Miami Marlins’ Skip Schumaker was voted the 2023 National League Manager of the Year, winning the award for the first time in his career. Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts received 15 total votes for 41 points that earned him a fifth-place finish.
Roberts garnered four first-place votes, five for second place and six for third. He was voted NL Manager of the Year in 2016, and has two other finishes as a finalist in 2017 and 2022, placing second both times.
Last season’s winner, Buck Showalter of the New York Mets, was not a finalist for 2023. The Mets had a disappointing season and Showalter was fired at the beginning of October.
New Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell finished in second place for 2023 NL Manager of the Year with 51 points. Fellow finalist, Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker tallied 48 points to finish in third. Snitker won the award in 2018.
Even with another postseason disappointment — which are not factored into Baseball Writers’ Association of America awards — Roberts not receiving enough recognition to qualify as a Manager of the Year finalist came as a surprise.
Several prognosticators had the Dodgers coming up short in the NL West to the San Diego Padres, much less winning 100 games. Not only did the Dodgers win the division for a 10th time in the past 11 seasons, they overcome a rash of injuries and external distractions.
The Dodgers also stand alone as the only team with at least 100 wins in three consecutive seasons, and four consecutive full seasons. Their streak began with a then-franchise-record 106 wins in 2019 and was repeated in 2021 before they broke that record with 111 wins in 2022.
The only year during that stretch where the Dodgers did not reach 100 wins was in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic limited the season to 60 games, which saw them finish 43 wins. Their .716 winning percentage translated to a 116-win pace over 162 games.
“I think our expectation was to win the division, but given the division and the talent, the parity as far as the balanced schedule, it was hard to foresee this,” Roberts recently said of the Dodgers potentially reaching 100 wins in 2023.
“Especially given all the stuff we had to go through. Proud of our guys.”
During his tenure as Dodgers manager, Roberts has led the club to an MLB-best 753-442 record. His win-loss percentage ranks fourth all-time in MLB history, bested only by Hall of Famer Bullet Rogan (.698 over five seasons), Vic Harris (.663 over 11 seasons) and Hall of Famer Rube Foster (.633 over seven seasons).
Roberts ranks sixth all-time with 45 postseason wins and his .536 winning percentage is seventh among active managers, but only Dusty Baker has managed more October baseball games.
The Dodgers have reached the playoffs in each of Roberts’ eight seasons as manager, and during that stretch have won seven NL West titles, three pennants and one World Series.
With Counsell leaving the Milwaukee Brewers for the Cubs, Roberts became the longest-tenured NL manager with his current team.
Dave Roberts returning as Dodgers manager
Although the Dodgers were eliminated in the NL Division Series for a second consecutive season, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman reiterated his longstanding confident in Roberts and said he would remain manager for the 2024 season.
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