By Jordan Long
Last season, The L.A. Dodgers went 92-71, winning the National League West Division for the 6th straight year. They advanced to the World Series for the 2nd consecutive year. Unfortunately, they didn’t win it and the Boston Red Sox knocked them off in 5 games. The Dodgers decided to keep Manager Dave Roberts, agreeing to a 4-year extension.
Dave Roberts is worthy of this new deal. He has been the manager of the L.A. Dodgers since 2016. Roberts helped this club win games in the regular season. His overall record is an impressive 287-200, a winning percentage of .589.
The results haven’t been there in the playoffs. Sure the Dodgers advanced to the World Series the last 2 years but they haven’t won it. Under Roberts the Dodgers overall playoff record is 23-19 or a winning percentage of .548.
The Dodgers knew they wanted to keep Roberts because of their success in the regular season. According to ESPN.com, Andrew Friedman, Dodgers President of Baseball Operations said, “Keeping Doc as our leader on the field was a top priority this offseason and now that we’ve accomplished that we are excited to collectively shift all of our focus to doing all we can to bring a world championship to our passionate fans. “
This was a smart move by the Dodgers. Roberts’ body of work shows he deserves this extension. The Dodgers have been a threat, not only to win the NL West Division, but a team who could win the World Series. They haven’t won the whole thing since 1988. That could change by the time this deal is up with Roberts.
This new contract keeps Roberts in L.A. until 2022. The Dodgers are hoping he can reach the postseason year after year. That is not the only goal. They want him to win the World Series since they have been close the past two seasons. If he is unable to, then this will be a disappointing move. On paper, this was the right call for the Dodgers.
Leave a Reply