No two teams from the same division had ever won over 105 games in a single season, until last year. The clubs to do it just so happened to have been at each other’s necks for over a century.
No matter how well the Giants played in 2021, the Dodgers threatened for the top spot. Every day, fans on both teams frantically checked the box scores for both their favorite squad and their most hated. It was a daily sprint to the finish.
“As a fan of baseball, I thought that was the coolest thing,” said Giants manager Gabe Kapler, who grew up in Southern California. “Even taking a step back and looking at it from a 30,000 foot view, it was phenomenal. It was a ton of fun. And I think it was probably fun for all the fans who got to witness it.”
It’ll be tough to beat 2021, but the Giants and Dodgers renew their rivalry for the first time on Tuesday in Los Angeles. This iteration, Chapter 1 of the Volume 2022, again features two teams legitimately vying for National League West supremacy.
The Giants, who have been decimated by injuries and positive COVID-19 cases, could return LaMonte Wade Jr., Joc Pederson, Mike Yastrzemski and possibly others (pending virus test results). The Dodgers, meanwhile, have retooled from last year with even more talent and project to be the sport’s team to beat.
Here are 10 numbers to know about the matchup.
24
The Giants and Dodgers met 24 times last year, including the five playoff games. It was the first postseason meeting between the two clubs since the Giants moved to the west coast.
The Giants won 10 of 19 regular season matchups, but lost in the division series in five games. That means the most epic division race ever finished with a head-to-head record of 12-12.
.5
Four weeks into the season, the Giants currently trail the Dodgers by half a game in the National League West. Both teams have 14 wins.
The Padres, who finished 79-83 last season, have the most wins in the division (15) but are in second place.
47
The Dodgers have outscored their opponents by 47 runs so far this year, the best run differential in baseball. The Yankees, who have won nine straight, are second (+41).
Even while getting outscored 28-18 this weekend by the Washington Nationals, the Giants have the second-best differential in the NL at +34.
.042
Cody Bellinger went 2-for-48 against the Giants in the regular season, making him statistically the worst player ever against SF.
But then in the NLDS, Bellinger drove in three runs on four hits. His Game 5 double plated the go-ahead run that decided the series.
So far in 2022, the 2019 NL MVP is hitting .205 but with four home runs; he had just 10 in 95 games last year.
.850
Freddie Freeman, the Dodgers’ biggest offseason acquisition, is leading LAD both in OPS (.850) and with a .299 batting average. His presence has shifted Max Muncy over from first base to second.
4
Los Angeles has four former MVPs on their team in Freeman, Bellinger, Mookie Betts and Clayton Kershaw. The Giants, of course, have none.
This weekend, Kershaw broke the Dodgers’ franchise record for career strikeouts, passing Don Sutton with his 2,697th punch out. Sutton had held the record since 1979.
2.33
The Dodgers’ pitching staff leads baseball with a 2.33 ERA. They’re doing it without Trevor Bauer, who was suspended by MLB for two years for violating the league’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy.
LA’s rotation has nonetheless posted an MLB-best 2.01 ERA. Its bullpen, with newly acquired Craig Kimbrel closing games, has been nearly as effective.
The Giants got knocked around this weekend, but their staff still has the fifth-best overall ERA in MLB (3.06).
151
In arguably the most hotly contested division race of all time the Giants claimed first place for 151 days. They held off the 106-win Dodgers by playing at least .600 ball in every month, breaking the MLB record for pinch-hit home runs and enjoying career years from Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, LaMonte Wade Jr., Logan Webb, Tyler Rogers and more.
8 to 7
The Giants have eight World Series titles as a franchise, one more than the Dodgers. But since both teams moved to California in 1958, LA has won six rings to San Francisco’s Even Year three.
1271-1250
Giants-Dodgers is one of the longest-standing rivalries in American sports, spanning back to when the teams played in New York.
Tuesday will mark the 2,522nd meeting between the two clubs, who first played on May 3, 1890 when the Dodgers were still the Brooklyn Bridegrooms.
The clubs have been, historically, as evenly matched as virtually possible. The Giants have won 1271 of those games — a .504 winning percentage. Even more mind-blowing: both teams have averaged 4.3 runs per game against each other, per mcubed.net.