Dodger Stadium has record-breaking week

It was a week for breaking records at Dodger Stadium.

After beating the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 on Sunday night, the Dodgers won their 106th game of the season. That ties a franchise record for wins.

It also tied a major league record for most complete seasons in a row with at least 105 wins. The key word there being complete.

The Dodgers won 106 games in 2019, 2021 and 105 in 2022. In the pandemic-shortened season of 2020, the Dodgers won 60 games. 

They have nine games left to break the franchise record of 106 wins in a season.

The only other team to win at least 105 games in three consecutive seasons was the Cardinals from 1942-44. 

Dodger Stadium was also the setting for another milestone moment. Albert Pujols, playing for the Cardinals, hit the 700th home run of his career on Friday night in an 11-0 blowout against the Dodgers.

Pujols, who played for the Dodgers last season, hit two home runs in the game and became only the fourth player to hit 700 career home runs. He joined Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth as the only other players to reach that mark.

On Monday, Maury Wills died. The three-time World Series champion for the Dodgers broke the major league record for stolen bases in a season with 104 in 1962. His death reminded fans of how important he was to the great Dodger teams when the team moved to Los Angeles. He was on the World Series teams in 1959, 1963 and 1965. But his best season came in 1962.

In addition to breaking the stolen base record, he won the NL MVP. He played in 165 games that year. The season was extended three games to decide the National League pennant after the San Francisco Giants and Dodgers were tied for first place after 162 games. Wills played every game of that season. But the Dodgers lost the pennant to the Giants.

Wills also had 759 plate appearances, recorded 695 at-bats and scored 130 runs, the second most in the National League in 1962. He also hit .299.

Wills played 14 seasons in the major leagues. He had 2,134 hits in his career, scored 1,067 runs and stole 586 bases, the 20th most in major league history. By comparison, Rickey Henderson has the most career stolen bases with 1,406. Lou Brock is second with 938.

Wills led the National League in stolen bases six times and had a .281 career batting average. 

His career deserves Hall of Fame consideration. He might not have the typical Hall of Fame numbers, 3,000 hits, .300 batting average, but he does have the stolen base record and was the ideal leadoff hitter for more than a decade. That should be enough to put him in the Hall of Fame.

Dodger starters power rankings:

1. Clayton Kershaw
2. Juilo Urias
3. Michael Grove
4. Tyler Anderson
5. Dustin May 

The Dodgers (106-47) went 5-3 last week, playing a rare five-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, including a doubleheader on Tuesday. The Dodgers travel to San Diego to start a three-game series against those pesky Padres on Tuesday. They finish the season with a six-game series against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium starting on Friday.