1955
1959
1963
1965
1981
1988
The Dodgers won their first World Series in 1955. Don Newcombe was the ace of that staff and for the second time in his career, he won 20 games. The following year, in 1956, Newcombe won 27 games and won the very first National League Cy Young award along with the MVP. He was one of the very best pitchers for a six season stretch from his rookie year in 1949 through 1956.
In 1959, the ace was only 22 years old, but he was a good one and a player who’s exploits I’ll be documenting on this site. Don Drysdale led the league in strikeouts that year and he was a pitcher the Dodgers could rely on when his time on the mound came around.
In 1963, the Dodgers had not one ace, but two. Sandy Koufax had eclipsed Don Drysdale as the best pitcher on the team even thought Drysdale was still one of the top pitchers in the National League. Koufax won the MVP and Cy Young that season and led the league in wins, strikeouts and ERA. The two star pitchers had one last hurrah in 1965 as the Dodgers won their fourth World Series in eleven years. In that season, Koufax won his second Cy Young but Drysdale was no slouch with 23 wins. The only comparison to having these two guys on your team would be when Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling led the Diamondbacks to a World Series win in 2001.
In 1981, Fernandomania was alive and well. Taking the baseball world by storm, Fernando Valenzuela won both the Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young in the strike shortened season. Valenzuela led the league in strikeouts and innings pitched and he was a dominant pitcher for the Dodgers through 1986.
In 1988, Orel Hershiser took the world by storm. He finished the regular season by throwing 59 scoreless innings, topping the former record of Dodger Don Drysdale. He won 23 games and his first and only Cy Young award.
In each of the Dodgers six World Series, they had an ace. And just to be clear, I don’t view an ace as the best pitcher on a given team. Living in Michigan, I saw something on the news about Jeremy Bonderman being the Tigers’ ace. While Bonderman has a bright future, I don’t think he deserves that distinction yet.
I view an ace as being one of the very best pitchers in the league. Great teams very rarely have long losing streaks, and that’s usually because their ace puts a stop to any long drought. We’re talking about a pitcher who, more times then not, will have his name mentioned in the same sentence as Cy Young. Pedro Martinez is an ace. Johan Santana is an ace. Chris Carpenter was an ace last season.
As I look at the Dodgers roster, I don’t see an ace. They have a few quality arms, but nobody that I’d consider a true ace. And while the Dodgers have an excellent pen, that’s usually a complement to a great rotation, it doesn’t make up for the lack of one. So as the Dodgers head into the 2006 season, one of the big questions will be, will one of their pitchers break out and become that ace that was instrumental in Dodger championships past. I’m not optimistic, which means it’s hard to be TOO optimistic about the Dodgers chances in this upcoming season.
