The Dodgers Can Fire Dave Roberts, But Shocking NLDS Loss Felt Inevitable
Any loss as brutal and baffling as the one the Los Angeles Dodgers just endured is invariably a “heads must roll” situation, and the most vulnerable neck surely belongs to the guy who was in charge throughout it all.
Still, it’s worth backing up and asking if the Dodgers’ latest earlier-than-expected postseason ouster was really one man’s fault. Or, for that matter, if it was really that surprising.
What’s on paper doesn’t leave much doubt about the latter. The Dodgers made history with their 111 wins and plus-334 run differential in the 2022 regular season, yet they still went down 3-1 in the National League Division Series to a San Diego Padres squad that made no history of any kind in winning 89 games with a plus-45 run differential.
“Shock factor, very high. Disappointment, very high. It’s crushing,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters shortly after Josh Hader fired strike three past Freddie Freeman to secure a 5-3 win for the Padres in Game 4 on Saturday.
Because, let’s face it, the Dodgers skipper is hardly blameless for the fact that the Dodgers failed to win the World Series after their fourth 100-win season under his leadership.
Among other things, it’s in part thanks to Roberts’ decision-making that Jake Cronenworth delivered the go-ahead knock with two on and two out in the seventh inning of Game 4:
Cronenworth started that at-bat facing hard-throwing right-hander Yency Almonte, only for Roberts to make the switch to Alex Vesia after Almonte had already thrown ball one. Going for the left-on-left matchup was apparently always the plan, yet the execution isn’t the only aspect that looks less than ideal in retrospect.
Cronenworth is typically above average versus left-handed pitching, and specific splits from this year suggest there was little to be gained from having him face a breaking-balling southpaw instead of a flamethrowing righty:
To watch Roberts manage according to conventional wisdom this time around might not have been so baffling if he hadn’t bucked conventional wisdom earlier in the series.