The Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League West for the 10th time since 2013 behind another 100-win campaign, but suffered an early postseason exit after being swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL Division Series.
It marked a second consecutive year the team was eliminated in their first round of play by a divisional foe.
Although the Dodgers won the World Series in 2020, they have become accustomed to October heartbreak since manager Dave Roberts took the helm for the 2016 season. Over that span, L.A. has lost in the Fall Classic and NL Championship Series twice, and NLDS three times.
Max Muncy praised Roberts for the way he handles each disappointing elimination, via the “Foul Territory” show:
“Unfortunately, I’ve been a part of too many postseason losses like that. Doc does a great job. He comes in and gives a speech to everybody. It’s never fun, it’s never good. It’s not really good to listen to, but Doc does as good of job as you can do with it. He kind of opens up the floor for anyone who’s got something to say.”
After the Dodgers’ latest loss, Roberts conceded that he has to better prepare the team for the postseason. “There’s some things with the format that people can dissect or whatever, but the bottom line is that the last two years we’ve got outplayed in the postseason,” Roberts said after the Dodgers were swept.
“It doesn’t matter if it was a seven-game series, we lost the first three games. For me, I’ve got to do a better job of figuring out a way to get our guys prepared for the postseason. I’ll own that.
“I think we’ve got great players. I’ve got to figure out a way to get these guys prepared for whatever format, whatever series. Yeah, the regular season, I think we do a great job. But the last couple of postseasons it just hasn’t gone well for us and so I’ve got to figure it out.”
Dave Roberts returning as Dodgers manager
Despite some calls for changes on the coaching staff, particularly at manager, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman confirmed Roberts would return for the 2024 season.
“Organizational failure means it’s on all of us and we all had a hand in it,” Friedman explained during a press conference from Dodger Stadium to conclude the 2023 season.
“If this were one person or a small collection of people, in my estimation, then we would make changes. We just wouldn’t do it to say, ‘Look, we made changes,’ and try to cover up what has happened.
“Instead, we have a lot of extremely disappointed, angry people who are all going to work really hard together to avoid being in this position again next year.
“With the talent, with how much they care, their work ethic, how much they care about these fans and doing everything we can to win a championship in 2024, felt like making a change would be for the sake of it instead of actually bringing better and more talented people in.”
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