The Dave Roberts Experience

He had a concept of a plan. Then the Padres turned a game-ending triple play.

(Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)

Hi friends-

This is gonna be a quick one from me because I’m in Oakland on the A’s beat this week so my mind is already occupied by one giant mess. But after watching what happened in the ninth inning of the Dodgers vs. Padres game last night I’ve decided to multitask and write about another giant mess.

You guys know how I feel about Dave Roberts. I think he’s a good man, and that he’s good at the politics of being the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. This includes a lot of hand shaking, dealing with press, schmoozing with billionaire owners, and managing egos the size of Jupiter and Saturn (and all their 250 moons) to keep the locker room from imploding. Given how much front offices meddle these days, high profile MLB managing jobs are often 95% fluff and 5% on-field decisions that actually matter.

Roberts has managed the Dodgers for the last nine seasons because he’s good at the fluff, and the PR obsessed Dodgers REALLY care about that stuff.

But it’s come at a cost. The Dodgers have only captured one title during that span (despite being favored almost every single year), however, because Roberts gets out-maneuvered in the playoffs by stronger tacticians when it matters most.