Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Given the expanded September rosters, it seemed unlikely that the 2016 Dodgers would achieve their ultimate goal of setting the MLB record for most players on the DL in a single season. Heading into September, they were tied at 27 with the 2012 Red Sox, who lost 93 games, and the Dodgers seemed destined to be forever deadlocked with them in the history books.
But they were determined, and like so many other victories this season, this team just found a way to get it done.
Lost in the shuffle of the return of Clayton Kershaw was the corresponding move to activate him, which was to recall Carlos Frias and put him on the 60-day DL. That DL move made it 28 different players in 2016 that the Dodgers have put on the DL, an MLB record.
The Dodgers say they have set a major-league record by putting 28 players on the disabled list. Champagne for all.
— Andy McCullough (@ByMcCullough) September 9, 2016
When does the ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner go up now that the season has ended in success?
Never been prouder.
—–
In all seriousness, for the Dodgers to go through this and still be leading the division by four games and be on pace for 92 wins is remarkable and worthy of praise. Not only of the often mocked #Depth, but even more so of the job that Dave Roberts has done to keep the team focused on just winning the next game. There were multiple instances where the team could’ve folded (I mean, I did), most notably when Kershaw went down and they were eight games back in the division, but they not only persevered but thrived.
Now, as the Dodgers get healthier down the stretch, the team should hypothetically improve or at least see steadier results. However, if there’s one thing to take away from this, it’s that it’s hard to predict baseball. As such, nobody knows how the season ends from here, if all the time spent bailing water out of a leaky boat will pay off in the long run, or even whether the roster getting healthy now means it will remain healthy for another month. But we do know that despite the expectations and the payroll, what this team has accomplished this year by fighting through all this mess has been impressive, and it’s been a hell of a ride to be on.
