Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts Makes Bold Statement About 2023 Team

As we sit here in mid-August, the status quo is in effect for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

They’re 25 games above .500, lead the NL West by nine and a half games, and look like a team that could contend in October.

It wasn’t always that way though.

As recently as early July, the Dodgers were looking up in the division and a deep October run looked like a steep task unless changes were made in short order.

And now that the dust has cleared on a largely murky first half of the season, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had a chance to think about the totality of this year’s team — and he made a rather bold statement.

“This is my favorite team I’ve ever had,” says manager Dave Roberts, who has led the Dodgers to a World Series title, three pennants, six division titles and seven playoff berths while posting the greatest winning percentage of any manager in Dodger history.”

Via Bob Nightengale of USA Today

On the surface, that wouldn’t seem to be the case, given the team’s murky start and the pitching staff’s inconsistency until a few weeks ago.

But the team has gotten results. Results that Roberts credited to the team’s unselfishness.

“I love this club. I mean, I really love it. It’s as tight-knit group as I’ve seen. It’s a very unselfish group. When I’m asking pitcher to pitch in various roles, and for hitters to play in different roles, and for guys to whatever it takes to win a ballgame, that is being a good teammate. I’ve got 26 of those guys.  That has been our secret sauce throughout the injuries, the inconsistencies.

via USA Today

The Dodgers are in the midst of one of their best eras in franchise history under Roberts’ leadership, and he made sure to praise the team’s winning culture — a culture currently led by do-it-all superstar Mookie Betts and Gold Glove first baseman Freddie Freeman among others — as one reason for that success.

“There were low expectations outside our clubhouse, but I will tell you this: ‘Good teams find ways to win.’ Conversely, there are teams that just don’t know how to win.”

via USA Today

The 2023 Dodgers have put that rocky start firmly in the rearview mirror, which may serve as lessons to take forward in a year that the team hopes will end with them again hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy as World Series champions.

That’d be a fitting end for a team that their manager called his most favorite. And that’s some high praise given the caliber of squads Roberts has presided over through his years in Los Angeles.

Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports