I am sure you all have your favorites. Back from Denver early.