With an extra-inning defeat to the rival San Francisco Giants on Saturday, the Los Angeles Dodgers are officially off to a historically bad start to 2018.
The reigning National League champions lost 7-5 on Giants outfielder Andrew McCutchen’s walk-off home run in the 14th inning to fall to 2-6 on the young season. Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports shared an interesting factoid about the Dodgers’ poor start — it is their worst in 42 years.
The #Dodgers now off to their worst start in 42 years
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) April 8, 2018
Indeed, the Dodgers started off the 1976 campaign with a record of 2-8. To put into perspective how long it has been since The Boys in Blue last tasted this kind of futility to start a season, that was even before the legendary Tommy Lasorda became the manager of the team. Lasorda took over for the Dodgers after the retirement of Hall of Fame skipper Walter Alston, which did not occur until September of that year.
If it comes as any solace, the Dodgers did rally to finish 92-70 that season, so there is obviously a lot of baseball left to be played. But the poor performance from up and down the roster so far (including some of their elite players) is at least somewhat concerning in a year where the NL West may be even more hotly contested than it has been in seasons past.
