Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained the similarities between his team and the Showtime Lakers, one of NBA’s most iconic dynasties.
The Showtime Era lasted from 1979-1991, beginning during Magic Johnson’s rookie season and ending after his sudden retirement in 1991. The Lakers won five NBA championships during this time, including three in four seasons from 1985-88.
“I think that we, fortunately like the Lakers, have the same core of guys,” Roberts said on Buster Olney’s Baseball Tonight podcast. “Same coaching staff, same players. That familiarity is a positive in the sense that they know our standards or expectations.”
The Dodgers made very few subtractions following their second consecutive World Series in 2025, keeping their key contributors from last season.
How are the Current Dodgers and Showtime Lakers Similar?
As far as sustained dominance goes, the Dodgers match up well with the Lakers.
The Dodgers have won three of the last six World Series, and have held a firm grip on the NL West for more than a decade.
Their key players — like Shohei Ohtani and Yoshionbu Yamamoto — are under contract for several more seasons, and have begun their own dynasty in MLB — becoming the first team to win back-to-back World Series since 2000.
Johnson, currently a minority owner of the Dodgers, also drew the comparison earlier in the offseason.
“This year reminds me of ’88,” Johnson said during the postseason. “We had won the championship in ’87 and we were trying to go back-to-back. We found out how difficult it was going to be for us to do that.”
“This season has been the same to me like the season we went through in ’88. We ended up winning, but we had to play three seven-game series to actually win the championship. We’re starting to play our best baseball right now and hopefully we’ll get everybody back soon.”
Can the Dodgers Continue to Succeed?
The Dodgers have set themselves up well going forward, as they have made two of the biggest signings of the free agency period to help their cause.
L.A. signed All-Star closer Edwin Diaz to a three-year deal, and All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker to a four-year deal this offseason. Those additions met their biggest needs this offseason, and with their stars under contract for several more seasons, the Dodgers are in a great spot to continue their dominant run in MLB.
What similarities do you see between the Dodgers and Showtime Lakers?
