The Los Angeles Dodgers have dealt with numerous injuries to star players this year, which would be enough to ruin the season of most other teams.
Among those currently on the injured list are Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Jason Heyward, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Emmet Sheehan, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Brusdar Graterol, Kyle Hurt, Joe Kelly and Ryan Brasier, while Bobby Miller also missed extended time.
Despite injuries to those contributing players, the Dodgers hold a 56-41 record, seven games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres for first place in the National League West standings.
The Dodgers’ mentality as an organization to uphold a high standard of play regardless of injuries brings to mind the culture created in Pittsburgh by Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, and it’s a comparison that manager Dave Roberts embraces.
“I agree with Coach Tomlin’s sentiments. It’s the whole adage, ‘Next man up’ mindset,” Roberts said. “No one is going to feel sorry for you. I don’t talk about injuries as an excuses. I don’t think anyone wants to hear it.
“It just gives other guys opportunities. It happens every year. This year it’s certainly an extreme, but I don’t think that we’ve fallen off much, if at all. And I still want more consistency and better play out of our guys. That’s the way it should be.”
Tomlin was named the head coach of the Steelers on January 22, 2007. In the past 17 seasons with Tomlin as the head coach, the Steelers has never finished with a losing record.
That type of sustained success is especially impressive considering the season has been only 16 games long for a majority of the stretch and the difficult nature of winning games in the NFL.
Dodgers success under Dave Roberts
Roberts stacks up pretty well when you compare his success as a coach to Tomlin’s.
In the Dodgers’ nine complete seasons since Roberts took over in 2015, the team has made the playoffs every year, won the NL West title eight times, the 2020 World Series and he has been the winningest manager in MLB with 845 games won.
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