The Los Angeles Dodgers seemingly enter every season among the favorites to win the World Series. Disappointingly, however, for the fans of one of Major League Baseball’s blue blood franchises, they have only one title since their win in the 1988 World Series. That win coming in the shortened COVID-19 season in 2020 did not help discourse around the Dodgers as being among the league’s most disappointing teams year on year despite their stacked roster and massive payroll.
Teams, fans and media from around the league often voice their condescension at the Dodgers and their fans for what is perceived to be spoiled behavior given that the Dodgers have made the playoffs for the last decade straight, the longest streak in North American Sports. Dodgers fans have long complained about their team’s shortcomings and given the team’s expectations as well as the Avengers-level roster they build year on year, it’s hard not to see why fans are in uproar.
While it is said every year, the time truly is now to go on and win World Series titles given their new additions of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani to their pitching rotation. The addition of Ohtani is especially important given that Ohtani is the face of baseball around the world and has the potential to be the greatest player in the history of the sport. His 10-year, $700 million contract is the largest deal in professional sports history. The Yamamoto deal is tied for the 15th largest deal in history and all in all, means the Dodgers have handed out over one billion dollars in contract money in one offseason.
Given the level of investment into an already great roster with the addition of the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) as well as league-wide expectation of a title run, the pressure is at an all-time high for manager Dave Roberts. Roberts, who has been the Dodgers’ manager for the last eight seasons, has only brought one title in his tenure with the Dodgers despite being near the top of payrolls every single season.
Despite his amazing regular season record with only one season without winning the National League West, Roberts has consistently fallen short in the playoffs and brought disappointment to both fans and players. There have been growing calls for the team to fire Roberts and his own comments have only further raised expectations for the team.
Roberts rightfully risks his reputation should he not be able to bring a championship to Los Angeles this upcoming season and is the first name on the chopping block in the Dodgers organization. Potential replacements for Roberts should he be fired is in-house candidate, Clayton McCullough and USA manager for the World Baseball Classic, Mark DeRosa. While Roberts will be a popular name for managerial positions should he be fired, he is unlikely to ever manage in such a desirable destination again should this upcoming season be deemed another failure.
