Editorials

Would the Dodgers Consider Joe Maddon in Worst Case Scenario?

I will open this editorial by stating that I am a Dave Roberts fan. He is a great manager of people, and more importantly a great human being. No manager on earth could have navigated the 2018 Dodgers to success… a clubhouse with Matt Kemp, Yasiel Puig, Yasmani Grandal, and way too many bodies for only 8 starting spots per day.

His ability to keep the team cohesive and, more importantly, from in-fighting was truly masterful.



Somehow that team made the World Series. So too did the 2017 (much, much better) team. Now a team that has 105 wins (and counting) has a chance to hope that third time’s the charm in the hunt for an elusive world championship.

However, nothing is guaranteed.

Time for a Change?

In 2016, the Chicago Cubs won a World Series. That team made it’s way through the Dodgers in the NLCS and defeated the Cleveland Indians in a Fall Classic for the ages. Three years later, the manager that lead them there is a free agent.

Joe Maddon, a lovable if not polarizing character, and the Cubs mutually agreed to part ways upon the conclusion of the 2019 season. Immediately — because Dodger fans are just that way — questions and speculation about Maddon managing the Dodgers surfaced.

So that became the hypothetical question of the day. On the final day of the regular season, having just led his team to the postseason for the fourth time in his first four years — a record for a manager — Dave Roberts is already facing questions about his stats as the skipper.

The question was “if the Dodgers don’t win the World Series, would they fire Dave Roberts and consider Joe Maddon as manager?.”

We turned it into a poll question on Twitter.

Doc has 392 wins in four seasons at the helm. He’s led the team to two 100+ win seasons and is universally loved by his players. But you can’t look at all the positive numbers without at least acknowledging the negative.

He is 0-2 in the World Series. The 2016 Manager of the Year has a 23-19 record in postseason play, but a WS record that sits at 4-8.

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Would a different voice take the team over the top? Or can Dave and company win this season and finally put an end to this narrative.

Clint Pasillas

Clint Pasillas has been writing, blogging, and podcasting about the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2008. Under Clint's leadership as the Lead Editor, Dodgers Nation has grown into one of the most read baseball sites in the world with millions of unique visitors per month. Find him online on Twitter/X or his YouTube channel!

12 Comments

  1. The reason he didn’t choose us the first time when Friedman had a meeting with him was because he didn’t want to be a co manager puppet with the FO and this time would be no different unless Friedman changes in which case we should keep Roberts and see what he could do being left alone. Guarantee he makes much smarter gut decisions without the nerds interference

    1. NODH, I have been told that many MLB teams are now run basically by the FO’s involvement in on field decisions. But WSS what happens and we won’t have any real answers here until after this year’s WS.

      1. But not all follow it to a T like we do. Cora said were very predictable and that he knew exactly what we were going to do. That’s unacceptable we need to find some balance

  2. Hypotheticals are a fun exercise, but this goes way way beyond even that. Dodgers were within 1 win in 2017 and were clearly over-matched in 2018. As a manager, all you can do is put your team in a position to go out and win every game and I can’t think of a better person than Roberts that does this year after year. If anyone thinks Madden or anyone else can do a better job, good luck with that and while you’re at it, send me next weeks winning lotto numbers.

    1. In ’17 he pulled Rich Hill when he was rolling. The bull pen gave us runs and it cost us the WS. He has zero intuition on when to pull the pitcher and when to leave him. Earlier this year he left in Dustin May when EVERYONE in the stands could tell he was struggling and was calling from him to get pulled. Result he gave up a home run and the Dodgers lost to the Padres.

      1. Don’t forget made the same exact mistake with Hill again in 2018. We were gonna tie the series that night after we devastated them the night before. They would’ve been dead. Instead we lost in 5

  3. How many did Tommy loose before winning his first one. Remember 77/78 to the yankees?
    Tommy did good in 81 and got lucky in 88! Think about how many stacked teams didn’t make the WS…

    Not too many managers get to WS 2x in a row. Plus think of all the injuries we’ve had over the last couple years. They still manage to win with lots of different parts. Would I be disappointed if we lost, yeah, but wouldn’t fire the guy.

  4. Robert’s will keep throwing in Jansen to “CLOSE”, just watching Brewers and Nats , Scherzer throwing very hard, better pitches than Jansen could ever throw and the Brewers are taking him deep, that somewhat of a view what will happen to Jansen in a close game “GOODBYE GAME” Scherzer is a much better pitcher than Jansen but you can bet Robert’s will bring in Jansen .I wonder if Madden or any other manager would do that …..KNOWING JANSEN’S HISTORY ….. just wondering ???

  5. Hey I’d say fire Roberts and Kershaw should opt out and let him lose with another team trying to win a championship.

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