Dave Roberts Proved Me Wrong
With the Dodgers' 2024 World Series title, Dave Roberts proved my prior disdain for him wrong...and I am happy to eat my words.
Author’s Note: I know it’s been a week since the Dodgers won the World Series. I would have preferred to have gotten all of my reflection and tribute pieces here done immediately thereafter. Between work and other plans, though, they got pushed back a bit. But really…that’s no problem. There is no statute of limitations on celebrating a championship, especially within the offseason. Starting with this, I will do my best to get all of my articles about this milestone title published here by the end of Sunday!
When David Ray Roberts was named the 32nd manager in the history of the Dodgers franchise on November 23, 2015, my reaction to the news was decidedly positive. To begin, with Don Mattingly’s reign of error blessedly over, it was simply refreshing to see literally *anyone* else in command on the field. Despite being the manager that led the Dodgers to three consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in franchise history, Mattingly was a clearly incompetent skipper who few, if any, Dodgers fans will defend.
Furthermore, I believed that if Roberts was as sturdy a manager as he was a player, he would excel. In 10 seasons as a utility player from 1999-2008, Roberts endeared himself to multiple fanbases (including Los Angeles) with a tenacity that superseded his limited skillset. The greatest display of Roberts’ grit was his stolen base that changed baseball history as we know it. With the Red Sox down to their last breath in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, it was “The Steal” that sparked the greatest comeback in the playoff history of any sport.
Furthermore, Roberts being the next Dodgers manager honored two of the best parts of the franchise’s history of trailblazing diversity. As the son of an African American father and a Japanese mother, it was apropos he steer the team that opened the door for players of both races in MLB with the likes of Jackie Robinson and Hideo Nomo. Roberts was even teammates with Nomo during the ace’s second stint in Los Angeles in the early 2000s.
My optimism over Roberts was validated by his first season at the helm in 2016. In a season that saw the Dodgers set a record for the most injured players, Roberts steered Los Angeles past the freefalling Giants to win the NL West. The division clincher was one for the ages, courtesy of a walk-off homer by Charlie Culberson that was the perfect sendoff for Vin Scully. In the playoffs, Roberts’ bullpen maneuvering in Game 5 of the NLDS against Washington got the Dodgers to the NLCS, where they respectfully bowed out in six games to the destiny-bound Chicago Cubs. He ultimately won NL Manager of the Year, an honor that was wholly deserved.
The next season was even better. In 2017, after the arrival of rookie sensation Cody Bellinger in May, the Dodgers exploded and reached a new echelon of dominance. Night after night, “Absolute Madness” weaved perhaps the greatest summer of Dodger baseball ever (one that saved a certain someone from the darkest time of his life). The team stormed to 104 wins and nearly swept their way to the first World Series appearance in 29 years.
Of course, that World Series ended in heartbreak. The Houston Astros prevailed in seven games, a seemingly perfect coronation to their storybook renaissance against the backdrop of Hurricane Harvey. Except…it really wasn’t. Two years later, it was revealed that Houston had stolen signs in real time thanks to a camera-based system that allowed them to alert batters of every upcoming pitch. Such an advantage gave them an unfair method to win Games 3 and 5 at Minute Maid Park, forever altering the course of the Fall Classic. The Astros, as their then-coach Alex Cora later put it, “stole that (expletive) World Series.”
However…the cheating wasn’t the only reason the Dodgers lost. Oh sure, embracing the victim complex was understandable for fans. And, by every measure, wholly justified. Except…it’s not the entire story. How so? We’ll get to it later in this piece.
Besides, 2017 wasn’t the only chance the Dodgers would have to win it all under Dave Roberts. 2018 and 2019, however, wouldn’t see Los Angeles host a parade. The Dodgers returned to the World Series in 2018, only to be humbled by the Red Sox in five games. Roberts earned criticism from fans for his pitching management, including Alex Wood’s ill-advised use in Game 1 and an improperly warmed up Ryan Madson surrendering Game 2. Most infamous was his decision to remove a dominant Rich Hill in Game 4, a move so widely derided even the President himself weighed in on the matter on social media.
2019 was even worse, a first round exit at the hands of the Washington Nationals that culminated with what may forever remain Roberts’ greatest mistake. With Los Angeles leading the deciding Game 5 3-1, and needing only six outs to advance to the NLCS, he didn’t choose any of his four most viable relievers (Kenta Maeda, Adam Kolarek, Joe Kelly, Kenley Jansen). Instead, Clayton Kershaw was sent out to lock down the 8th inning, and promptly surrendered back-to-back homers to Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto that tied the game. Washington went on to win in extras 7-3 on a Howie Kendrick grand slam, leaving the then-winningest team in Dodgers franchise history empty handed.
After driving back to my apartment in a daze, I quickly bashed out an article at Dodgers Nation that called for Roberts to be fired. As I recall, it was easily my most viewed article during my time writing for the site, and one that was echoed by many disgruntled fans. Of course, Roberts wasn’t dismissed, and my rage admittedly dissipated as attention shifted the next month to the Astros scandal. The combined bitterness engendered by the NLDS loss, and the disgust over Houston’s misconduct in 2017, ultimately gave way in early 2020 to the joy of the Mookie Betts trade.
2020, of course, saw the Dodgers finally break through for their first World Series title since 1988. At the time, the title was the result of the longest postseason in MLB history, and saw the Dodgers pull off a 3-1 series comeback in the NLCS against Atlanta. In the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles rebounded from a crushing Game 4 loss to close out the championship at Globe Life Field. Especially after so much playoff heartbreak, and in the midst of a dark time for humanity, the championship was a much needed relief.
As we all know, though, there was a *major* caveat to the title. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the negligence of MLB owners and their lackey Rob Manfred, the 2020 MLB season was shortened to a paltry 60 games. It was by far the shortest season in the history of the league, and thus led to many claims (some earnest, some in bad faith) that the championship wasn’t a legitimate one. I don’t want to relitigate all of the tired “Mickey Mouse Ring” discourse, and I’ll admit I still have all of my 2020 champions merchandise. But…I will also admit that it’s not the same thing as a 162-game title.
With the 162-game gauntlet restored in 2021, the Dodgers seemed poised to follow their 60-game ring with a full season one. Yet a few things threw a wrench into that presumed cakewalk, the biggest being the rival San Francisco Giants’ miracle season. Even after acquiring Max Scherzer and Trea Turner at the trade deadline, Los Angeles was unable to win the NL West, their 106 wins just one behind the 107-win Giants. They did manage to beat San Francisco in the NLDS, but it was a pyrrhic victory, with the exhausted, injured Dodgers falling short against Atlanta in the NLCS.
Nevertheless, while 2021 was disappointing (and Roberts certainly made mistakes), the NLCS defeat didn’t have the usual ping of bitterness. It didn’t really boil down to singular Roberts mishaps upon which the series hinged. Rather, the tenor of the defeat was a humbling one, a realization (especially given the many key injuries the team had sustained while chasing the Giants) that winning a championship after 162 games is far, far harder than winning in a 60-game one. The Braves simply played better, and deserved to win.
Afterward, I was starting to grow more skeptical of Dave Roberts. I didn’t outright DESPISE him, mind you. Nevertheless, there were inklings in my mind that something wasn’t quite clicking for the Dodgers under his leadership. Still, it wasn’t a strong enough feeling for me to call for his head.
Next year, it all came crashing down.
The date was October 15, 2022. 34 years to the day of Kirk Gibson’s miracle blast in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series. The Dodgers, winners of 111 games in the regular season, were fighting for their playoff lives in a win-or-go home NLDS Game 4 in San Diego. Win, and Los Angeles would force a winner-take-all Game 5 at Dodger Stadium.
I was a month into living in my new condo in Citrus Heights. After almost a year in isolation, I was starting to get my life going again. Moving into the condo was a much-needed reset that was already reaping huge benefits in turning my life around. For starters, I had recently landed a warehouse job with the Sacramento River Cats. Especially after struggling to find a new writing job during the COVID recession, having a purpose in life again (within the national pastime, no less) was a great feeling.
With the sparks of renewal after a long period of uncertainty and depression in my life, I dared to dream: Perhaps the Dodgers would win the World Series (their first in a full season since 1988), a perfect boost as I rose from the ashes. Their hopes of doing so seemed to be revived by a strong start to Game 4, with starting pitcher Tyler Anderson carving up the Padres seamlessly while the Dodger staked a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the 7th inning.
Spoiler: the Los Angeles Dodgers did not win the 2022 World Series. They didn’t even win a single *playoff* series. The Padres amassed a rally in the bottom of the 7th that was the stuff of nightmares, a grisly procession of miscues and baffling moves that ultimately led to a 5-3 defeat that not only ended their season. Even worse, it gave the ‘22 Dodgers an ignominious distinction as the first team in MLB history to win 110 or more games in the regular season, yet fail to win even a single postseason series.
Moreover, a huge part of that rally was caused by gross mismanagement by Dave Roberts. First was a move that came well before the 7th: pulling Tyler Anderson. Despite a dominant five innings that saw him allow no runs and two hits, alongside six strikeouts, Anderson was lifted before facing the Padres’ lineup a third time through. It was a move the Padres themselves later admitted gave them confidence they could pull off a comeback.
In the bottom of the 7th, more mistakes followed. Reliever Tommy Kahnle’s failure to retire a single batter ignited the rally. With the wheels falling off, it was ideal for Roberts to go to his best reliever, Evan Phillips, to stop the bleeding. But Phillips was nowhere to be seen, instead being saved for the 9th inning if necessary. Yency Almonte came in to supplant Kahnle, and promptly surrendered two hits that tied the game at 3.
After rebounding to retire the next two batters, Almonte gave way to Alex Vesia. Vesia is a stellar lefty who was coming off a dominant season. One problem: it seemed to some that Vesia had been summoned before he was properly warmed up, as evidenced by two more blunders that sealed the Dodgers’ fate.The first was a missed signal to throw to first to check Juan Soto, who easily coasted to second. The second was a line drive single by Jake Cronenworth to put San Diego up 5-3. The Dodgers would have no response.
As I stewed over the loss with my father, and fired off interactions with other suffering fans on Twitter, I began to realize a lot of things. The first was the sheer extent of underachievement of the Dodgers over the past decade. Despite the record billions spent by the Guggenheim ownership, despite hosting the best collection of talent in MLB year after year, the franchise had almost nothing to show for their efforts. 10 playoff appearances, and only one championship in a 60-game season. That, as far as I was concerned, was a failure.
Another realization that hit me around this time was perhaps the most crucial of all. Remember that infamous 2017 World Series against Houston, later revealed to have been compromised by the most heinous real-time cheating scheme in sports history? Surely, that has to be treated as a caveat in assessing After all, the Dodgers were straight up cheated out of a championship that would have changed their legacy as a franchise. Not to mention, the legacy of Dave Roberts as manager.
Except…I realized more than ever that Houston’s cheating wasn’t the primary sin of that World Series. Ever since the scandal broke in November 2019, there was one caveat to the reassessment of the 2017 Fall Classic that loomed in my mind: Game 2. As a reminder, this game, which the Astros won in extra innings to tie the Series at 1-1, happened at Dodger Stadium before Houston’s cheating apparatus took hold in Game 3. I finally decided to watch a chunk of Game 2 at length (I was unable to see it live at the time), and witnessed a litany of questionable bullpen decisions that culminated with Kenley Jansen errantly attempting a six-out save with no rest.
It became apparent that, with better pitching management, the Dodgers would likely have won Game 2, thus taking a commanding 2-0 Series lead. Especially against the backdrop of the 2022 NLDS debacle, and lamenting the prior missed opportunities of years passed, I realized that it was another one that got away. For all the hand-wringing over Houston’s cheating, the truth was (and always will be) that the Dodgers should have simply won the 2017 World Series regardless. They just failed. End of story.
Most passionately of all, I realized (or at least, believed) that Dave Roberts was the main culprit in all of this. It was him (and Andrew Friedman, with whom he frequently collaborated on game strategy) that laid the foundation for so many playoff embarrassments. Now, the era had reached the nadir with the demise of a historically dominant 111-win team in the first round. If that squad couldn’t get it done, who would?
So there I sat, at a crossroads of my life, and my Dodgers fanhood. Yet the latter regard started to feel more like a dead end. Especially after witnessing what will almost certainly be the best regular season in franchise history crumble when it mattered most, I was emotionally exhausted on the idea of being invested in my team. I just couldn’t do it anymore. Not, as far as I was concerned, with Andrew Friedman and Dave Roberts in the picture.
As my life turned around and blossomed in 2023, the Dodgers were decidedly not a part of that equation. Which was especially jarring given the reasons for my renaissance were largely due to baseball. For starters, I was quickly promoted from my food service warehouse position with the Sacramento River Cats to a dream position working scoreboard and music in the stadium control room. After nearly giving up on writing for almost a year, I not only resumed my craft, but revived two seemingly doomed book projects. The first was the novel I co-authored, Ellwood’s Odyssey. The second was my 1985 World Series book, Interstate ‘85. I was the happiest I had ever been in my entire time on earth.
Even then, I pushed Dodger baseball out of my life. I stated publicly that Dave Roberts and Andrew Friedman had sapped my passion, and that they would never (never) win a full season title. As it were, the 2023 postseason resoundingly vindicated my apathy. Despite a 100-win season, the Dodgers suffered their most thorough October humiliation yet, being swept by the 84-win division rival Arizona Diamondbacks. L.A. never led for a single inning. Dave Roberts did his part in cementing the sweep by allowing Lance Lynn to cough up a record four homers in a single inning in Game 3. Arizona went on to the World Series, yet another instance in which the Dodgers proved little more than a stepping stone for the eventual World Series and/or pennant winner.
The NLDS sweep seemed to put an exclamation point on what I had believed since…well, the prior NLDS embarrassment. That the Dodgers were a joke, an overpriced, aimless organization that wouldn’t change their ways. Roberts stayed as manager, and no major shakeups within the organization happened. I seriously entertained the notion of just moving on from the Dodgers altogether.
Then…well, they had a blockbuster offseason with numerous moves. Including signing probably the single greatest player who will ever lace up the cleats. Quoth Bruce Springsteen when he would introduce Clarence Clemons: Do I really have to say his name?
Just like that, I was roped back in for 2024. With the most exciting player I’ll ever see in my lifetime, and a restocked starting rotation, I thawed my apathy and bled Dodger blue again. Despite a veritable M*A*S*H unit of injuries and a somewhat sluggish first half of the season, the Dodgers resumed their ritual as the best team in the majors in 2024. After a brilliant trade deadline that brought in Jack Flaherty, Michael Kopech and Tommy Edman for mere scraps, Los Angeles outlasted San Diego for 98 wins and a division crown.
Even after another season that saw the Dodgers stand as the best club, I went into October 2024 with trepidation. It wasn’t even because of all the injuries that had depleted their pitching staff. On paper, they still had a team capable of going the distance. Rather, it was because the scars of postseasons past still ran deep. After over a decade of heartbreak, the last thing you want to do is get your hopes too high when the crucible of October has battered them into oblivion so many times.
Most of all…Dave. Even after another stellar season, I still didn’t trust Dave Roberts in the slightest. Like many of his other critics, I didn’t see him as instrumental to the success of a team that was spending almost a billion dollars on one player alone. How would this year be any different?
In Game 1 of the NLDS against the San Diego Padres, however, an ember of hope sparked. After falling behind early, the Dodgers rallied thanks to a game-tying Ohtani home run that will headline his highlight reels for years. But ace starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto quickled coughed the lead back up. Roberts didn’t hesitate to go to his bullpen, a move that allowed the Dodgers to roar back for a 7-5 lead. That alone was a good sign, rather than risk the young ace getting battered any further.
Yet it was one moment in particular that showed that it might be time to believe in the manager I had grown to despise. In the top of the 8th, Michael Kopech came in to pitch. Ever since being rescued from the hell of wearing a Chicago White Sox uniform, Kopech blossomed as the team’s primary closer. However, in his first playoff appearance in three years, it was clear he was overcome by the moment. Kopech’s control was nonexistent, his pitches landing a yawning distance out of the strike zone.
In Octobers past, Roberts might very well have left him in too long out of habit. Kopech, after all, was the closer, and had dominated in the second half. This time, the skipper didn’t hesitate. He wisely called upon Blake Treinen, whose breaking pitches sealed a nail-biter win. Additionally, I believe this decision helped with Kopech’s confidence, setting the tone for him to have a marvelous postseason.
From thereon, Dave Roberts continued to manage soundly. Los Angeles fell behind 2-1 in the NLDS, only to rescue their season with a bullpen game in Game 4. By conceding the outright embarrassment of Game 2 (which I was unfortunate to have witnessed in person), and getting length out of Walker Buehler in a sloppy Game 3, Roberts ensured his best arms were lined up for Game 4. They responded with a dominant 8-0 thumping from which San Diego would never recover, the Dodgers tacking on another shutout in Game 5 to advance to the NLCS.
As I predicted in my 2024 postseason observation last month, whoever won that NLDS would win it all. The Dodgers proved that true in dominant fashion, carving up the Mets in the NLCS and then the Yankees in the World Series. (With, you know, the help of probably the best WS moment we’ll ever see.) All the way, I consistently praised Roberts on Twitter as he defied my expectations. Yet the dread always loomed in the back of my mind. When he effectively punted Games 2 and 5 of the NLCS, and Game 4 of the World Series, the familiar second-guessing chorus sounded off on Twitter. Would he still make that fatal move, like so often before?
That moment never came. No gimmicks. No sentimentality. No sending in a veteran in the wrong spot “to thank him for all he’s done.” No errantly pulling an ace at the top of his game. No deploying a reliever before they’re warmed up. Dave Roberts pushed every correct button all October long when it mattered most. He put every pitcher in the exact right spot to succeed. Especially given the team’s staggering amount of pitching injuries throughout the season (and into the postseason, with Evan Phillips missing the entire World Series), his ability to optimize his talent is all the more commendable.
In the end, when the Dodgers capped off their most edifying championship run in franchise history, Dave Roberts did one thing above all. He didn’t just steer the first full season title since 1988. He didn’t just cap off more than a decade of greatness for the Dodgers, and lay the foundation for perhaps another.
He proved me wrong.
When I fired off angry tweets and Facebook posts saying Dave Roberts was a terrible manager, that he shouldn’t have been hired at all, that he would *never* win a full-season championship: I own that I was wrong. I always WANTED to be wrong. I sometimes worried that my acidic criticisms online gave the impression that I disliked him entirely in bad faith. If I never said it publicly, I at least said to myself that if he ever won a 162-game title, I would give him credit and relinquish my bitterness once and for all. That arc is now complete.
One thing I will say, and I don’t mean this in the wrong way: this title doesn’t change my opinions of Roberts’ prior postseason outings. I still believe he made many mistakes before, and that those mistakes cost the team championship opportunities. I believe the historical record will always show this.
But the beautiful thing is that, thanks to the 2024 championship, Dave Roberts is no longer defined by those prior disappointments. Winning a World Series is, among many other things, a feat of redemption. If it doesn’t entirely heal prior wounds, it at least goes a long way in leaching out a lot of the venom. When a team wins it all, it’s the ultimate form of catharsis. Roberts purged the notion that he wouldn’t win the big one, as well as my derision of his managerial capabilities.
An appropriate comparison is another beloved Dodger who later became a charismatic players manager: Dusty Baker. For the better part of three decades, Baker’s success as a franchise renaissance maestro in the regular season was overshadowed by numerous playoff failures. 2002, 2003, 2012, 2016, 2017…if you know, you know. Then, he finally won it with the Houston Astros in 2022, giving him his long-awaited redemption.
Now, when Baker finally banished his postseason demons with Houston, it didn’t change his past. I still frequently talk about his infamous blunders with San Francisco, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Washington with other baseball fans. But even the most in-depth recollection of those ultimately ends with, “Well, he won in 2022, so it doesn’t matter anymore.”
Now, the same can be said for Dave Roberts. He is no longer burdened by his past. Nor by his critics, the litany of second-guessing and calls for his head that once rang like an endless echo chamber. Also like Baker, his championship catharsis has him on track for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame one day. Prior to this year, I found that assertion laughable. Now, I can see it.
That, however, is for another time, a long time from now. There is still much to be done in this golden age of Dodger baseball, starting with the next goal of defending the World Series title in 2025. There’s still nine years left on Shohei Ohtani’s contract. The party, by all means, could just be getting started.
Whatever happens next, though, one thing will always be certain: The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2024 World Series in magnanimous fashion, and Dave Roberts’ guidance of the champions was borderline flawless. During the celebratory dogpile, announcer John Smoltz said it best: “I will say this: It’s one of the best managerial jobs I’ve ever seen in a World Series and the playoffs. And Dave Roberts, YOU were amazing.”
I couldn’t agree more. Thanks for a great run, Dave. You proved me wrong that you didn’t belong as manager. I look forward to you proving me right that you’re the man for the job for the rest of a special era - the BEST era - of the Dodgers franchise.