One season after shattering the franchise record for most strikeouts in a single season, the 2017 Los Angeles Dodgers set a new record, with their pitchers combining for 1,549 strikeouts. In 2016, the team collected 1,510 punchouts.
Prior to that year, no Dodgers team had so much as reached 1,400 strikeouts in a season. Since the 2013 club set a new franchise record that had previously been set in 2003, the Dodgers have improved on the record in four consecutive seasons.
They were led this year by Clayton Kershaw’s 202 strikeouts that were 16th-most among all MLB pitchers. His strikeout totals were down each of the past two seasons due to time spent on the disabled list while recovering from a back injury.
Nonetheless, Kershaw became the first pitcher in Dodgers franchise history to produce seven seasons with at least 200 strikeouts. Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale shared the previous record with six such years.
In his first full season with the Dodgers, Rich Hill was second on the team with 166 strikeouts. That’s his most since recording 183 as a member of the Chicago Cubs during the 2007 season.
Alex Wood was third with 151 strikeouts, and he was followed by Kenta Maeda (140 strikeouts), Hyun-Jin Ryu (116) and Kenley Jansen (109). Jansen was the only Dodgers reliever to reach 100 strikeouts this season. Perhaps more impressively, he did so while only issuing seven walks.
Brock Stewart was responsible for notching the team’s 1,511th strikeout. Stewart finished with 29 strikeouts this season.
Other records the 2017 Dodgers set were most wins at Dodger Stadium, best record in Los Angeles franchise history, and most doubles in franchise history. What’s more, six players slugged at least 20 home runs, which was another franchise-first.
