‘Most satisfying’ year: How Dave Roberts changed narrative, got Dodgers to World Series

Standing atop a makeshift stage on the Dodger Stadium infield Sunday night, Dave Roberts grabbed hold of the mic, lifted his right arm toward the sky and asked the Chavez Ravine crowd a simple, resounding question.

“Hey!” Roberts shouted, his hoarse voice booming through the stadium speakers after the Dodgers’ pennant-clinching win over the New York Mets in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series.

“You guys want a parade in Los Angeles?”

In near-unison, more than 50,000 fans roared in approval.

“Four more wins!”

In October, what a difference two weeks makes.

Just 12 days earlier, Roberts seemed like someone potentially managing for his job, back when the Dodgers were on the verge of a third straight elimination in the NL Division Series against the San Diego Padres.

It didn’t matter that he had the highest winning percentage of a non-Negro Leagues manager of all-time. Or that, in his ninth season with the Dodgers, the club won its eighth division title with the best record in baseball.

Before Game 4 of the NLDS, industry buzz was aflame with questions about Roberts’ future — and how, if the club suffered another early exit from the playoffs, he could be in danger of absorbing the blame.

“Unfortunately, the reality is, that’s the nature of this business,” Roberts said of the ever-persistent questions about his status as manager. “I could argue that we’ve won a lot in my tenure here, but when you’re in this market, it’s still about winning championships.”

Two weeks later, that narrative has turned upside down.

In Games 4 and 5 of the NLDS, Roberts successfully executed 11 different pitching changes in back-to-back shutout wins against the Padres. In the NLCS, his decision to punt on the Dodgers’ two “minus” games, as he calls them, paid off with a victorious Game 6 bullpen game.

Along the way, the 52-year-old skipper served as a source of optimism in the clubhouse, buttressing belief for a team trying to overcome a rash of starting pitching injuries.

And all that noise that was once bubbling about his job security?

That’s been drowned out and replaced, with speculation now centered on the potentially lucrative contract extension Roberts (whose current deal expires at the end of next year) should be in line for this offseason.

As he stood on the field Sunday night, the whirlwind of it all left him almost choked up. He felt not only the weight of the accomplishment, but also all the pressure and scrutiny it had suddenly alleviated.

“Just having this conversation, I can get emotional. But I’m trying to kind of know that the work’s not done,” Roberts said, adding: “This has been the most trying year, but it’s been the most satisfying.”

Roberts’ morning last Sunday began the way many of his October days do.

He sat down for breakfast with his wife, Tricia, and son, Cole. And before the meal was done, they’d coaxed into going over that night’s game plan.

“Usually, my dad doesn’t go out of the way to talk about it,” Cole recounted this week with a laugh. “But my mom and I love talking the game with him, seeing what his potential moves might be. Especially something as interesting as a bullpen game.”

Indeed, like so many other contests this postseason, Game 6 would require Roberts to push buttons and pull levers with his patchwork pitching staff, having nothing but relievers available to cover nine season-defining innings.

It had worked in Game 4 of the NLDS, a bullpen game masterpiece that helped flip that series. And with an almost full stable of relievers available Sunday, Roberts felt another workable script was in place.

Still, much uncertainty loomed, with the manager remaining wary of overtaxing his bullpen for a potential Game 7 — while also not wanting to squander a chance to end the series in six.

“It was interesting hearing him talk about the different moves he might make,” said Cole, a former college infielder who graduated from Loyola Marymount two years ago and has spent time as a pro in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.

“I just love hearing about how premeditated everything is,” Cole added. “How he’s able to facilitate all those moves in such a critical game.”

Such postseason predicaments haven’t always broke Roberts’ way.

Despite winning Manager of the Year 2016, then back-to-back pennants in 2017 and 2018, Roberts was ridiculed for his pitching decisions in Game 5 of the 2019 NLDS, when Clayton Kershaw gave up two home runs in relief and Joe Kelly let a 10th-inning tie turn into a late-game blowout against the Washington Nationals.

And despite a World Series title in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, more criticisms surfaced over the last three seasons, when a lack of timely offense or reliable rotation options contributed to disappointing eliminations.

There was more dissatisfaction with Roberts at the start of this postseason, after the Dodgers lost two of three games to the Padres to move to the brink of another early exit.

“You can kind of feel [the pressure] around you,” Roberts said earlier this month.

But, over the years, it’s something he has learned to tune out and tolerate.

“I think that the longer he’s had this job, the better he’s been able to block out the noise,” Cole said. “He can just filter it out, and know his own truth.”

That truth, at its core, includes one goal above all else when it comes to Roberts’ managerial style with the Dodgers:

Fostering positive energy in more subtle ways.

While Roberts is largely hands off with things like hitters’ meetings and pitching strategy, he will dance around the field during pregame workouts — literally, sometimes, depending on the playlist — and approach players for private, upbeat conversations.

“I think Doc does a really good job in making us be intentional about the time we spend with each other,” outfielder Mookie Betts said.

“He manages this club based on the guys in this room,” added third baseman Max Muncy. “He doesn’t do it off a spreadsheet. He doesn’t do it off what someone tells him. He walks around and he has conversations with everybody.”

Earlier this year, that ethos was apparent in a viral moment with reliever Yohan Ramirez, whom Roberts went to the mound and hugged in the middle of a rough outing in Cincinnati.

Amid this postseason run, people around the team have recounted similar behind-the-scenes exchanges, including a mid-September team meeting in Atlanta that helped steady the ship as a banged-up roster prepared for the playoffs.

“I think there were times during the year, with some of the injuries we had, where it was a little bit deflating,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “And I think Doc did a great job of getting in front of that and pumping some enthusiasm and optimism into the group. It was quick. They flushed it quickly.”

Mookie Betts celebrates with manager Dave Roberts in the dugout after scoring on an RBI single in Game 4 of the NLCS.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

In Muncy’s estimation, Roberts “definitely does not get enough credit” for the job he has done over his time with the Dodgers. And, he noted, “He takes a lot of heat from our fans.”

Over the last two weeks, however, that temperature has been dialed back.

Instead of an early elimination, the Dodgers started stacking wins with the help of Roberts’ “surgical” handling of the pitching staff, as Friedman described it, and daily doses of reassurance.

“It is nice to see the general public and the fans giving him credit and appreciating the job he’s been doing,” Cole said. “I’m a little bit biased, but I do see the time that he puts in everyday, and it’s amazing to see it work out on such a big scale.”

After his call to the crowd Sunday night, Roberts hoisted the National League’s Warren C. Giles Trophy for the fourth time in his career, led a booze-soaked clubhouse celebration for the third time in the last month, then returned to the field to join his family for the second time that day.

Trisha and Cole were there to meet him. Roberts’ daughter, Emmerson, FaceTime’d in from her study abroad trip in Madrid. And for much of the next hour, Roberts traversed the diamond with a cigar in his hand, and a smile on his face.

“It gave me a little bit of a flashback to 2020,” Cole said. “He said, ‘This is our year!’ in 2020. So maybe it’ll be our year again this year.”

If it is, Roberts might cement a likely Hall-of-Fame resume.

He is already one of just five managers with five 100-plus win seasons. His 52 career postseason victories rank sixth-most all-time. On Friday, he’ll become just the 19th manager to participate in four World Series, and only the second this century after Bruce Bochy. And if the Dodgers defeat the Yankees, he’ll join franchise legends Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda by winning multiple championships with the club.

“To kind of appreciate the company that I’m in, that I’ve now become part of, it’s actually pretty emotional to be quite honest,” Roberts said, in a reflective moment with reporters later. “Because we went through a lot. And to kind of keep this group together with all that we had to take on and make sure that these guys believed in themselves, I’m proud of that.”

After gathering himself with a deep breath, Roberts then listed other subjects of his appreciation; from the members of his coaching staff, to a front office that compiled just enough roster depth, to the players most of all for embracing his buoyant mindset.

“They trust me, they trust our staff,” he said. “When you have that, you can ask anything of them.”

Then, Roberts fielded one last question about his on-stage interaction with the fans, placing them — even after years of on-and-off criticism — right at the top of his list of thanks.

“The way that the fans responded speaks to how passionate and how much they care about the Dodgers,” he said. “It’s L.A. It’s about championships. I respect that.”

Four more wins, and they’ll be celebrating together again with a parade.