Dave Roberts’ legacy is secure, and his doubters have largely been silenced. There have been accomplished managers throughout the storied history of the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he now has a chance to separate himself among them.
He’s Tommy Lasorda with more regular-season success. He’s Walter Alston in the modern era.
Now armed with a record-setting contract extension, Roberts has the years to remove all doubt of at least one thing: that he’s the defining manager of the Dodgers, the man at the helm of what the organization has aspirationally referred to as its golden era.
Not once in Roberts’ nine seasons have the Dodgers missed the postseason. Six of the franchise’s 13 winningest years have come under Roberts’ stewardship. He is a future Hall of Famer who will now have four more seasons on his Dodgers contract amid a contention window that doesn’t appear to be closing anytime soon.
Roberts’ status amongst the best to manage here has never been clear-cut. He has been jeered and booed lustily in his home ballpark. He’s worn the brunt of October embarrassments and been the face of a franchise seen as a colossus. Just this past postseason, he seemed to be nearing his end, with his team on the brink of elimination against the San Diego Padres and his future firmly in the balance. Three consecutive first-round exits would be difficult to come back from.
Tommy Lasorda, shown here in 1977, his first full season as Dodgers manager, was a larger-than-life presence. (Associated Press)
Roberts did not waver. He did what he has done more than any manager in baseball since he’s taken over the Dodgers: win. Less than a month after his job was on the line and months before he finalized his future with pen to paper, he assured he wasn’t going anywhere by leading the Dodgers to a second World Series title in his nine seasons.
No manager in American or National League history has ever won a higher percentage of their games than Roberts’ .627 clip. Roberts is now one of six managers to win four pennants with one club since baseball’s postseason expanded beyond just the World Series round in 1969, joining Earl Weaver, Sparky Anderson, Bobby Cox, Joe Torre and Lasorda.
Only one active manager, Bruce Bochy, has won more postseason games (57) than Roberts has (56).
Each of the great Dodgers managers of previous eras did it their way. Alston, who won the franchise’s first four titles and helped steward its move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, was dubbed “The Quiet Man.” Lasorda was anything but, enough of a colorful personality to still garner celebrity status in Los Angeles until his passing in 2021.
Alston has more pennants (seven) and titles (four) than Roberts, but did so in a generation where the top record in each league went directly to the World Series without the postseason gauntlet that has shaped much of the narratives surrounding Roberts’ tenure.
Lasorda was an institution, winning 1,599 games in the regular season. That came with a winning percentage more than 100 points lower (.526) than Roberts, with valleys coming between the iconic peaks.
The legends of both Alston (who managed the Dodgers from 1954-76) and Lasorda (1976-96) grew with their longevity.
Then there is Roberts, who will have a second decade of his own in Los Angeles.
Roberts’ ethos is clear-cut. He transacts in relentless optimism and seemingly has found all the right buttons.
It is Roberts who has embraced a position that largely never thanks him back. He has warded off the bitterness inherent within his profession and found a way to fit in. He is in his element when engaging with others. Roberts has more than once cited the words Lasorda told him when he first took the job: If he wins, the players will get the credit, and if they lose, he will assume all of the blame. There might not be a more loaded roster in baseball or an environment where those words ring truer.
Take the names that have poured through the Dodgers clubhouse over the past decade, a seemingly endless array of accomplished stars who, along with their prodigious talents, needed to find a way to fit in.
“Managing is, you’ve got to have really good players,” Freddie Freeman said last fall. “When the wrinkles do come, you nail it. Then you manage the egos. Everyone has a little ego. We’re all human, that’s just how it is. You manage it, keep everybody’s egos in the bumpers and that’s what makes everyone go out there between 7 and 10 o’clock and give you everything you have.
“(Dave) cares and truly cares about the Dodgers. It’s not him himself. He cares about this. He does a great job just handling it.”
Roberts is both brutally honest and unrelenting in his positivity. It is not limited to the biggest of names.
Take a moment this spring training, when a Dodgers staff member brought his son with him to a postgame gaggle of reporters. Roberts broke off to engage with the kid, recalling specific details the staffer had recently told him of his son’s youth basketball game and team’s epic comeback while spilling bits of wisdom. As the organization has sprouted its new era and expanded its business horizons to become one of the biggest brands in sports, Roberts has been tasked with being among its most visible ambassadors.
Brooklyn Dodgers manager Walter Alston, left, with Don Newcombe at Ebbets Field in 1955. (Associated Press)
Take last September, when he saw a Dodgers club beset by injuries and did something he couldn’t recall doing in any of his previous seasons at the helm: He called a meeting. He assured a talent-rich roster it did indeed still have enough to make a run even without several key contributors and had the wherewithal to call out the correct underperforming star. Walker Buehler, who had a 5.38 ERA during the regular season, was set to start that night and peered at the floor before he heard his name out of Roberts’ mouth, perking up as Roberts told the entire team that the club’s hopes would be riding on Buehler’s twice-repaired elbow. Choosing that day, and that player, was no accident.
Take the night the Dodgers won the World Series, when he emerged from the dugout with his bullpen on fumes and did not immediately take the baseball away from Blake Treinen despite the veteran reliever already being on his third inning of work and his pitch count nearing 40. Instead, he put his hand to Treinen’s chest and checked his heartbeat and asked the veteran what he had left. After years of postseason failures and pitchforks drawn for his pitching decisions in October, Roberts admitted he’d have to succeed or go down with the guys he trusts. So he left Treinen in.
Take the National League Championship Series, when Roberts wrote the name of Tommy Edman — a switch-hitting utility man who’d played just 37 games after being acquired at the trade deadline — in the cleanup spot, hoping to maximize a matchup against the New York Mets’ left-handed starters. Rather than be stubborn with a middle of the order that helped produce the second-most runs in baseball, he pivoted to press an advantage.
Buehler recorded the final three outs of the Dodgers’ second title in Roberts’ tenure. Treinen got out of the inning. Edman would win NLCS MVP honors.
Roberts’ legacy was solidified by being himself. Now, with a record contract, his status is undeniable.
(Top photo of Dave Roberts: Chris Coduto / Getty Images)
