Dodgers News: Dave Roberts Isn’t Falling for Dan Patrick’s Tricks This Year

About a year ago, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts went on the Dan Patrick Show and gave an ill-fated guarantee that Los Angeles would win the World Series in 2022. Of course, what gets lost are the words Doc actually said: “But to answer your question, we are winning the World Series if our starting staff stays healthy.”

Walker Buehler was ineffective, made just 12 starts, and ultimately had Tommy John surgery the year after finishing fourth in the Cy Young voting. Tyler Anderson led the team in innings pitched, and he and Julio Urias were the only LA pitchers to throw more than 135 innings. They got 23 starts from a combination of rookies Ryan Pepiot and Michael Grove and swingman Mitch White.

Does that sound like a healthy starting staff?

Still, people ran with the guarantee, and some practitioners of the superstitious arts believe it was Roberts’ hubris that cost the Dodgers in the postseason. Personally, I think it had more to do with them not getting hits with runners in scoring position, but tomato, tomahto.

Anyway, Roberts was back on the Dan Patrick Show this week, and he was smart enough to couch his answer a little more delicately. In other words, he gave the non-answer a lot of people wish he had given last year.

“I’m not going to say ‘we’re going to win the World Series in 2023’ — I still believe that, I really do. I don’t think there’s a manager that has a really competitive manager that doesn’t feel that way. Our guys feel that way.”

Patrick pressed him with the same question as last year: “You’ll win the World Series this year if…?”

This year, Roberts gamed the system.

“If we play good baseball throughout October. How about that,” Roberts said with a smirk.

Take that, Dan!

The Dodgers remain one of the most talented teams in baseball, even with their deliberately uneventful offseason. How that plays out on the field remains to be seen, but if they can “play good baseball throughout October,” I like their chances.

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