The 2014 Los Angeles Dodgers season was the 125th for the franchise in Major League Baseball, and their 57th season in Los Angeles. On April 30, the Dodgers picked up their 10,000th win since joining the National League in 1890. They proceeded to win their second straight National League West championship but lost in four games to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS.
Several players had excellent years: Adrián González led the major leagues in runs batted in; Dee Gordon led the major leagues in stolen bases and triples and Clayton Kershaw led the major leagues in earned run average and wins. In addition, both Kershaw and Josh Beckett pitched no-hitters during the season. Kershaw won the NL Cy Young Award and the NL MVP Award, making him the first National League player to win both awards in the same season since Bob Gibson in 1968.
Offseason
SportsNet LA
After the 2013 season, the Dodgers ended their broadcast agreements with Prime Ticket and KCAL-TV. They entered into an agreement with Time Warner Cable to start their own regional sports network, to be called SportsNet LA, to begin with the 2014 season. This marked the end of over-the-air broadcasts of Dodger games, which had begun in 1949. On October 12, 2013, they announced that they would not be retaining the broadcasting team of Steve Lyons and Eric Collins who had worked road games for the team since 2005 (Lyons) and 2009 (Collins). On December 2, 2013, the team announced that former Dodger Nomar Garciaparra would be part of the new broadcast team. On December 8, it was announced that Orel Hershiser would also be joining the broadcast team as a television game analyst for road games and that Alanna Rizzo would be joining the pre and post game shows. On December 11, Jerry Hairston Jr. announced that he was retiring from baseball to join the Dodgers pre and post game broadcasting team. On January 22, 2014, it was announced that KLAC radio announcer Charley Steiner would move to the TV booth to call road games with Hershiser, while Garciaparra would call road radio broadcasts with Rick Monday. Vin Scully, in his 65th year with the Dodgers, would continue to call all home telecasts as well as road games from Arizona and San Francisco. The new network officially launched on February 25, 2014. However, a season long dispute between Time Warner Cable and other content providers, most notably DirecTV, led to the new channel only being available in homes that were served by Time Warner Cable itself.
In September 2014, it was announced that in response to the lack of carriage for SportsNet LA, the Dodgers' final six games of the regular season would be aired by local independent station KDOC-TV—an over-the-air channel that is carried by all major television providers in the region.
As a result of their lack of distribution carriage for the 2014 season, the Dodgers saw a 70% drop in television ratings compared to the previous season when they were on Prime Ticket and the poorest cable performance by the team since at least the mid-1990s. The ratings for Dodger games were second lowest in the Majors, ahead of only the Houston Astros, who had similar issues with their cable provider, CSN Houston.
Coaching staff
On October 21, 2013, the team announced that Head Athletic Trainer Sue Falsone, the first woman to hold that position in a Major sport, would be stepping down to pursue other opportunities. The following day, the team fired bench coach Trey Hillman, who had been on the staff since 2011. The team also announced that they had chosen to pick up the options on pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, and base coaches Davey Lopes and Tim Wallach, bringing them back for 2014.
On November 11, the team announced that Wallach would be promoted to the vacant bench coach position and that AAA Albuquerque manager Lorenzo Bundy would become the new third base coach. They also confirmed that manager Don Mattingly and the rest of the coaching staff would be retained for 2014. Mattingly agreed to a three-year extension on January 7.
Player departures On October 31, 2013, several Dodgers automatically became free agents the morning after the 2013 World Series ended. They included pitchers J. P. Howell, Carlos Mármol, Ricky Nolasco, Edinson Vólquez, and Brian Wilson, third baseman Juan Uribe and utility players Jerry Hairston Jr., Nick Punto, Skip Schumaker, and Michael Young. The same day, the Dodgers declined their 2014 options on second baseman Mark Ellis and pitcher Chris Capuano, making them both free agents as well. Utility player Elián Herrera was claimed off waivers by the Milwaukee Brewers on November 5. On November 20, relief pitcher Shawn Tolleson was claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers. On December 3, the Dodgers chose not to tender a contract to arbitration-eligible pitcher Ronald Belisario, making him a free agent.
Trades On October 23, 2013, the Dodgers traded OF Alex Castellanos to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for minor league OF Jeremy Hazelbaker and cash. The Dodgers acquired RHP Seth Rosin from the New York Mets on December 12, 2013, after the Mets selected him from the Philadelphia Phillies in the Rule 5 draft.
Player signings
On October 22, 2013, the Dodgers announced the signing of Cuban middle-infielder Alex Guerrero to a four-year deal, worth $32 million with incentives. On November 25, the Dodgers announced the signing of pitcher Dan Haren to a one-year, $10 million contract, that included a vesting player option for 2015. On December 5, the Dodgers re-signed relief pitcher Brian Wilson to a one-year, $10 million contract, that included a player option for 2015 and on December 14, they agreed to terms with third baseman Juan Uribe on a two-year, $15 million, extension. On December 17, relief pitcher J. P. Howell re-signed on a two-year, $11.25 million, contract. The team added to an already deep bullpen on December 23, by agreeing to separate one-year contracts with Jamey Wright and Chris Perez.
On January 15, 2014, the Dodgers agreed to a seven-year, $215 million, contract extension with pitcher Clayton Kershaw. The deal was the largest contract for a pitcher, eclipsing Justin Verlander's deal from the previous year.
Spring training
Spring training for the 2014 Dodgers began on February 8 when pitchers and catchers reported to Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona. On the first day of camp, the team also announced that they had signed left-handed pitcher Paul Maholm to a one-year contract. Maholm would compete with Josh Beckett, who missed most of the previous season with an injury, for the fifth starter spot. On February 22, the Dodgers signed Cuban shortstop Erisbel Arruebarrena to a 5-year $25 million contract and designated infielder Justin Sellers for assignment.
Due to Major League Baseball scheduling the Dodgers to open the season with a couple of games in Sydney, Australia on March 22, the team had an abbreviated spring training. Starting pitcher Zack Greinke injured his calf in his first spring training start, and was ruled out for the opening series. Outfielder Matt Kemp, recovering from off-season ankle surgery, spent most of the spring training rehabbing and was also ruled out for the opening series. On March 9, the team announced that Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-jin Ryu would start the two games in Australia against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Dodgers primary position battle in spring training was for the second base job, left open by the departure of the 2013 starter Mark Ellis. Cuban defector Alex Guerrero was the favorite to land the spot at the start of camp, but concerns about his defense opened up the competition. Dee Gordon, who had primarily played shortstop in the past as well as non-roster candidates Justin Turner and Chone Figgins got time at the position during camp. At the end of camp, both Turner and Figgins had their contracts purchased and were added to the 40 man roster, while reliever Javy Guerra was designated for assignment.
The team had a record of 6–10–5 during the Cactus League schedule, which concluded on March 16, when the team left Arizona to fly to Australia.
Standings
National League West
National League Wild Card
Record vs. opponents
Regular season
Opening series
This season, Major League Baseball scheduled the Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks to open the season with a two-game series at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Australia. As a result, both teams began spring training earlier than usual and played abbreviated Cactus League schedules before flying to Australia for the series. Several members of the Dodgers organization expressed their dislike of the way the trip would impact their normal-preseason routine and their concern over the travel. As a result, the media started portraying the Dodgers in a negative light, contrasted with the Diamondbacks seemingly supportive stance on the trip. A few days before the start of the series, the Dodgers played an exhibition game against the Australian national baseball team.
Clayton Kershaw made his fourth straight opening day start for the Dodgers, joining Don Drysdale, Don Sutton, Fernando Valenzuela and Ramón Martínez as the only Dodgers to do so. He allowed a run for the first time in 25 opening day innings, but still struck out seven in 6.2 innings for the 3–1 win. Scott Van Slyke homered and doubled to pace the offense. In the second game, Hyun-jin Ryu pitched five scoreless innings while striking out five. Yasiel Puig was 3 for 5 with an RBI double, Dee Gordon had three hits, an RBI and scored twice and Juan Uribe also had three hits and an RBI. The bullpen struggled and let the Diamondbacks get back into the game after trailing by seven runs, but the Dodgers won 7–5 to sweep the two game opening series.
+Opening Day startersName PositionYasiel Puig Right fielderJustin Turner Second basemanHanley Ramírez ShortstopAdrián González First basemanScott Van SlykeLeft fielderJuan UribeThird basemanAndre Ethier Center fielderA. J. EllisCatcherClayton Kershaw Starting pitcher
March/April The Dodgers returned to Los Angeles to play the Freeway Series, three exhibitions against the Los Angeles Angels. During that period, they discovered that Kershaw had a sore back, which would keep him from starting the domestic opener, and sent him to the disabled list for the first time in his career. When the season resumed, on March 30, at Petco Park, Hyun-jin Ryu pitched another seven shutout innings as the Dodgers pulled ahead 1–0. However, the bullpen faltered as Brian Wilson allowed three runs in the eighth without recording an out and the team lost 3–1 to the San Diego Padres. A 2-run homer by Yasiel Puig led the Dodgers to a 3–2 win the next day as Zack Greinke picked up his first win of the season. Dan Haren made his Dodgers debut on April 3, allowing one unearned run on four hits with six strikeouts and no walks in a 5–1 win against the Padres.
The Dodgers returned to Dodger Stadium for their home opener on April 4. However, Ryu was hit hard and the San Francisco Giants jumped to an early 8–0 lead after the second inning and held on to win 8–4. A three-run homer by Pablo Sandoval and 10 strikeouts by Madison Bumgarner led the Giants to a 7–2 rout of the Dodgers the next day. Zack Greinke struck out eight in 10 innings on April 6 and the Dodgers got two-home run games from both Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramírez to beat the Giants 6–2 in the final game of the series. A walk-off double by Carl Crawford in the 10th inning gave the Dodgers a 3–2 win over the Detroit Tigers on April 8. Josh Beckett returned from the disabled list to make his first start of the season on April 8. He struggled but the Dodgers came from behind to send the game into extra innings only to lose 7–6 in 10 innings.