Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. One of the most successful and storied franchises in MLB, the Dodgers have won nine World Series championships and a record 26 National League pennants. As of 2024, Forbes ranked the Dodgers second in MLB franchise valuation at $5.45 billion.

Founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York, the team joined the NL in 1890 as the Brooklyn Bridegrooms and used other names before becoming the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1932. The Dodgers broke the baseball color line in 1947 with the debut of Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play in the Major Leagues since 1884. From the 1940s through the mid-1950s, the Dodgers had a fierce crosstown rivalry with the New York Yankees. The clubs have faced each other in the World Series a record 12 times, with the Dodgers losing the first five matchups before winning the franchise's first title (and only one in Brooklyn) in 1955.

After 68 seasons in Brooklyn, Dodgers owner and president Walter O'Malley moved the franchise to Los Angeles before the 1958 season. The team played their first four seasons at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before moving to their current home of Dodger Stadium in 1962. The Dodgers found immediate success in Los Angeles, winning the 1959 World Series. Success continued into the 1960s; their ace pitchers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale helped win titles in 1963 and 1965. In 1956, Don Newcombe became the first player to win the Cy Young Award and be named NL MVP in the same season. In 1981, rookie pitcher Fernando Valenzuela became a sensation and led the team to a championship; he remains the only player to win the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season. The Dodgers were once again victorious in 1988, upsetting their heavily favored opponent in each series and becoming the only franchise to win multiple titles in the 1980s. The Dodgers later made 12 postseason appearances in a 17-year span, and they ended the championship drought in 2020. Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani joined the Dodgers in 2024. Under Ohtani's leadership, the Dodgers won consecutive World Series titles in 2024 and 2025, accomplishing a feat not seen since the Yankees' three-peat from 1998 to 2000.

Eleven players have been named NL MVP with the Dodgers. Eight Dodger pitchers have won a total of 12 Cy Young Awards—by far the most of any MLB franchise. The Dodgers boast 18 Rookie of the Year Award winners, twice as many as the next club. This includes four consecutive Rookies of the Year from 1979 to 1982 and five consecutive from 1992 to 1996. From 1884 through 2025, the Dodgers' record is 11,525–10,137–139 (.532). Since moving to Los Angeles in 1958, the Dodgers' record is 5,901–4,857–6 (.548) through the end of 2025.

The Dodgers have a wide fanbase and have historically been one of the National League's most dominant teams. Their rivalry with the San Francisco Giants has spanned over a century and distinct eras as a New York City cross-town affair and a California cross-state rivalry.

History

The club was formed, as the Brooklyn Baseball Association, in 1883, when it played in the Interstate League. It joined the major league American Association in 1884, and the National League in 1890.

Although the team had no official nickname until 1932, they were informally nicknamed the Bridegrooms in the team's earliest years, then the Superbas around the turn of the century, and then the Robins (named after manager Wilbert Robinson). In the early 1900s, sportswriter Charles Dryden nicknamed the team the Trolley Dodgers after the Brooklyn pedestrians who dodged streetcars in the city, and the Dodgers nickname was used contemporaneously with Superbas and Robins. In 1932, the team allowed the Brooklyn baseball writers to select a permanent name, and the writers chose Dodgers on January 22, 1932. The only other nickname seriously considered by the writers was Kings.

In 1941, the Dodgers captured their third National League pennant, only to lose to the New York Yankees. This marked the onset of the Dodgers–Yankees rivalry, as the Dodgers would face them in their next six World Series appearances. Led by Jackie Robinson, the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era; and three-time National League Most Valuable Player Roy Campanella, also signed out of the Negro leagues, the Dodgers captured their first World Series title in 1955 by defeating the Yankees for the first time, a story described in the 1972 book The Boys of Summer.

After the 1957 season, the team left Brooklyn. In just their second season in Los Angeles, the Dodgers won their second World Series title, beating the Chicago White Sox in six games in 1959. Spearheaded by the dominant pitching of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, the Dodgers captured three pennants in the 1960s and won two more World Series titles, sweeping the Yankees in four games in 1963, and edging the Minnesota Twins in seven in 1965. The 1963 sweep was their second victory against the Yankees, and their first against them as a Los Angeles team. The Dodgers won more pennants in 1966, 1974, 1977, and 1978, but lost in each World Series appearance. They won the World Series again in 1981 behind pitching sensation Fernando Valenzuela; the early 1980s were affectionately dubbed "Fernandomania".

In 1988, another pitching hero, Orel Hershiser, led them to a World Series victory, aided by one of the most memorable home runs of all time: star outfielder Kirk Gibson, injured in both knees, came off the bench to pinch-hit with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of game 1, in his only appearance of the series. Their next pennant came in 2017, aided by a Justin Turner walk-off home run, 29 years to the day after Gibson's. They lost the Series in seven games to the Houston Astros, which would later be revealed to have been stealing signs. The Dodgers repeated as pennant-winners in 2018 but lost the Series to the Boston Red Sox in 5 games. They took the pennant in 2020 in a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic to 60 games, and defeated the Tampa Bay Rays to win the Series in 6 games. The Dodgers returned to the World Series in 2024, defeating the New York Yankees in 5 games. They returned to the World Series as defending champions in 2025, defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in 7 games.

The Dodgers share a fierce rivalry with the San Francisco Giants, dating back the franchises' time in New York City. Both teams moved west for the 1958 season. The Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers have appeared in the World Series 22 times, while the New York/San Francisco Giants have appeared in the World Series 20 times. The Dodgers have won nine World Series titles, and the Giants eight. When the two teams were based in New York, the Giants won five World Series championships, and the Dodgers one. Since the move to California, the Dodgers have won eight World Series while the Giants have won three.

In Brooklyn, the Dodgers won the NL pennant 12 times (1890, 1899, 1900, 1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956) and the World Series in 1955. After moving to Los Angeles, the team won National League pennants in 1959, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1988, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2024, and 2025 with World Series championships in 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981, 1988, 2020, 2024 and 2025. In all, the Dodgers have appeared in 22 World Series: nine in Brooklyn and 13 in Los Angeles.

Team history

Brooklyn Dodgers

The Dodgers were founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Atlantics, borrowing the name of a defunct team that had played in Brooklyn before them. The team joined the American Association in 1884 and won the AA championship in 1889 before joining the National League in 1890. They promptly won the NL Championship in their first year in the League. The team was known alternatively as the Bridegrooms, Grooms, Superbas, Robins and Trolley Dodgers, before officially becoming the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1930s.

Jackie Robinson

For most of the first half of the 20th century, no Major League Baseball team employed an African American player. Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play for a Major League Baseball team when he played his first major league game on April 15, 1947, as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. This was mainly due to general manager Branch Rickey's efforts. The deeply religious Rickey's motivation appears to have been primarily moral, although business considerations were also a factor. Rickey was a member of The Methodist Church, the antecedent denomination to The United Methodist Church of today, which was a strong advocate for social justice and active later in the American Civil Rights Movement.