{"id":898587,"date":"2026-06-28T12:56:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T12:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/898587\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T12:56:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T12:56:57","slug":"how-dodgers-manager-dave-roberts-got-to-the-cusp-of-1000-career-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/898587\/","title":{"rendered":"How Dodgers manager Dave Roberts got to the cusp of 1,000 career wins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SAN DIEGO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Dave Roberts<\/a> didn\u2019t have his heart set on becoming a manager. <\/p>\n

Not when he cold-called Jed Hoyer, who\u2019d just been hired as the San Diego Padres\u2019 general manager, to offer his help and eventually accepted a special assistant role in the front office. Not when Bud Black, the Padres\u2019 manager at the time, asked Roberts to be his first base coach. Not even when Roberts was promoted to bench coach \u2014 at least not at first.<\/p>\n

But television didn\u2019t feel like a long-term fit, and neither did his cup of coffee as an executive. Roberts\u2019 return to the dugout gained its own momentum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to be in the clubhouse,\u201d Roberts said in a recent conversation with The Times. \u201cI like to be boots on the ground more. \u2026 So once I got on the field, I was like, \u2018Yeah, this is what feels right for me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts\u2019 first taste of the manager\u2019s seat wasn\u2019t how he would have scripted it. A.J. Preller,<\/a> the Padres\u2019 third GM in five years, dismissed Black in the middle of the 2015 season, leaving Roberts as the interim skipper for a game before Pat Murphy was promoted from triple A.<\/p>\n

Roberts\u2019 first win came the next year, after the Dodgers hired him to replace Don Mattingly. In Roberts\u2019 Dodgers debut, on opening day at Petco Park, his team trounced the Padres 15-0.<\/p>\n

Roberts is back in San Diego for a weekend series against the Padres, just three wins away from 1,000 after Saturday\u2019s 15-3 victory<\/a>, in a full-circle moment.<\/p>\n

Only two other active managers have racked up more wins: Terry Francona (2,072), who began his managerial career in 1997, and AJ Hinch (999), who had a smaller head start on Roberts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big number,\u201d said Roberts, who will join Walter Alston<\/a>, Tommy Lasorda<\/a> and Wilbert Robinson as the only managers in franchise history to win 1,000 games. \u201cIt\u2019s something I never really thought of. \u2026 I don\u2019t take a lot of time to look at milestones because I just kind of go day to day. But I\u2019m going to take that one in. Because it\u2019s a long time, it\u2019s a lot of really good players and coaches, and a lot of support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts is in his 11th season at the helm for the Dodgers, with three years left after this one on his record-breaking extension<\/a> ($8.1 million annually). He\u2019s taken the Dodgers to the postseason every year, won five National League pennants and claimed three World Series<\/a> titles.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, so much pressure, so much expectations, to have Doc as our manager leading it, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anybody that could do what he does,\u201d veteran first baseman Freddie Freeman<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers are now an international brand<\/a>, with star power from across the globe, including the most famous baseball player in the world in Shohei Ohtani<\/a>. So, every homestand, after Roberts fulfills his media responsibilities and oversees batting practice, he serves as an ambassador of sorts.<\/p>\n

Roberts greets groups of guests and celebrities with enthusiasm, engages them in conversation and poses for pictures.<\/p>\n

That talent, however, isn\u2019t why this group of Dodgers \u2014 full of household names, but also young players expected to grow into key roles \u2014 has bought in.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe cares about people,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cHis door\u2019s always open. Being a manager is obviously managing baseball, but it\u2019s more about managing egos. You have 26 players, you have all the coaching staff, support staff \u2014 and our clubhouse runs smoothly, and that\u2019s because of Dave Roberts.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a man that\u2019s been through it all. He was a player. He knows how hard the game is. He\u2019s been in the manager seat for a long time here. He knows the ups and downs of the season. We trust him. He trusts us. And I think that\u2019s the key word in all this, is trust. When you have trust with your manager, and know he\u2019s going to put you in the right spots to succeed, it\u2019s very easy to run through walls for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

That trust is built through a track record of decisions that prioritize things like player health. But it also stems from genuine care.<\/p>\n

\u201cEver since I got here, the first impression of him was how good he was with people,\u201d said veteran utility man Miguel Rojas<\/a>, who hopes to become a manager after he hangs up his cleats. \u201cHow much he cares about families, how much he cares about where you\u2019re coming from and who is the support system that you have around you. He cares about you as a person more than as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April, when Rojas got news that his father had been rushed to the hospital<\/a>, Roberts quickly took the decision on whether to play out of Rojas\u2019 hands, scratching him from the lineup.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the first one to tell me that family is way more important than what we\u2019re doing right now,\u201d Rojas said.<\/p>\n

The next day, when Rojas felt he needed to be on the field as he processed the death of his father, Roberts listened.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the equation, Rojas also thinks Roberts has made him a better father to his son Aaron, who is often around the team throughout the summer.<\/p>\n

Roberts doesn\u2019t just flash his people skills when he\u2019s in ambassador mode. Earlier this month, Roberts spotted Aaron in one of the armchairs in the middle of the visitors clubhouse in Pittsburgh. Roberts beelined to him, cracking inside jokes to gently prod him out of his shell.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy kid, when I got here in 2023, he\u2019s not the same kid that he is now,\u201d Rojas said. \u201cHe was 6 or 7 years old when I got back to the Dodgers. And Doc really sees the way that he\u2019s evolving as a human, being more outspoken and open to say hi to people, to have conversations with the coaches and all the players \u2014 and it\u2019s not just with the kids or me. So it\u2019s pretty cool to see that [Roberts] helped me with him too, with his social skills that he was trying to develop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Managers\u2019 jobs often veer toward the bigger picture. Their coaching staff deals with the details. But Roberts finds moments to pull players aside for one-on-one conversations.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy that part more than anything,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cIt\u2019s the least talked about, but I think it\u2019s the most important part of my job, trying to build men. And that\u2019s something that I\u2019ve always believed, that if you do it the right way, then the fruits will be a better ballplayer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyone watching the Dodgers broadcast last Wednesday saw Roberts put his arm around catcher Dalton Rushing\u2019s shoulders after a rough first two innings led to Ohtani taking over calling the pitches<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That same series, outfielder Alex Call thanked Roberts and the Dodgers hitting coaches<\/a> for conversations that set him up for a breakout in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoc does a great job just telling how it is,\u201d Call said. \u201cAnd saying, \u2018hey, we love you, and we love exactly what you bring to the game, and you don\u2019t have to do anything else. So, basically, just take a deep breath and be Alex Call.\u2019 And it\u2019s just nice to hear that kind of stuff, and just nice to be able to have your manager have confidence in you.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the last homestand, the day after the bottom of the order struck out consecutively with the bases loaded in what became a walk-off win against the Baltimore Orioles<\/a>, Roberts called over Ryan Ward and Alex Freeland in the dugout during batting practice.<\/p>\n

As they discussed situational hitting, Roberts wanted to encourage them rather than \u201cget on them.\u201d Ward said the conversation took off some pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll you hear about is, the big leagues is way different,\u201d said Ward, who debuted in April. \u201cAnd just having those little moments of reassurance, and having them talk to you and pull you aside, and giving you props, and helping you where things have gone wrong \u2014 and having that advice come from him, and feel the [organizational] continuity of everything, is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Roberts\u2019 playing career ended, he might not have pictured himself sitting in this seat at all, let alone for nearly 1,000 wins.<\/p>\n

But as he positions himself at the top step of the dugout at Petco Park, back where it all started, it sure does suit him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Dave Roberts didn\u2019t have his heart set on becoming a manager. Not when he cold-called Jed Hoyer,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":898588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[364022,4160,3606,2385,2442,171424,1910,67384,28452,1266,8037,3546,26804,140837,62,6620,67,132,68,1628],"class_list":["post-898587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-career-win","tag-coach","tag-conversation","tag-day","tag-dodgers","tag-dodgers-manager-dave-roberts","tag-game","tag-good-player","tag-manager","tag-mlb","tag-padres","tag-people","tag-roberts","tag-rojas","tag-sports","tag-time","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-year"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116827853041111715","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}