Dave Roberts has one move left to save the Los Angeles Dodgers season.
Some might call it desperate. And it would be, because the Dodgers find themselves in a situation that calls for a stupid and pointless gesture. Still, after Wednesday night’s 6-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 of the NLCS, anything else they do could be silly and futile.
Faced with his team’s demise, Roberts must stop managing, retire as a player, and reactivate himself before it’s too late to beat the Milwaukee Brewers.
For Roberts, who is 54 years old and has not played since 2008, it may seem difficult to be effective as a player anymore. But it’s not about what’s actually possible or logical. It’s about the vibes.
As a pinch runner 22 years ago, Roberts was instrumental in the Boston Red Sox’s historic comeback against the New York Yankees in the ALCS. With his team facing a sweep and trailing by a run in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 4, Roberts stole second against Mariano Rivera and came around to score the tying run on a hit by Bill Mueller.
Many innings later, the Red Sox beat the Yankees in Game 4 (and 5, 6 and 7) and became the first team in Major League Baseball history to overcome a 3-0 series deficit. It’s a feat that has never been repeated in 43 possible attempts. The Red Sox then went on to win the World Series, breaking Babe Ruth’s curse.
The current Dodgers aren’t cursed, but they have a lot of work to do right now.
As managers go, Roberts was not at his best in this series. In Game 4, he kept left-hander Blake Snell in the game too long, even though Snell has a history of pulling very early. Will Snell even find the correct porridge temperature?
Roberts also burned rookie Josue De Paula in a fiasco that cost him a favorable matchup later in the game. Two pretty terrible mistakes. To say that Roberts’ lone decisions cost the Dodgers the game is probably an overstatement, but he didn’t help.
Who is riding the cab crew so Roberts can be on the active roster? Before he started showing life at the plate in Game 3, Shohei Ohtani looked ripe for the bench. Roberts actually sat down to ask Ohtani if it made sense to sit after his slump continued through the first two games of the series.
Instead of making the call, Roberts made the questionable decision to let Ohtani decide for himself. There was no bowing down. Ohtani didn’t score any runs, but hit 113.5 mph in the eighth inning against DL Hall. It was such a heavy blow. At this rate, Ohtani will have gotten himself out of a tailspin by entering the future owner’s lockout.
The Dodgers really don’t have time to live the three-peat dream. Even Roberts isn’t walking through that door to save them with a metaphysical stolen base on his old kneecaps. That once-in-a-lifetime moment has already happened.
The Brewers were better. They’re experimenting, they’re confident, and this seems like their time. It comes for everyone.