Dodgers News: Dave Roberts Finally Outright Says Astros Stole World Series in 2017
The Dodgers have been otherworldly for the past decade, especially since hiring manager Dave Roberts in the late Fall of 2015. Roberts won NL Manager of the Year in 2016, led the Dodgers to the NLCS, and lost to the eventual champs Chicago Cubs, and the expectations have only risen from there.
With Roberts at the helm, Los Angeles has won six division titles in seven years, won 100+ games in four seasons, and has won three NL pennants. However, he “only” has one World Series to show for, and that’s where many people draw the line.
OC Register’s Bill Plunkett asked the seven-year Dodgers Manager about the criticism, and he reflected on 2017 and went off on the team from Texas.
“‘That’s fair,'” the Dodgers’ manager says of the criticism before getting animated. ‘But if we would have won in ’17 (against the Houston Astros), would that have changed? So two in six years. I hate to sound like sour grapes. But we got ’17 stolen from us. They admitted it. That’s fact. Seventeen is the second year I was here. So we win in ’17 and it’s, ‘Everything they’re doing is right. This is the answer key.’”
You could tell that the 2017 World Series still bothers Doc and who could blame him? That was supposed to be our first title in 29 years, but Houston decided to cheat, and worst of all, no significant punishment was handed down to the team. As a fan, it hurts thinking about it to this day.
However, is Roberts right? Would having that 2017 title make us look at him as a manager differently? Maybe it would, but Roberts has had other questionable decisions in the playoffs that have made us scratch our heads.
Roberts wasn’t done with the conversation though and mentioned how many coaches would kill to have even just one title under their belt.
“You name me a manager that wouldn’t take one out of six. And the other one was stolen. Yeah – only one. We won one.”
The man said what he said, and he wasn’t wrong. Doc is a great coach with excellent relationships with his players and management.
We’ll see if Roberts can capture his second title as the Dodgers manager and silence the critics.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel yet? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, live streams, and more!
NEXT: Why Julio Urias Should Win the NL Cy Young Award
Roberts has made several decisions which turned out very badly, mainly with his pitching/bullpen choices. 1) Kershaw in relief against the Nats with a 3 -1 lead which Kershaw blew by giving up back to back home runs, when he had other lefthanded pen choices. 2) Madsen in the Sox series, TWICE! 3) Urias in the NLCS with Atlanta when he had Vesia in the pen; and so on,
Don’t forget the astros beat them in the home field so stop whining
True, but the Dodgers beat Verlander, Houston’s ace, in game 6 in LA. And Houston famously swung at 0 – that’s right ZERO, of Kershaw’s more than 50 change ups thrown in game 5 because they knew what was coming. Should there have even been a game 7? Hard to say, but they cheated – that is an undeniable fact.
I guess some Astro fans conveniently forgot or possibly didn’t hear or want to hear that the Astros also cheated on away games too.
You Lost! Get Over it!!
I like Roberts, I think he’s a good man and a good baseball mind. I suspect he forgets more in a day about baseball than I’ve ever known in my life. But at least before the 3 batter rule, he was hell on pitchers. Burned them out not just in the game, but warming up more than I can say. The world series, in spite of cheating, might have ended differently if Roberts had managed better.
Supervision 101: You put people in a position to succeed, not to fail. Dave didn’t. He used pitchers as widgets, and they’re not, they’re people. Of course he may not have a job if he didn’t, but that’s another story.
I am a long time Dodger fan seen a hand full of managers but only Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda can be said were better. Dave Robert’s is not perfect but I’ll take him over all the others. But of course Robert’s has benefited from Andrew Friedman like Alston did with Buzzie Bavasi and Lasorda did from Al Campanis and Fred Claire.
Well, guess what ALL MLB teams cheat to one extent or another they just haven’t been caught yet. The Yankees were caught cheating and the NYC based sports media soft played it like it was nothing!! Even if the Astro did steal signs electronically it’s a big so what!! Let’s make it illegal for runners on second base to steal signs and relay it to the hitter. Do away with ALL sign stealing not just some in a hot and miss proposition!! Guess what you still have to hit the damn baseball!!
Not justifying it but, in different ways, cheating has always been a part of baseball !! Dave should stop excusing himself and do a better job.