Dave Roberts Deserves More Respect
ALSO: DOUG LYONS OFFERS UNSOLICITED ADVICE ON POSTSEASON TELECASTS
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
Former pitcher Dave Stewart, once a star pitcher for the Oakland Athletics, is in senior discussions with 88-year-old Jerry Reinsdorf to buy controlling interest in the Chicago White Sox . . .
Nervous Cleveland rookie Joey Cantillo secured an unwanted place in baseball history in ALCS Game 2 Tuesday night when he walked three Yankees and threw four wild pitches in one-third of an inning pitched — making him the only pitcher in baseball history to do that, according to OptaSTATS . . .
Rehabbing erstwhile Cleveland ace Shane Bieber, a free agent, won’t pitch til June or July in the wake of Tommy John surgery but probably will return to the Guardians . . .
Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez led the major leagues in passed balls but remains in the lineup because of his bat . . .
Hall of Famer Chipper Jones was right to blame Atlanta’s season-long drought on inability to steal bases, advance runners on well-placed grounders, or hit with men in scoring position and less than two outs . . .
The Braves finished dead last in stolen bases, in part because defending MVP Ronald Acuña, Jr. missed four months after stealing a club-record 73 bases the year before . . .
If the Dodgers sign Juan Soto — and they have the money — they would have four potential MVPs at the top of their lineup . . .
San Francisco and San Diego, which also have designs on the NL West title dominated by the Dodgers, could also be serious competitors for Soto’s signature.
Leading Off
Dodgers Pilot Dave Roberts Navigates A Difficult Course To Success
By Dan Schlossberg
Congratulations to Dave Roberts, the first National League manager to lead his team into the playoffs in his first nine seasons.
He’s also the first in either league to do that since Joe Torre took the Yankees into post-season play 12 years in a row.
Since 2016, the Dodgers have gone 851-507 under Roberts for a best-in-baseball .627 winning percentage.
The team has reached triple digits in victories in five of his nine years at the helm, though not in 2024, and he is one of five managers with at least five 100-win seasons, along with Bobby Cox and Joe McCarthy (six each) and Connie Mack and Earl Weaver (five apiece).
Roberts, whose teams have taken eight NL West titles and a wild-card berth, is tied with Bruce Bochy of the Texas Rangers for most playoff appearances.
The former infielder, whose biggest achievement as a player was stealing second base against Mariano Rivera and scoring the winning run for the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees, had a difficult 2024 campaign.
His entire expected starting rotation went down with injuries, forcing him to lean on a bunch of rookies and no-names. Fortunately, his bullpen saved him.
Dodger starters finished 51-40 but their collective 4.23 earned run average ranked only 10th in the league. They also finished ninth in strikeouts.
Clearly, this was not the same rotation that once sent Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Don Sutton, and Claude Osteen to the mound with devastating results for rivals.
Roberts, for his part, proved to be the master manipulator, even getting jack-of-all-trades Kiké Hernández to pitch in both winning and losing efforts.
Things were so desperate for the Dodger skipper that he had to create a “bullpen game” against the Mets in the NL Championship Series Game 2. The results were predictable: a leadoff home run from Francisco Lindor plus a second-inning grand-slam from Mark Vientos.
Roberts also survived the absence of Mookie Betts, who missed 46 games with a broken hand, and Freddie Freeman, out 15 times with injuries and family issues.
Speaking of Betts, he did a yeoman’s job filling in at second and short early in the season. And Freeman obviously played through pain in the playoffs when most of his contemporaries would have sat.
Luckily for Roberts, his team has money. The Dodgers laid out more than $1 billion for Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, signed as free agents, and still had money left over to pay Tyler Glasnow and Jack Flaherty after the Dodgers landed both pitchers in trades.
Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million deal turned out to be money well invested. He became the first 50/50 man in baseball history, leading the National League in everything from home runs to dog walks, and helped the Dodgers go 42-23 (.646), the second-best record in the game after the All-Star break. Only San Diego’s 43-20 mark (.683) was better.
Ohtani was actually in contention for an elusive Triple Crown going into the last day of the season. In September alone, he hit .393 (42-for-107) with 10 homers, 32 RBIs, 27 runs scored, 16 stolen bases, a .458 on-base percentage, and a .766 slugging percentage.
Some players don’t do that well over a 162-game season.
The 30-year-old Dodger DH scored a club-record 134 runs while compiling 411 total bases, five less than club record-holder Babe Herman in 1930.
All Roberts had to do was figure out where Ohtani should hit in his lineup. He turned him into the Los Angeles leadoff man long before the slugger unleashed his September hurricane on opposing pitchers.
Through the first three games of the NLCS, the success of the svelte slugger was totally other-wordly: his three-run, eighth-inning homer at CitiField Wednesday night was his 17th hit in 20 at-bats with men in base — a streak that stood out even more when matched against his 0-for-19 showing with the bases empty!
Coupled with Kike Hernandez, a journeyman utility player who turns into Babe Ruth at playoff time (15 post-season homers in 19 series dating back to 2015), Ohtani could almost complain that he’s underpaid.
If the walking wounded from the pitching staff return in 2025, Roberts should have a much easier job keeping his team on top.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for forbes.com, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, Memories & Dreams, and many other outlets. He writes books on the game too. E.mail him via ballautor@gmail.com.
Cleaning Up
Author Doug Lyons Pens Comments On Postseason Baseball Broadcasts
By Dan Schlossberg
Here I was on a Monday morning, working before sunrise as I always do, and I found a terrific (and mercifully short) essay from a friend and fellow author.
SABR members who see this should recognize the name Doug Lyons, one of the most celebrated — and funniest — presenters in the 50+ years of convention history.
If not, suffice to say he’s the co-author of Jim Kaat’s fabulous autobiography, brother of movie critic Jeffrey Lyons, and the son of former New York newspaper columnist Leonard Lyons.
A long-time baseball fan, Doug is a traditionalist, as am I. That is why his common-sense suggestions are just that: common sense.
Here’s what he wrote:
“If I were the commissioner of baseball and could make changes in the way post-season games are broadcast, here are my first 10 changes.
1. No interviews during the game. Pre-game and post-game, fine.
2. I believe the combination of gambling and baseball is bad for baseball. No gambling ads during the game.
3. For the World Series, day games on the weekends and night games during the week.
4. Broadcasts of post-season games MUST show ceremonial first pitches and the singing of the National Anthem.
5. Broadcasts should include an inning of two by the main regular season broadcasters. They know the teams and the players better than a national Game of the Week broadcaster who flies in for an occasional game.
6. As for commercials during the game, I know of no rule that says every pitching change, first pitch, or weather prediction has to be sponsored by somebody. The time between innings and the outfield walls are enough.
7. Stadiums: Please don’t tell the fans when to cheer, by playing “Cavalry Charge” or the P.C. Richard jingle. Also, no special sound effect when there are two strikes on an opposing batter. Please assume that your home-town fans can count to three.
8. Television broadcasters: Please stop flashing a graphic which says POST SEASON for every instant replay.
9. Broadcasters: Stop showing some semi-celebrity (who happens to have a show on your network) sitting in the stands.
10. No ads on players’ uniforms or on the pitcher’s mound. When I want to watch NASCAR, I’ll watch NASCAR.”
Well-said, Doug!
Here’s The Pitch weekend editor Dan Schlossberg spent the week covering the Championship Series and making a one-day trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. He covers baseball for forbes.com and, like Doug Lyons, writes baseball books whenever he can. Dan’s email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia
“Right now, I wish it were seven games. Obviously the seven-game series certainly gives a better test of the opponents. We’ll see if we can work on that. But I definitely like the seven-game series for sure.”
— Dodgers manager Dave Roberts
The Dodgers tied a major-league record by throwing 33 consecutive scoreless innings in this year’s playoffs, starting with 24 straight to knock out San Diego after the Padres had a six-run inning . . .
Jack Flaherty, who opened the NLCS with seven scoreless frames against the Mets at Dodger Stadium, had to be the year’s best trade deadline acquisition, with Jazz Chisholm, Jr. of the Yankees a close second . . .
Is any pitcher capable of copying Lew Burdette’s 1957 World Series feat of winning three games, all of them complete and two of them shutouts, against the Yankees for the winning Milwaukee Braves?
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.