1966 Los Angeles Dodgers season
| 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers | |
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| 1966 National League Champions | |
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| Owner(s) | Walter O'Malley, James & Dearie Mulvey |
| General manager(s) | Buzzie Bavasi |
| Manager(s) | Walter Alston |
| Local television | KTTV (11) |
| Local radio |
KFI Vin Scully, Jerry Doggett KWKW José García, Jaime Jarrín |
| < Previous season Next season > | |
The 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League championship with a 95–67 record (1½ games over the San Francisco Giants), but lost to the Baltimore Orioles in four games in the World Series.
Sandy Koufax became the first pitcher to win three Cy Young Awards in a career.
The defending world champion Dodgers relied upon the same model that brought them the championship in 1965; great pitching, tight defense, and speed. However, ace pitchers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale held out nearly all of spring training in a celebrated contract dispute, finally signing just before the start of the regular season. The hold out did not seem to affect Koufax, who went 27–9 with a 1.73 E.R.A. However, Drysdale had a sub par season going 13–16 with a 3.42 E.R.A. Fortunately for the Dodgers, Claude Osteen had his best season to date, winning 17 games with a 2.85 E.R.A., and rookie Don Sutton replaced aging Johnny Podres in the rotation, chipping in with 12 wins and a 2.99 E.R.A. Finally, reliever Phil Regan had a remarkable year, going 14–1 with 21 saves.
The National League race was basically a 4 team affair between the Dodgers, Giants, Pirates, and Phillies, with all but the Phillies taking their turn in 1st place during the summer. The Dodgers vaulted to the top with an 8-game win streak in mid-September. However, the pennant was still not decided going into the final day of the season. The Giants, who had eliminated the Pirates by beating them on the next to last day of the season, needed to beat the Pirates in the season's final game, and then hope the Dodgers would lose both games of a double header in Philadelphia to the Phillies. If that happened, the Giants would have trailed the Dodgers by 1/2 game, and would have had to fly to Cincinnati to play the Reds in a make-up game, needing a win to tie for 1st. The Giants defeated the Pirates in extra innings, and the Dodgers lost the first game of the double header, blowing a lead in the 8th inning. However, while the Giants were waiting at the Pittsburgh airport (not knowing if they were going to fly to Cincinnati or go home), Koufax beat the Phillies in the second game of the double header. While they were waiting, a reporter asked Giants pitcher Ron Herbel "you guys don't know where you're going yet, do you?" Herbel replied "we know where we're going. No way superman (Koufax) loses the second game."
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