Will Dodgers fire Dave Roberts? Why Dodgers manager could be on the hot seat after 2024 playoffs

The Dodgers enter Wednesday's Game 4 just one loss away from bowing out in the NLDS for the third consecutive year.

Los Angeles' playoff disappointments in 2022 and 2023 were shocking. Both the Padres and Diamondbacks were significant underdogs, yet the Dodgers won a combined one game between the two series. The front office still stood by manager Dave Roberts.

This time, an NLDS defeat the hands of the Padres wouldn't be as much of a shock. San Diego has been one of the best teams in baseball since the All-Star break, and starting pitching injuries left the Dodgers especially vulnerable entering the postseason. 

Still, the presence of Shohei Ohtani puts more pressure on the entire organization to win a championship. Would Roberts take the fall if the Dodgers can't even get close?

Here's a look at Roberts' status with a potential Dodgers exit looming.

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Will the Dodgers fire Dave Roberts?

Roberts has generally avoided the hot seat in recent years, even with the Dodgers' playoff failures. Los Angeles has been dominant in the regular season, and a championship during the truncated 2020 season goes a long way.

If the Dodgers fall in the NLDS again, though, questions about a change will grow. It would mark the fifth time in six years that the franchise was eliminated in a postseason series in which they were the favorite. Los Angeles was favored against the Nationals in 2019, Braves in 2021, Padres in 2022, and Diamondbacks in 2023.

While San Diego was a popular pick this time around, the Dodgers still entered the NLDS favored to advance. 

After spending more than $1 billion last offseason, are expectations different this time for Roberts? It's fair to wonder, but reporting doesn't indicate a change is especially likely.

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported in September that it's "difficult to imagine the Dodgers blaming Roberts for the organization's inability to keep pitchers healthy," though he noted an NLDS exit "might compel president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman to make a change."

The New York Post's Jon Heyman said in early September that the idea of Roberts being on the hot seat "seems ridiculous considering he’s not only won more regular season games over the past seven years than anyone, he’s won more postseason games, too."

If the postseason is the standard, though, the Dodgers haven't lived up to it since their 2020 title. Roberts has survived early exits before, but the presence of Ohtani and the pressure that comes with having him on the roster could change the franchise's approach. 

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How long has Dave Roberts been with the Dodgers?

Roberts is finishing up his ninth season as Dodgers manager. He was hired to replace Don Mattingly ahead of the 2016 season and won NL Manager of the Year honors in his first season.

The Dodgers have reached the postseason in all nine of Roberts' seasons, winning the NL West eight times and the World Series three times. 

Here's a look at Roberts' complete track record as Dodgers manager. 

Dave Roberts managerial record

Roberts is fourth in Dodgers history with 851 wins, trailing Walter Alston, Tommy Lasorda, and Wilbert Robinson. He has five seasons with at least 100 wins, and 2020 might have been another, based on the Dodgers' winning percentage and run to the World Series.

While postseason failures have followed Roberts in recent years, he does have a championship ring to fall back on. It came at the end of a 60-game season, but 2020 was surrounded by a pair of 106-win seasons for the Dodgers and didn't seem like a fluke.

As 2020 becomes more distant, though, pressure is mounting on Roberts to deliver another championship to Los Angeles.