The defending World Series champions are no longer undefeated.
The Los Angeles Dodgers suffered their first loss of the season Friday as the Philadelphia Phillies won the opener of their three-game series to end Los Angeles’ hot start to the season.
Philadelphia grabbed the lead in the bottom of the first inning thanks to Trea Turner capitalizing off a throwing error by pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Phillies added two more runs in the seventh inning to take a 3-0 lead as the Dodgers struggled to get hits and committed some baserunning errors.
Things got tight when Tommy Edman hit a two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning to cut the deficit to one, and Max Muncy later came up to pinch hit with a runner on first and one out. Muncy struck out as Chris Taylor tried to steal second, and he was called safe on an extremely close play. Phillies manager Rob Thomson challenged the call and it was ruled Turner tagged Taylor out on time to execute the double play and end the Dodgers’ win streak at eight.
Los Angeles Dodgers’ season-opening win streak
The Dodgers are now 8-1 after opening the season with eight consecutive wins. The eight wins to start a season was the most by a defending World Series champion in MLB history. The previous record was seven by the 1933 New York Yankees.
While the hot start was impressive, it didn’t come close to the best win streak to start a season in MLB. Seven teams have been able to start the season with at least 10 straight wins. The all-time record is 13 games, set by three different teams:
1982 Atlanta Braves
1987 Milwaukee Brewers
2023 Tampa Bay Rays
After that, the 1981 Oakland Athletics won 11 games to start. The 1955 Dodgers, 1962 Pittsburgh Pirates and 1966 Cleveland team started with 10 wins in a row.