Monday night against the Miami Marlins came awfully close to a series-opening loss for the Dodgers, trailing by two runs since the fifth inning before three walks, a ground-rule double and Kyle Tucker’s walk-off two-run single delivered the 5-4 win in the ninth.
Instead of losing their 10th game of the season, the Dodgers won their 20th. They are tied with the Atlanta Braves for the best record in baseball at 20-9. The Dodgers have outscored their opponents by 68 runs thus far, the best run differential
in baseball, three ahead of Atlanta. It’s the seventh-best run differential through 29 games in franchise history.
During the Dodgers’ streak of 13 consecutive playoff appearances and counting, only twice did they get to 20 wins this quickly. In 2020 they started 21-8 en route to a 43-17 (.717) record in the shortened season and their first championship in 32 years. In 2022, the Dodgers were 20-9 on their way to 111-51 (.685), the most wins in the National League in 116 years. That year did not lead to postseason success, however.
In all, 18 Dodgers teams have won at least 20 of their first 29 games. Here’s how they did in those seasons:
- 25-4 — 1955 Brooklyn (98-55, won World Series)
- 23-6 — 1977 Los Angeles (98-64, lost World Series)
- 22-7 — 1941 Brooklyn, 22-7 (100-54, lost World Series)
- 22-7 — 1952 Brooklyn (96-57, lost World Series)
- 21-8 — 1940 Brooklyn (88-65, 2nd in NL)
- 21-8 — 1942 Brooklyn (104-50, 2nd in NL)
- 21-8 — 1983 Los Angeles (91-71, 2nd in NL West)
- 21-8 — 2009 Los Angeles (95-67, lost NLCS)
- 21-8 — 2020 Los Angeles (43-17, won World Series)
- 20-9 — 1888 Brooklyn (88-52, 2nd in American Association)
- 20-9 — 1892 Brooklyn (95-59, 3rd in NL)
- 20-9 — 1899 Brooklyn (101-47, 1st in NL)
- 20-9 — 1943 Brooklyn (81-72, 3rd in NL)
- 20-9 — 1965 Los Angeles (97-65, won World Series)
- 20-9 — 1974 Los Angeles (102-60, lost World Series)
- 20-9 — 1981 Los Angeles (63-47, won World Series)
- 20-9 — 2022 Los Angeles (111-51, lost NLDS)
- 20-9 — 2026 Los Angeles (TBD)
Of those first 17 starts this good, eight Dodgers teams reached the World Series, plus the 1899 Brooklyn Bridegrooms who had the best record in the National League but had no postseason in which to participate.
The cumulative winning percentage of those teams on the season was .619, which translates to 100 wins in 162 games. The worst winning percentage among those 17 teams was by Brooklyn in 1943 at .529, which translates to 86-76 over 162 games. The median wins per 162 games of this group was 102 (really 101.6) wins, by the 1952 Brooklyn team that went to the World Series.
Way back in February, we asked you to predict how many games the Dodgers would win in 2026, Now a little over a month into the season, we’re asking again: How many regular season games will the Dodgers win this year?
