The Dodgers’ road schedule is now complete

Sep 30, 2022 - 5:11 AM

Los Angeles Dodgers v San Francisco Giants" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/E4gxSXqwGvAuCE1F_5eEYp5s_DY=/0x0:3330x1873/1920x1080/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71434123/1243346368.0.jpg" />

The road portion of the Dodgers regular season schedule has ended, and the team will have two full weeks before wearing the road grays again. In the meantime we can take stock of what was a record-setting year of road performances for Los Angeles.

At 54-27, the Dodgers have their most road wins in a single season. The .667 away winning percentage is second-best in franchise history over a full season, behind only the 1952 Brooklyn team that was 51-24 (.680) on the road. The 2020 Dodgers, it should be noted, were 22-8 (.733) on the road.

The Dodgers’ road record this year is better than 26 MLB teams’ home records, for perspective.

Los Angeles lost four of its first five road series to divisional foes this year, but won the last seven road series against the National League West, going a combined 20-4 the last three months on the road against the Rockies, D-backs, Giants, and Padres.

Dodgers pitchers had a 2.54 ERA on the road this season, the lowest mark in MLB since 1920, the first year of the live ball era. That year, Brooklyn had a 2.47 ERA.

Julio Urías, as one might expect, led the way away from home, going 11-4 with a 1.94 ERA in 17 road starts. Evan Phillips pitched in 31 road games this season with a minuscule 0.87 ERA (compared to his still-excellent 1.50 ERA at Dodger Stadium), with 36 strikeouts and only four walks. Alex Vesia had a 1.55 ERA and 39 strikeouts in his 33 games on the road.

Phil Bickford tied Vesia to lead Dodgers relievers with 39 road strikeouts, and a 3.12 ERA in the road grays, allowing only two home runs on the road, compared to ten long balls surrendered at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers’ run differential on the road this season is +190, the third-highest in modern major league history (since 1901), behind only the 1939 Yankees (+230) and 1906 Cubs (+193).

The team leader in road offense — besides James Outman, whose four major league games to date were all on the road, including a 1.409 OPS — was Freddie Freeman, who hit .341/.418/.550 away from home. His 109 road hits are fourth-most in Los Angeles Dodgers history, and the most since Steve Sax’s 115 road hits in 1986.

Twenty-nine of Freeman’s 46 doubles this year came on the road, one shy of the franchise mark held by Jimmy Johnston (1921) and Wes Parker (1970). Freeman’s 64 runs scored on the road were the most by a Dodger since Shawn Green scored 73 times away from home in 2001, tying Eddie Stanky’s team record.

The Dodgers’ three highest-scoring games were on the road this year — a 14-run outburst in Phoenix on May 26, plus 13-run games in Denver on July 28 and in Kansas City on August 13.

Mookie Betts hit 19 home runs and 20 doubles on the road, not too far off his home production (17 doubles, 16 home runs) with six games still remaining at Dodger Stadium.

Trea Turner had 102 hits this year wearing the road grays.

Well, mostly grays.

The Dodgers wore their all-blue city connect uniforms on June 10 in San Francisco, a 7-2 loss to the Giants. But outside of that, they’ve worn gray uniforms that either say “Los Angeles” or “Dodgers” on the front.

In the first 27 road games of the season, through May 29 in Phoenix, the Dodgers wore “Los Angeles” jerseys for every road game. After that came three games against the White Sox in Chicago wearing “Dodgers” before the game with city connect uniforms in San Francisco. The team wore “Dodgers” jerseys for the next 47 road games, through September 18 against the Giants, then finished off the year with three “Los Angeles” games in San Diego.

The results, by road uniforms:

Dodgers: 34-16 (.680), 5.38 runs scored per game, 3.08 runs allowed
Los Angeles: 20-10 (.667), 5.13 runs scored, 2.50 runs allowed
City connects: 0-1, 2 runs scored, 7 runs allowed