Don Mattingly was at the helm as manager when the Los Angeles Dodgers began their unprecedented run of National League West division titles. When the stretch began in 2013, the Dodgers needed a historic 42-8 stretch to pull themselves up from the bottom of the standings.
That remarkable run was bested by the 2017 Dodgers who went 43-7 en route to leading the Majors with 104 wins and claiming a fifth consecutive NL West title. The Dodgers went into this season with an expectation they would once again finish atop the division standings.
And though they got off to the worst 40-game start since 1958, the organization’s first season in Los Angeles, manager Dave Roberts has maintained confident in his club. Roberts predicted the Dodgers would win the NL West, and he hasn’t backed off that belief.
Considering his history and similar experience with the team, Mattingly represents a qualified voice to discuss the current state of the Dodgers.
While he wasn’t willing to dive too deeply into his former club, Mattingly believes the Dodgers will right the ship at some point, per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“It ends sometime,” Mattingly said of the Dodgers’ struggles. “Those things end, and then they win a bunch in a row. I don’t know the situation over there. We’ve got enough problems of our own to deal with and what we’re trying to build to worry about that. Obviously, they’re a talented club.”
Mattingly went 446-363 (.551 winning percentage) during his five seasons as Dodgers manager, guiding them to the postseason for three consecutive years, beginning in 2013. Though after reaching the NL Championship Series in 2013, the Dodgers never advanced beyond the NL Division Series.
Mattingly initially survived significant changes in the front office after the 2014 season, but president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and Mattingly agreed timing was right to go their separate ways at the conclusion of the 2015 season.
