Dodgers = BIG BLUE MACHINE … But Can They Repeat?

BY MARK A. LARSON
Editor & Publisher

When the Cincinnati Reds put together their high-octane teams in the early ’70s under manager Sparky Anderson, they became known as “The Big Red Machine.”

Except for the Covid-shortened 2020 season, starting in 2013 the Los Angeles Dodgers have won 90-plus games every season – including five years of 100 or more. (Even in ’20, they posted a .717 winning pct. enroute to their first World Series victory since 1988.) Last year saw them become World Champions again. In essence, the Dodgers have become this era’s “Big Blue Machine.”

Some historical perspective …

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Over the 10-year period from 1970-79, the Reds triumphed in two consecutive World Series (1975-76), won four pennants and captured six division titles. In fact, those two Series wins are the only time in the past century that a National League team has been victorious in back-to-back Fall Classics. (It has happened several times in the A.L. during the same period.) Prior to the 1975-76 Reds, one has to go all the way back to the 1921-22 New York Giants to find an N.L. team that has repeated as World Champs.

The Cincinnati teams of the ’70s were loaded with offensive talent: Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, Dave Concepcion, George Foster and Lee May among others. Add to that, there was superb pitching from the likes of Gary Nolan, Jack Billingham and Don Gullett to name just a few. (Rose, Bench, Perez, Morgan and manager Sparky Anderson are all in the Hall of Fame.)

In short, the “Big Red Machine” squads were a juggernaut ready to flatten their opponents like an enormous steamroller.

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Manager Dave Roberts has led the Dodgers since 2016 (Don Mattingly was the previous skipper). He heads a team this year with an offense anchored by Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, Mookie Betts and Will Smith. The pitching staff will be led by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki and possibly Ohtani. (There’s even a chance future first ballot Hall-of-Famer Clayton Kershaw will rejoin the club later this season.)

Going back to their days in Brooklyn, the Dodgers have been to the World Series in back-to-back years twice. But they were unable to duplicate either of those victories from the previous year. They won their first World Series in 1955, but lost the ’56 Fall Classic. Ten years later, L.A. was baseball’s best in 1965, but, again, failed to repeat when they dropped the ’66 Series.

Los Angeles faces a historic test in 2025. And with today’s expanded playoffs, it’s much more difficult to reach baseball’s ultimate peak two years in a row. Yet, over the past dozen seasons the Dodgers have two World Series wins, four N.L. pennants and have taken 11 division titles. “The “Big Blue Machine” may have the best chance to do what hasn’t been done in almost 50 years among National League teams: Repeat as baseball’s reigning World Champions.