Dynasty
the Dodgers: how close are they?
Sports fans love to debate dynasties, and especially to argue over whether or not a particular team could be called a dynasty. True dynasties have been few in sports, but a lot beg the question.
No one doubts, of course, that Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics of the 1960s were a dynasty. Ten seasons; nine championships (not to mention 1959). The very definition of a dynasty. They had to fight and claw for those titles — no matter how dynastical, no one gives that team a thing — but they proved they were the best year after year.
Compare that to the 2010–14 San Francisco Giants: five seasons, three championships, and nothing else in-between. They never came close to defending a title; they lost in the division series in 2016, their best showing after their third title. But only the 1996–2001 New York Yankees had greater success since the 1972–73 Oakland A’s.
Those Yankees, led by Derek Jeter, won four World Series (a fifth in 2009), lost two others, and dominated MLB in a very dynastical way — until the 2004 Boston Red Sox made their miracle comeback. But is winning four championships in five seasons a dynasty? Maybe that suffices in the modern era.
After all, the NBA consisted of eight teams total in 1960 and had grown to just fourteen by 1969. Today, the league has 30 teams. And while the Lakers, Spurs, and Warriors have all dominated over the past two decades, and the Lakers and Celtics in the 80s, none were ever so dominant as to truly be considered a dynasty.
San Antonio, with five championships over fifteen seasons (1999–2014), the Boston Red Sox, four in fifteen (2004–2018), and the New England Patriots, six in eighteen (2001–2018) are examples of what might be called near-dynasties: lots of championships and almost always in the hunt for another. The Lakers of the 2000s won five titles, bookending the decade (2000–2002, with Shaq and Kobe, and 2009–10 led by Kobe and Pau Gasol).
So what of the recent Dodgers? Four seasons, three World Series and one championship. No other team in MLB has come close to that record. Given the number of teams in MLB, the fluidity of team lineups given free agency, and the fact that no team has won back-to-back titles since the Yankees won their third in a row in 2000 — what is a baseball dynasty?
Obviously, had the Asstros not cheated in 2017, the Dodgers’ case would be stronger. And if they can add a few more over the coming seasons — and that seems quite possible — then the D-word may not even be in question.
They’ve clearly been the cream of the National League for much of this decade. Eight division titles, five trips to the NLCS, and three NL crowns; no other team has come close. (Well, the Giants’ three aberrant seasons aside.) With their mix of veterans, youth, experience, prospects, and resources, it’s easy to see the Dodgers dominating baseball for a long time to come. Now that they are over the hurdle of 1988, the pressure to break that streak won’t be on them come playoff time. They’ve won it all; it’s no longer a matter of “Can we?” but “We did”.
The Dodgers don’t need the label of dynasty; it’s not official and brings no trophy. No doubts that they are the best team in baseball and have been overall for the past five years. The 2020 championship sealed that. But the players and team are about done with resting on their laurels. They’ll be ending whatever time-off they took to celebrate and rest soon and getting the long training and preparation started. They don’t care what they are called, dynasty or otherwise.
Just Champ. That’s the only one that matters.
