The Los Angeles Dodgers lost in the World Series for the second straight year in 2018, being defeated in five games by the Boston Red Sox.
As is usually the case with any team that loses in the World Series, a lot of the blame was pointed towards manager Dave Roberts after the fact for some of the decisions he made.
The calendar has now flipped to 2019, but that hasn’t stopped Roberts from getting blamed. The latest criticism came from Yasiel Puig, who noted he felt the Red Sox were superior in their decision-making, via Jon Taylor of Sports Illustrated:
“Boston went ahead [in Game 5] and bet everything they had because they wanted to win,” Puig says. “So instead of bringing in [Craig] Kimbrel, they brought in Chris Sale to close the game, because Sale is a great pitcher, one of the best there is. To get two or three runs in an inning against him is impossible.… That’s why they’re champions. We couldn’t do the same. We didn’t bring in our best pitchers, and when we had our best in, we took them out, or we left them in too long. That’s why we lost.”
Puig is now a member of the Cincinnati Reds after being traded in the offseason, and this is not the first shot he has taken at his former team. First, he said he did not work hard while with the Dodgers because he wasn’t in a contract year, and then Puig criticized the return they received in the trade.
Although with Puig, of course, everything must be taken with a grain of salt because he has never been one that is afraid to speak his mind. As far as the World Series goes, some of what Puig said is correct, but it is easy to second-guess a manager’s decisions after you see they didn’t pan out.
Roberts received a contract extension to remain with the Dodgers this past offseason, so the hope is that he can get the club back to the World Series in the coming years and finally get over that hump and win it all.
