When the Los Angeles Dodgers won their first eight games, it was impossible to avoid peering down the end of the tunnel and speculating on what's on the other end: the best team ever? A record 117 wins? An unstoppable force that will draw comparisons to not just the 1927 or 1998 New York Yankees but Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls or the Lionel Messi-led Barcelona squads -- the greatest not just in baseball but any sport?
The Dodgers have cooled off since then, losing consecutive series to the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals; they now stand at 11-4 through 15 games. That little factoid is more notable than it seems: The 2001 Seattle Mariners, co-owners of the record 116 wins with the 1906 Chicago Cubs, lost back-to-back series just once all season, in late June. They also, amazingly, lost three games in a row just once, a four-game skid in September. If the Dodgers are to challenge all-time regular-season greatness, they can't afford too many of these mini-slumps.
Still, given that 8-0 start and all the preseason hype, let's look at the seven best teams of the wild-card era (since 1995) and see what lessons we can draw for the Dodgers in their pursuit of a historic season.
