The 2024 season was Dave Roberts’ ninth as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and arguably his most challenging yet.
The team dealt with a plethora of injuries throughout the year, which amounted to 40 different players seeing time on the Major League roster.
Roberts had to craft a multitude of lineups over the course of the 2024 season, rotating players in and out based on performance and injuries.
During an appearance on the “On Base With Mookie Betts” podcast, Roberts shared a belief his ability to stick with struggling players can be considered both a strength and a weakness:
“I think one of my strengths is I’m pretty slow-moving. So a guy is struggling, I’m going to still ride him out and stay with him. A pitcher is struggling, I’m going to still run him out there. Build growth, because it’s a hard game and it is a marathon.
“But I think it can also be a weakness because sometimes I am too slow to react. That’s a fair self-assessment. But also my growth in the postseason is, you do have to step back, you do have to play the hot hand, you can’t be afraid to play the hot hand. I moved the lineup around a lot during the postseason.
“More than I ever have, because I felt certain guys I wanted to get up there more often and I felt there were going to be bigger spots. And when I moved certain guys down, there was still no complaining about it. They bought in and didn’t use it as an excuse of hitting lower in the order. They were ready when called upon.”
As Roberts noted, he didn’t hesitate to make significant changes to the Dodgers lineup during the postseason. One prime example was when he dropped Will Smith to the No. 7 spot in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.
Gavin Lux also missed some time due to a right hip flexor issue, which led to Andy Pages making his first postseason start in center field.
When Freddie Freeman was out of the Dodgers lineup because of an ankle injury, Tommy Edman benefited by being moved up to the cleanup spot. He ran with this opportunity and wound up earning 2024 NLCS MVP honors.
Dave Roberts named Baseball America’s 2024 Manager of the Year
The Dodgers overcame a plethora of injuries to win the 2024 World Series, which extended an impressive streak for Roberts. He has now led the team to the playoffs in all nine of his seasons as Dodgers manager.
Roberts’ efforts this year did not go unnoticed as he was named Baseball America’s 2024 MLB Manager of the Year.
Roberts said he is grateful to be recognized and gave credit to his players for never giving up.
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