Chances are there are very few baseball fans – or anyone else for that matter – alive today who were around the last time that a major league baseball team won 43 games over a 50-game stretch. The last time that this incredible feat occurred was in 1912, the same year that the Titanic sank. But if there are any and for every Dodger fan today, the 2017 version of the Los Angeles Dodgers did exactly that on Saturday afternoon; they matched that record set by the New York Giants 105 years ago.

”Got ’em,” said Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner, when asked about tying the Giants’ 105-year-old record after Saturday’s come-from-behind 7-3 win over the New York Mets at Citi Field. “It’s definitely something that down the road is going to be cool to talk about for a long time.”

That come-from-behind win was the 32nd of the season for the Dodgers and keeps them on pace to finish the season with a 115-47 record, which would be exactly one win shy of the current all-time wins record co-held by by the 1906 Chicago Cubs and the 2001 Seattle Mariners. In fact, only seven teams have won more than 110 games in a season since 1900.

“It is history in the making,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “But when you get back to the day to day, I don’t think anyone’s aware of that. As we talked about a few weeks ago, this is who we are. We play the right way and we are finding ways to win games. They slugged early, we slugged late.”

That “slugged early” thing had many Dodger fans a bit uncomfortable even before the seats were warm on Saturday, as Mets center fielder Michael Conforto, first baseman Wilmer Flores and right fielder Curtis Granderson all homered off of 37-year-old Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill in the bottom of the first inning. But just when it appeared that Hill was off his game and destined for an early shower, the Boston Massachusetts native did not allow another run over the next four innings while allowing only two additional hits (both singles) and one walk while striking out eight.

“Turning it over to the best bullpen in baseball is really comforting to everyone.” – Rich Hill

But being down early – even if by three runs in the first inning – is something that Dodger fans are not only accustomed to, but are rarely worried by because they know that this Dodger team almost always comes back to win, and usually in dramatic fashion … say, like, with a bunch of home runs; in this case five of them.

Down 3-0 after five innings, Dodgers rock star left fielder Chris Taylor led off the sixth inning with a monster 428-foot home run to left-center field. Justin Turner then lined a one out single to center which was followed by a Cody Bellinger’s 31st home run of the season to right-center field and just like that the game was tied 3-3. One inning later, Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig led off the seventh inning with a solo home run down the left field line to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead.

The Dodger would add another run in the top half of the eighth inning on a Justin Turner lead-off home run to make it 5-3, followed by a two-run home run into the second deck in right field by Corey Seager to make it 7-3. The Mets would add a run in the bottom of the ninth on a solo shot by Mets catcher Rene Rivera off of Dodgers right-hander Ross Stripling making it 7-4, but even Mets manager Terry Collins knew that they had been out gunned by the best team in baseball right now.

Seager’s two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning high into the second deck in right field put the game out of reach for the Mets.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

“That’s too good a team,” Collins said. “That’s why you’ve got to hold them down. … It’s tough to catch up.”

Amazingly, all 11 runs on the day were the result of home runs, four by the Mets and five by the Dodgers. It was also the third time this season that the Dodgers have hit five home runs in a game.

Dodgers manager summed it up best with what has become the mantra for the 2017 Dodgers.

“This team doesn’t know quit.”