Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow reacts after striking out Atlanta’s Austin Riley during the fifth inning of the Dodgers’ 6-1 win Monday night at Dodger Stadium. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
On Thursday and Friday night at Dodger Stadium, a common refrain echoed from the home plate escalators as the crowd was filing out.
“One-hundred-sixty-two and 0!” one fan shouted Thursday, while administering two-handed high-fives to passers-by.
“One-hundred-sixty-two and 0!” another yelled Friday, soliciting a chorus of cheers back in response.
In a 162-game baseball season, such perfection is virtually unattainable. But for now, Dodgers fans can keep on dreaming.
Because six games in, their team has been, well, perfect.
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In a 6-1 win over the Atlanta Braves on Monday, the Dodgers continued their unbeaten start to this year’s World Series title defense — going wire-to-wire in a game dominated by starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow, who threw five scoreless innings with eight strikeouts; and a Dodgers lineup that, despite missing Freddie Freeman after he slipped in the shower this weekend and aggravated his surgically repaired right ankle, struck for four early runs and never looked back.
“I didn’t know what to expect going into spring, but it just seemed like the atmosphere was even hungrier than last year,” Glasnow said. “I think it’s been from Day 1, everyone has just been super motivated to come out strong and win it again. The focus, it’s very high this year. It’s really good.”
Making his first start of 2025, and his first outing overall since sustaining a season-ending elbow injury last August, Glasnow set that tone from the start Monday.
He struck out the first two batters he faced, snapping off a nasty curveball to Michael Harris II before blowing a 98-mph fastball by Austin Riley. He worked around a temporary lapse of command in the second, stranding a pair of leadoff walks without further stress. And he didn’t give up his first hit until the fifth inning, flashing the same overpowering arsenal that had him on track to be the Dodgers’ postseason ace last year before elbow tendinitis sidelined him for all of October.
Kiké Hernández runs the bases after hitting a home run against the Braves on Monday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“He’s one of the best pitchers in the game,” catcher Will Smith said. “We’re fortunate to have him. He gave us five really good innings. He was really good.”
Glasnow probably could have kept going after the fifth, having thrown just 79 pitches.
But by then, the team was already leading 5-0, giving manager Dave Roberts a chance to ride a rested bullpen coming off of Sunday’s off-day.
“I thought he had a good rhythm throughout the night,” Roberts said of Glasnow. “You can see the conviction of the breaking ball today. There’s a lot of bad swings with that pitch. And then the fastball played. So, yeah, I think tonight was a good stepping stone going forward.”
Teoscar Hernández, right, celebrates with Shohei Ohtani after hitting a two-run home run in the first inning Monday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Teoscar Hernández opened the scoring for the Dodgers with a two-run home run in the first, giving him eight RBIs already on the young season, tied for second in the National League.
Michael Conforto helped double the lead in the third, smashing an RBI double off the wall two at-bats before Tommy Edman lifted a near-grand slam to the warning track in center for a sacrifice fly.
Will Smith, off to a blistering start with a team-best .467 batting average, tacked on an RBI single in the fifth.
And Kiké Hernández — who replaced Freeman at first base in his first game since the team’s season-opening Tokyo trip, having missed last weekend’s series against Detroit while recovering from a stomach illness — ripped a solo home run to left in the sixth for superfluous insurance.
“It certainly speaks to the depth,” Roberts said of his offense, which is averaging six runs per game even though Freeman (who also missed the Tokyo games because of rib discomfort) and Betts (who has sat three times while getting over a stomach virus) have each only played in half the games.
“Teo started us off tonight with the big hit … Kiké hadn’t played in a while and comes in, hits a homer. So it’s just really nice when you can look up and down the roster and plug in some guys that are certainly formidable.”
Put it all together, and the Dodgers have made some notable history.
Though their opening five-game win streak was hardly flawless, requiring them to come from behind in four games, they nonetheless achieved 30 runs, 20-plus walks (21), 10-plus home runs (12) and 55 strikeouts (59) without committing an error; something no team had ever done over any five-game stretch in major league history.
They have matched the best start to a season in the organization’s Los Angeles history, equaling the 6-0 mark set by the 1981 World Series championship team.
And now, they have their sights set on more milestones, trying to eclipse the franchise’s all-time best start to a season of 10-0 set by the 1955 “Boys of Summer” title team in Brooklyn.
As for 162-0, Roberts was asked…
“No, I’ve got the under on that one,” he joked. “We’re still not really playing great. We haven’t synced things up. But we’re still finding ways to win. And it’s good our guys are focusing on each night and trying to win a ball game.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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