It’s not surprising that Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Magic Johnson would predict a World Series win for his team, but he might want to hold back for now.
The Dodgers have been unlucky in the playoffs over the past four seasons and have been knocked out in an elimination game every year except for 2014. But Johnson is confident that Los Angeles can shake that off in 2017.
“The Dodgers are going to win the World Series this year,” Johnson said Thursday at a charity event at Dodger Stadium, per the Los Angeles Times. “This is our year.”
It’s not the Dodgers’ history that should make them worry, but rather the fact that the team currently has the best record in baseball at 71-31. ProBaseballTalk’s Craig Calcaterra pointed out that since the wild card was added to the playoffs in 1994, only five teams ever have won the World Series when entering the postseason with the best record: the 1998 and 2009 New York Yankees, the 2007 and 2013 Boston Red Sox and the 2016 Chicago Cubs.
Of course, the Houston Astros currently aren’t far behind the Dodgers at 67-34, and it’s possible the Dodgers fall out of the top spot in the league over the next two months. But if they don’t, they’ll have to hope they can be the ones to make sure a first-place team wins the World Series two years in a row.
Thumbnail photo via Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports Images
