It's September, and that means expectations are starting to weigh heavily on the shoulders of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
For a team that has won 11 of the last 12 National League West titles, the regular season only means so much nowadays. Sure the Dodgers still have some work to do to clinch the division this year, but the much more pressing issue is the playoffs.
Though they won a World Series ring in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the Dodgers have also had their fair share of playoff disappointment in the last decade. They have a pair of World Series losses, and worse, they have four first-round exits on their ledger.
With Dave Roberts managing the Dodgers for the ninth season, there has been a lot of continuity during L.A.'s run of success. And despite the rumblings that always surface about a manager's job at this time of year, one insider believes that continuity will last a while longer.
On Thursday night, Jon Heyman of the New York Post discussed the possibility that the Dodgers would fire Roberts, pointing out that letting the skipper go with the track record he has seems wildly unfair.
"Any notion Dodgers manager Dave Roberts could be in trouble 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," Heyman said.
As the Dodgers manager, Roberts is an astounding 837-498, good for a .627 winning percentage. He's won at least 100 games in five of the seven full seasons he's managed thus far, and he's gunning for a sixth in 2024.
Most criticisms of Roberts come from his postseason record, where he's 45-39, but has overseen some infamous first-round exits. The Dodgers also won 13 games in the 2020 playoffs, the most wins of any team in any postseason ever, in a highly non-traditional environment.
Is it fair, though, to lay blame on the manager when his starting pitcher gives up six runs in the first inning? Or surrenders four home runs in the same inning? Because those two things happened to the Dodgers three days apart when they were swept in the 2023 NLDS.
Ultimately, Roberts shouldn't have to defend his record as often as he may be asked to. But expectations will always be higher when you manage a team that spends like the Dodgers. He could silence all doubters with another ring in a completely normal postseason in 2024.
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