5 Dodgers selected to 2021 All-MLB Teams
Major League Baseball announced its All-MLB Teams on Tuesday. The Dodgers were well represented with five selections, the most of any team in the Majors.
Starting pitchers Walker Buehler and Max Scherzer were both selected to the All-MLB First Team. Buehler was the Dodgers’ workhorse in 2021, making 33 starts and eclipsing the 200-inning mark for the first time in his career. He finished fourth in National League Cy Young Award voting last week.
Scherzer came over to the Dodgers in a July 30 trade with the Nationals. Once he put on a Dodgers uniform, the future Hall of Famer was as dominant as any pitcher in the Majors. He finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting after posting a 15-4 record and a 2.46 ERA in 30 starts. With Los Angeles, Scherzer went 7-0 with a 1.98 ERA in 11 regular-season starts, all of which were Dodgers wins.
Buehler and Scherzer joined Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger as Dodgers players who have been named to the All-MLB First Team in their careers. Betts accomplished the feat in 2020, while Bellinger was a First Team selection in the inaugural voting in ‘19.
Los Angeles led the Majors with 11 players who were nominated this year, and it ranked behind only Toronto (three) in players selected to the First Team.
On the Second Team, the Dodgers had infielder Trea Turner, closer Kenley Jansen and left-hander Julio Urías.
Turner, who led the Majors with a .328 batting average, was selected as a shortstop despite playing second base once he was traded to the Dodgers from the Nationals. Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. was the First Team selection at the position.
Urías was the Majors’ lone 20-game winner in 2021. He had a stellar season, making a career-high 32 starts and placing seventh in NL Cy Young Award voting.
Jansen bounced back with 38 saves in 2021, and was, once again, one of the most dominant closers in the Majors. White Sox closer Liam Hendriks and Brewers closer Josh Hader were the two First Team selections for relievers.