Best duos in Los Angeles Dodgers history

In Major League Baseball, it takes more than one skilled player to field a championship contender. It takes talent all over the field at a variety of positions, both in terms of pitchers and hitters. While having a star pitcher and a star hitter at the same time is no guarantee of success, it does put your team in a position to have the type of season that fans will talk about for generations.

While it's not quite the same as the NBA, where one standout duo can take a team from the cellar to playoff contention, it's not uncommon for an outstanding season from a pitcher and position player duo to add 20 wins or more, according to Baseball Reference's wins above replacement player metric. The number is designed to illustrate the difference between a star player and the type of player that would be considered "replacement level"—that is, one who could be easily signed as a midseason free agent or called up from the minor leagues.

The following is a list of the top pitcher/position player duos in Los Angeles Dodgers history. Using wins above replacement, Stacker compiled a list of the seasons in franchise history that had a pitcher and hitter with the most combined value. Note that, for the purpose of capturing and examining the game's "modern era", only seasons after 1969 were used for this list.

#10. 2000 Los Angeles Dodgers
- Gary Sheffield: 6.1 WAR (#17 position player in 2000)
- Kevin Brown: 7 WAR (#3 pitcher in 2000)
- Total: 13.1 WAR

#9. 1975 Los Angeles Dodgers
- Ron Cey: 6.7 WAR (#8 position player in 1975)
- Andy Messersmith: 6.5 WAR (#10 pitcher in 1975)
- Total: 13.2 WAR

#8. 2004 Los Angeles Dodgers
- Adrian Beltre: 9.6 WAR (#2 position player in 2004)
- Odalis Perez: 3.7 WAR (#35 pitcher in 2004)
- Total: 13.3 WAR

#7. 2013 Los Angeles Dodgers
- Hanley Ramirez: 5.2 WAR (#25 position player in 2013)
- Clayton Kershaw: 8.1 WAR (#1 pitcher in 2013)
- Total: 13.3 WAR

#6. 2015 Los Angeles Dodgers
- Adrian Gonzalez: 4.6 WAR (#33 position player in 2015)
- Zack Greinke: 8.9 WAR (#1 pitcher in 2015)
- Total: 13.5 WAR

#5. 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers
- Kirk Gibson: 6.5 WAR (#9 position player in 1988)
- Orel Hershiser: 7.2 WAR (#4 pitcher in 1988)
- Total: 13.7 WAR

#4. 2019 Los Angeles Dodgers
- Cody Bellinger: 8.6 WAR (#2 position player in 2019)
- Hyun Jin Ryu: 5.1 WAR (#14 pitcher in 2019)
- Total: 13.7 WAR

#3. 1985 Los Angeles Dodgers
- Pedro Guerrero: 8 WAR (#5 position player in 1985)
- Orel Hershiser: 5.9 WAR (#10 pitcher in 1985)
- Total: 13.9 WAR

#2. 1997 Los Angeles Dodgers
- Mike Piazza: 8.7 WAR (#4 position player in 1997)
- Ismael Valdez: 5.3 WAR (#15 pitcher in 1997)
- Total: 14 WAR

#1. 2011 Los Angeles Dodgers
- Matt Kemp: 8 WAR (#4 position player in 2011)
- Clayton Kershaw: 6.8 WAR (#5 pitcher in 2011)
- Total: 14.8 WAR