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Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts rarely gets the credit he deserves.
With such a talented roster, one that has delivered three World Series titles since 2020, the skipper is usually not the first name to be mentioned when discussing the Dodgers’ success, but part-owner and LA legend Magic Johnson noted how pivotal Roberts was after the tantalizing Game 7 victory that solidified back-to-back championships and the latest MLB dynasty.
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“He did some coaching tonight,” Johnson said. “This was a great manager’s game from him. He’s proven how great a manager he is. He’s a Hall of Famer.”
Johnson, a Hall of Famer and five-time champion in the basketball world with the beloved Los Angeles Lakers, has significant magnitude when it comes to conversations of greatness.
To try and quantify his managerial feats from the World Series, fans can look no further than Game 5. Roberts tweaked the lineup by removing the struggling Andy Pages, swapping in Alex Call into the outfield, and moving Kiké Hernández to center field. He also moved Mookie Betts down to the No. 3 spot and Will Smith up to No. 2.
The Dodgers lost Game 5 and took a 3-2 series deficit to Toronto.
For Game 6, veteran utility man — and someone who hadn’t recorded a hit in a calendar month — Miguel Rojas was moved to second base, and Tommy Edman switched to center field. Hernández was bumped to left field and Call was placed back on the bench. Betts was also moved to the cleanup spot and finished with two RBIs.
The Dodgers won the decisive game, and it was ended by an improbable catch and throw from Hernández to Rojas and corralled in by his defensive skill at second to complete the second out.
During Game 7, the masterful pitching decisions from Roberts that included using four starters in relief was one thing, but the Rojas decision paid off in the top of the ninth inning.
With two outs to go until the season would end in agony, Rojas launched his first home run since Sept. 19 to tie the game. Roberts then pulled out two-time Cy Young award winner Blake Snell with one out and two on in the bottom of the frame for Yoshinobu Yamamoto on no days’ rest.
Despite throwing 96 pitches the night prior, Yamamoto delivered the final 2.2 innings of the game, and despite getting into a one-out, bases loaded jam two pitches into his outing, he held off the Blue Jays lineup until a Will Smith home run in the top of the 11th.
Roberts’ pitching changes and lineup shifts may be lost to baseball history, and with so many spectacular moments that led up to Betts’ championship-clinching double play with a runner in scoring position, it’s almost inevitable.
For Magic Johnson to give Roberts the credit he is due and for baseball fans to appreciate all that went into the Dodgers’ win outside of the diamond will only make such a remarkable World Series run even more special, and perhaps the first step of Roberts’ case to be immortilized in Cooperstown.
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Photo Credit: Ventura County Star
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