The1988 Los Angeles Dodgers season was the 99th season for theLos Angeles Dodgers franchise inMajor League Baseball (MLB), their 31st season inLos Angeles,California, and their 27th season playing their home games atDodger Stadium. The Dodgers as a squad that was picked to finish fourth would win theWorld Series, upsetting the heavily favoredNew York Mets andOakland Athletics along the way.Kirk Gibson carried the Dodger offense, winning theNational LeagueMost Valuable Player Award.Orel Hershiser dominated on the mound, throwing a record59 consecutive scoreless innings on his way to winning theCy Young Award.

• December 11, 1987: AcquiredAlfredo Griffin,Jay Howell andJesse Orosco in a three-team deal with theOakland Athletics andNew York Mets forBob Welch,Jack Savage andMatt Young
• January 29, 1988:Kirk Gibson was signed as a free agent.^[1]
• April 1, 1988: AcquiredJohn Gibbons from theNew York Mets forCraig Shipley

With the sub-par 1987 performance fresh in their minds, General ManagerFred Claire and Field ManagerTom Lasorda knew what needed to be fixed. They started the off-season by allowing poor performers such asGlenn Hoffman,Ken Landreaux andPhil Garner explore the free agent market. On December 11, 1987, Claire pulled the trigger on a trade that helped solidify the Dodgers' defense andbullpen, despite giving up one of the top pitchers of the National League in 1987 in Bob Welch. The Dodgers acquiredshortstopAlfredo Griffin andrelief pitchersJay Howell andJesse Orosco in a three-team trade ironically with the Athletics and Mets, the two teams they would eventually defeat in the '88 postseason. In an attempt to boost the offense for the upcoming season, the Dodgers signedMike Davis on December 15, 1987. The biggest move of the off-season was still to come.

On January 29, 1988, the Dodgers signed free agent sluggerKirk Gibson from theDetroit Tigers. Gibson, who was a 9-year veteran at the time of the signing, was known for his power at the plate and speed on the basepaths, but was also brought in to be a clubhouse leader. To help solidify their roster the Dodgers went on to sign 21-year veteran pitcherDon Sutton and 20-year veteran catcherRick Dempsey. Dempsey, known for his fiery personality, joined Gibson as the veteran clubhouse leaders.

It was Gibson, however, who would make the biggest impact. Preparing for his first spring training game as a Dodger on March 3, 1988, Gibson began his pregame warm-ups in the outfield. Taking off his hat to wipe sweat from his head, Gibson noticed people laughing. He soon realized that someone (it turned out to be relieverJesse Orosco) had greased the inside of his cap with eyeblack and he had unknowingly wiped it all over himself in full view of the fans who were in attendance. Gibson immediately left the field in anger and left the Dodgers' spring training complex, missing the game. The next day, managerTommy Lasorda held a team meeting where Orosco apologized. The message was made clear, however: Gibson came to the Dodgers to win and was serious about it.^[2]

Key players from the 1987 team were also brought back. These players includedright fielderMike Marshall,center fielderJohn Shelby,catcherMike Scioscia,Second BasemanSteve Sax, UtilitymanMickey Hatcher, andpitchersOrel Hershiser,Fernando Valenzuela, andTim Leary.

^[3]

Hershiser

Scioscia

Stubbs

Sax

Hamilton

Griffin

Gibson

Shelby

Marshall

• June 6, 1988:Raúl Mondesí was signed as an amateur free agent by the Dodgers.^[4]
• June 27, 1988:Mario Soto was signed as a free agent by the Dodgers.^[5]
• August 10, 1988:Don Sutton was released by the Dodgers.^[6]
• August 16, 1988: AcquiredJohn Tudor from theSt. Louis Cardinals forPedro Guerrero
• August 30, 1988:Shawn Hillegas was traded by the Dodgers to theChicago White Sox forRicky Horton.^[7]
• October 3, 1988: AcquiredJim Neidlinger from thePittsburgh Pirates forBill Krueger

The Dodgers started the 1988 season at home against the San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers opening day pitcher was Valenzuela. The opening day lineup featured Sax, Griffin, Gibson, Marshall, Shelby, Davis, Scioscia andthird basemanPedro Guerrero. The first pitch of the season, to Sax by Giants pitcherDave Dravecky, was hit into the left field seats atDodger Stadium. However, Valenzuela would then give up the lead and the Dodgers would eventually lose the game 5–1. The team would go on to win their next five games and finish April with a 13–7 record which included a four-game sweep of theAtlanta Braves. Hershiser finished the month of April with a 5–0 record.

The Dodgers went 14-13 during the month of May. As it had always been, May was one of the toughest months for the Dodgers. On May 21, 1988, Griffin was hit by a pitch from Mets pitcherDwight Gooden on the hand. Griffin would miss over two months with a broken hand. This heated up the Dodger-Met rivalry which would last the remainder of the season. In fact, the next day, May 22, 1988, Mets starting pitcherDavid Cone hit Pedro Guerrero in the head in the 6th inning. As a show of disgust at what the Dodgers felt was headhunting by the Mets pitchers, Guerrero proceeded to stand up, throw his bat in Cone's direction and charge the mound. A benches clearing mêlée ensued and Guerrero and Lasorda were ejected from the game. Because Griffin had to be placed on thedisabled list with a broken hand the Dodgers were left with a hole at shortstop, though they had a solid replacement in the form of veteranDave Anderson. At times during May, the lead over the Astros neared five games. By the end of the month the Dodgers' lead in the NL West Division was only a half of a game over theHouston Astros.

The Dodgers had a solid month of June compiling a record of 17–9 over the month. Hershiser continued his successful year by finishing the month of June with a record of 12–3. Much of the Dodgers' success to this point in the season could be attributed to solid starting pitching from Hershiser, Leary and the emerging rookieTim Belcher. However, the best pitchers of the Dodgers' pitching staff were those who came out of the bullpen. Orosco, Howell,Brian Holton andAlejandro Peña were all enjoying successful seasons. After a slow start in April, Gibson was now hitting .288 with 15 HR's, 40 RBI, 53 runs scored and 15 SB's.

The summer success continued for the Dodgers as they completed August with a 17–12 record.Don Sutton was released August 10 after GM Fred Claire discovered Sutton had informally discussed a possible front office job with the Houston Astros. Sutton was 3–6 with a 3.92 ERA at the time. Sutton did not sign with another team. His 233 career wins with the Dodgers remains the team record.

Many who have followed the Dodgers have pointed to a few moments during the months of July and August that got the season going in the right direction, keep the successes going and exemplified what the 1988 Dodgers were all about.

• July 6, 1988: Down 3–0 in the bottom of the 8th inning against theSt. Louis Cardinals, the Dodgers scored three runs then Anderson,Mike Sharperson and Sax loaded the bases. The Cardinals would bring in closerTodd Worrell in an attempt to snuff out the rally. However, first basemanFranklin Stubbs would drive a Worrell offering into the right field seats for a game winninggrand slam.
• August 13, 1988: The Dodgers and Giants take the Dodger Stadium fans to the 11th inning with a tie. Guerrero starts the Dodgers side of the 11th inning with a fly ball to right that Giants outfielderCandy Maldonado loses in the lights. A passed ball allows Guerrero to go to second. However, Guerrero and Lasorda are then ejected from the game arguing that the Giants' pitcher had balked. Because of this, Stubbs had to pinch run for Guerrero leaving the Dodgers with no additional pinch hitters on their bench. When pitcher Alejandro Peña's batting spot comes around in the lineup they are forced to pinch hit for him with another pitcher, Tim Leary. Amazingly, Leary singled back up the middle and Stubbs scored giving the Dodgers the extra inning walk off win.
• A week after Leary's dramatic game-winning hit, the Dodgers had another walk off win. The Dodgers entered the bottom of the 9th inning at Dodger Stadium trailing theMontreal Expos 3–2. The Expos brought inJoe Hesketh to close out the game. After getting Sax out, Hesketh allowed Mickey Hatcher to double. Anderson ran for Hatcher and Kirk Gibson singled home Anderson. One out later with John Shelby at the plate, Gibson stole second base. With Shelby still at the plate, Hesketh threw a wild pitch through catcherNelson Santovenia. Gibson advanced to third but did not stop there; the formerlinebacker kept going, charging toward the plate that was being covered by pitcher Hesketh. Santovenia threw back to Hesketh but Gibson beat the throw to the plate giving the Dodgers the win. Gibson later revealed that part of his reasoning for attempting to take home was that he knew Hesketh had suffered a broken leg earlier in his career and Gibson felt he would not be willing to risk a collision by stepping into the basepath to block off the plate.

Hershiser would begin a scoreless inning streak in September that he would eventually take to over 59 innings and pass Dodger legendDon Drysdale for the record for most consecutive scoreless innings. Hershiser would throw complete game shutouts against the Braves on September 5, the Reds on September 10, the Braves again on September 14, the Astros on September 19 and the Giants on September 23 to take him within 9 innings of Drysdale's record. Before Hershiser would get a chance to break the record the Dodgers needed to clinch the National League West championship. Their chance came inSan Diego on September 26. TheSan Diego Padres would take a 2–0 lead in the first inning, but the Dodgers would score 3 runs and win the game 3–2, clinching the division. Hershiser would get his next start on September 28 and he would pitch 10 scoreless innings against the Padres to break Drysdale's record.