Things have been looking up for Justin Turner and the Dodgers this season. (Photo: Arturo Pardavila III

Back in 1906, the Chicago Cubs won 116 games, lost just 36, and put up a .763 win percentage equivalent to 124 wins in a 162-game schedule. Over the next 50 or so years, three other teams won at least 110 games, and another 11 posted at least 105 wins in a season. In 1961, Major League Baseball added eight more games to the schedule, giving us the 162-game schedule that we have today. Over the next 55 years, only two teams won more than 110 games, with more teams equaling greater parity, making it tougher to put up gaudy win totals. The New York Yankees put up a modern-day record 114 wins in 1998 on their way to a World Series title, but they were bested by the 2001 Seattle Mariners, who tied the all-time record by winning 116 games on their way to not winning the World Series. The Los Angeles Dodgers are perhaps the first team since with a shot at topping the 1906 Cubs and 2001 Mariners. The Dodgers have a shot at 117.

After all the moves at the trade deadline, the Dodgers’ record stood at 74-31, a .705 winning percentage, best in all of baseball by a healthy margin over the Houston Astros. If we assume the Dodgers would just win games at the same rate going forward, the team would end up with 114 wins. Here are a few different scenarios for LA going forward:

If they go roughly .500 (28-27), they will finish with 102 wins.

If they hit their rest-of season projections (34-23), they will finish with 108 wins, which would be tied for fifth since 1961, and also behind the 1927 Yankees and a few teams from more than 100 years ago.

If they continue at their current pace of wins (40-17), they will win 114 games, tied for third with the 1998 Yankees and behind only the 2001 Mariners and the 1906 Cubs.

If they play their final 57 games like their most recent 57 games (46-11), they will finish with 120 wins, four more than any other team.

While outplaying their projections by the seven games necessary to tie the record and eight games better to beat the record isn’t exactly likely, their record thus far, especially since mid-May indicates it is something the team is capable of. Losing Clayton Kershaw for any amount of time is certainly a blow, but picking up Yu Darvish and getting massive reinforcements for the bullpen certainly lessens that loss and could make the team even better.

Since the league went to 162 games in 1961, only nine teams have won at least 105 games, with the last time coming via the 2004 St. Louis Cardinals. Getting to 105 wins is a rare feat, and it might help to frame the Dodgers chances of getting there or better by looking at where those teams were on August 1 in those particular seasons. Before we get to that, here’s a quick list of the teams before 1961 who won at least 105 games, with the equivalent winning percentage in a 162-game campaign netting 110 wins.

Most Wins in a Season Before 1961 Team Year W L W% Chicago Cubs 1906 116 36 .763 Cleveland Indians 1954 111 43 .721 Pittsburgh Pirates 1909 110 42 .724 New York Yankees 1927 110 44 .714 Chicago Cubs 1907 107 45 .704 Philadelphia Athletics 1931 107 45 .704 New York Yankees 1932 107 47 .695 New York Giants 1904 106 47 .693 New York Yankees 1939 106 45 .702 St. Louis Cardinals 1942 106 48 .688 New York Giants 1905 105 48 .686 Boston Red Sox 1912 105 47 .691 St. Louis Cardinals 1943 105 49 .682 St. Louis Cardinals 1944 105 49 .682 Brooklyn Dodgers 1953 105 49 .682

If the Dodgers were to win 109 games this year, their winning percentage would not crack the above list. Baseball was a bit different back then with roughly half the number of teams there are now, no free agency and pre-integration for every team above except for the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers and 1954 Cleveland Indians. The three Cardinals teams occurred during World War II and another four happened before World War I. These were different times with different circumstances.

Since 1961, only nine teams have won at least 105 games:

Most Wins in a Season Since 1961 Team Year W L W% Seattle Mariners 2001 116 46 .716 New York Yankees 1998 114 48 .704 Baltimore Orioles 1969 109 53 .673 New York Yankees 1961 109 53 .673 New York Mets 1986 108 54 .667 Cincinnati Reds 1975 108 54 .667 Baltimore Orioles 1970 108 54 .667 Atlanta Braves 1998 106 56 .654 St. Louis Cardinals 2004 105 57 .648 AVERAGE 109 53 .674

There are some really good seasons in there, and there are some really great teams also didn’t make it to 105 wins over the years. One semi-side note here, the Cleveland Indians won 100 games in 1995, but due to the strike-shortened season only played in 144 games total. Their winning percentage was .694, which over the course of 162 games rounds to 113 wins, which is pretty darn good. As far as winning percentage goes this season, the Dodgers are right there with the 1998 Yankees.

Of course, the table above only tells you how the teams finished. Here’s where each of these teams was on August 1 in their respective seasons.

August 1 Pace for Winningest Teams Team Year Aug. 1 W% Pace Actual wins Difference New York Yankees 1998 .740 120 114 -6 Seattle Mariners 2001 .720 117 116 -1 Los Angeles Dodgers 2017 .704 114 Baltimore Orioles 1969 .692 112 109 -3 New York Mets 1986 .677 110 108 -2 Atlanta Braves 1998 .658 105 106 1 Cincinnati Reds 1975 .645 104 108 4 St. Louis Cardinals 2004 .644 104 105 1 New York Yankees 1961 .626 101 109 8 Baltimore Orioles 1970 .625 101 108 7 AVERAGE .669 108 109 1 Average does not include 2017 Dodgers.

On average, teams kept up their already torrid paces to get to 105 victories or more. Five of the nine teams won the World Series. Of course, the exceptions exist at the top of the leaderboard, where the Dodgers currently reside. It is hard, if not impossible to keep up that kind of pace all season long. The Yankees might have the win record right now if they hadn’t “slumped” to a 15-11 record in September (you’d win 93 games if you kept going 15-11 all season). So we have the Dodgers in pretty good shape compared to those teams that won a ton of games. What about all the teams that were on pace to win a ton of games? How many fell short?

The table below shows the 17 teams since 1961 that had at least a .650 winning percentage (105-win pace, and again, not including the 1995 Cleveland Indians). As you can see above, four of the teams needed to exceed their previous pace just to get to 105 wins.

105-Win Pace Teams on August 1 Aug. 1 W% Pace Final Wins Change Final W% New York Yankees 1998 .740 120 114 -6 0.704 Seattle Mariners 2001 .720 117 116 -1 0.716 Los Angeles Dodgers 2017 .704 114 Baltmore Orioles 1969 .692 112 109 -3 0.673 Philadelphia Phillies 1976 .683 111 101 -10 0.623 Cincinnati Reds 1970 .682 110 102 -8 0.63 Baltimore Orioles 1979 .679 110 102 -8 0.642 New York Mets 1986 .677 110 108 -2 0.667 Detroit Tigers 1984 .676 110 104 -6 0.642 San Francisco Giants 1993 .670 109 103 -6 0.636 Detroit Tigers 2006 .670 109 95 -14 0.586 Los Angeles Dodgers 1962 .664 108 101 -7 0.62 St. Louis Cardinals 1968 .664 108 97 -11 0.599 Baltimore Orioles 1966 .663 107 97 -10 0.606 Chicago White Sox 2005 .663 107 99 -8 0.611 Atlanta Braves 2003 .661 107 101 -6 0.623 Atlanta Braves 1998 .658 107 106 -1 0.654 Houston Astros 2017 .656 106 Los Angeles Dodgers 1974 .651 105 102 -3 0.63 AVERAGE 0.677 110 103 -7 Average does not include 2017 Dodgers or Astros.

For the most part, teams simply couldn’t keep up. Five of the 17 teams here won the World Series. Note that this year’s Houston Astros make an appearance. If both the Astros and Dodgers reach 105 wins, it would join 1998 as the only times two teams reached that total. And 1998 was an expansion season, so you’d probably tip the scales to this season’s feats being more impressive, should they happen. But a slowdown is almost inevitable when going that fast. Add in the likelihood of less pressure to perform as the season winds down due to wrapping up the division, and it is understandable. Our projections have the team losing five games off their pace, pretty close to average. Nevertheless, the Dodgers have a legitimate shot at breaking the all-time wins record. They just have to play the next 57 games like the last 57 games, and the record will be theirs.