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1985 Los Angeles Dodgers

The 1985 MLB Season: One Of The Best Ever

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The 1985 MLB season was one of the best ever. Three of major league baseball’s four divisions had races that came down the final week and all three were settled with head-to-head series in an era where there was no wild-card cushion. And the postseason? The playoffs saw both LCS winners lose the first two games and then roar back. The World Series that featured a big geographic rivalry went the full seven games, replete with game-winning hits, disputed calls and a nationally televised meltdown.

TheSportsNotebook.com has a series of articles that cover the following…

*The Kansas City Royals saw a decade of consistent postseason experience finally translate into a World Series title. They won it all, but it was never easy—comebacks in the AL West race, the ALCS and the World Series were all necessary.

*Whitey Herzog’s St. Louis Cardinals were the October foil for the Royals in the all-Missouri I-70 Series. The Cardinals were the best team in baseball during the regular season, winning 101 games and surviving an excellent division race with the New York Mets.

*The Toronto Blue Jays had come into existence in 1977 and after steady improvement they made 1985 their year, with an AL East title. Although a race that looked like it was on the bag on a couple different occasions got very interesting before it was over.

*The Los Angeles Dodgers, after a poor 1984 season, had a comeback year for Tom Lasorda. The Dodgers were the only team to clinch a division title before the final weekend of the season, thanks to a big year from third baseman Pedro Guerrero and the pitching of Orel Hershiser and Fernando Valenzuela.

*The California Angels had fallen off the map since their 1982 playoff appearance. The Angels had a veteran lineup and they brought a veteran manager—Gene Mauch—back to manage the team. The results were instantly positive, but the ending was disappointing as the Angels let a division lead slip away in the face of the Kansas City charge.

*And how about the Big Apple? The Mets and Yankees contended to the final Saturday of the season. Dwight Gooden had one of the great pitching seasons of all-time for the Mets. Billy Martin returned to manage the Yanks, what would prove to be his last rodeo in the Bronx.

*Kansas City and St. Louis each dug holes in the ALCS & NLCS respectively, and each rallied. The Royals won three straight, including the last two on the road. The Cardinals relied on consecutive games with big home runs, from Ozzie Smith and Jack Clark to close the pennant.

*And finally we come to the World Series itself. The Royals lost the first two games at home and ultimately fell behind 3-1 in the series. Their ultimate rally to win it all is most remembered by a dramatic Game 6. They got help from an infamous umpire’s call, cashed it in and then the Cardinals came unglued—both on the field and with their tempers—for the national audience.

The following ten articles tell you the stories of  the four division winners, the three runner-ups and go game-by-game through all three postseason series. Together, they tell the story of a special baseball season through the eyes of its best teams.

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1985 KANSAS CITY ROYALS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1985 ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1985 TORONTO BLUE JAYS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1985 LOS ANGELES DODGERS

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1985 CALIFORNIA ANGELS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1985 NEW YORK METS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1985 NEW YORK YANKEES

READ MORE ABOUT THE 1985 ALCS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1985 NLCS
READ MORE ABOUT THE 1985 WORLD SERIES

 

The 1985 Los Angeles Dodgers Reverse Course & Win The NL West

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The Los Angeles Dodgers took a serious step back in 1984. After the first seven years under manager Tom Lasorda had produced four NL West titles, three National League pennants and the 1981 World Series title, the Dodgers finished under .500 in 1984. They looked ready to fall behind other powers that seemed to be rising in the NL West. Instead, the 1985 Los Angeles Dodgers completely reversed course, had a comeback year and returned won Lasorda’s fifth division title.

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Pitching was the Dodger staple and 24-year-old Fernando Valenzuela, already in his fifth year in the majors, won 17 games with a 2.45 ERA. Another young arm splashed upon the scene, one with the name of Orel Hershiser. The young righthander went a dazzling 19-3, finished with a 2.03 ERA and ended up third in the NL Cy Young voting. Lasorda got work from reliable lefty Jerry Reuss and another vet in Bob Welch, each of whom won 14 games.

The pitching staff finished with the best ERA in the National League, and a deep bullpen played a key role. Tom Niedenfuer, the 25-year-old closer saved 19 games with a 2.71 ERA. Ken Howell kicked in 12 saves with a 3.77 ERA and Carlos Diaz was at 2.61.

Offensively, the Dodgers were carried by leftfielder Pedro Guerrero, who finished with an on-base percentage of .422, hit 33 home runs and drove in 87 runs. Mike Scioscia, then a 26-year-old catcher, also had an OBP over .400, keyed by phenomenal plate discipline resulting in 77 walks.

More power on the corners came from first baseman Greg Brock and rightfielder Mike Marshall, as they combined to hit 49 home runs. Steve Sax was a big table-setter, with his .352 on-base percentage. It added up to a lineup that ranked fifth in the National League in runs scored.

The Dodgers were slow out of the gate and were 21-22 on Memorial Day, in fourth place and 5 ½ games back of the San Diego Padres. The Padres had won the NL pennant in 1984 and with a corps of young talent appeared to be the future of the NL West. If you thought the Dodgers were the past, the first couple months of the 1985 season wouldn’t have done anything to dissuade you.

Perhaps the summer months would have changed some minds though. Because Los Angeles gradually started to gain steam going toward the All-Star break and a 12-4 stretch to end the first half pushed the Dodgers into first place.

The stretch included series wins over the Cincinnati Reds, also contending in the NL West, the St. Louis Cardinals, future champs of the NL East and the Chicago Cubs, the defending champs of the NL East.

Los Angeles started the second half the same way they finished the first. They took three of four from St. Louis out of the break, went 12-5 and suddenly they were six games up. At the end of August, the front office made a deal to help the offense, adding third baseman Bill Madlock. In his 34 games for the Dodgers, Madlock hit .360.

The best news was that the acquisition of Madlock would matter more for the playoffs than for the stretch drive though, because the Dodgers blew the NL West open. Their lead grew to as many nine games in mid-August and never became close the rest of the way.

Los Angeles had a problem with San Diego head-to-head—the Dodgers lost 8 of 10 to the Padres—but the teams went in opposite directions as soon as they stopped playing each other. In fact, it was the Reds who ended up in second and the Padres fell hard to a third-place tie with the Houston Astros.

In a year where three of the four divisions went to the final Saturday of the regular season, Los Angeles was the anomaly. They clinched on the final Wednesday, a 9-3 home win over Atlanta. Marshall had three hits, a home run and three RBI, Hershiser got the win and the party could start in Hollywood.

The Cardinals were waiting in the NLCS, and Los Angeles opened with two wins on their home field. It proved to be their final wins of the season though. After dropping Games 3 & 4, LA lost two straight heartbreakers. They lost Game 5 on a walkoff home run to St. Louis shortstop Ozzie Smith. In Game 6 at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles was one out from forcing a seventh game when Niedenfuer gave up a three-home run to Jack Clark and the result was a 7-5 loss.

The 1985 Los Angeles Dodgers were still a great success story. Over the next three years they continued the pattern of playing dead, in 1986 and 1987, and then rising from the ashes—when they won the 1988 World Series title.