Dodgers Insider Thinks Dave Roberts Deserves NL Manager of the Year Award

Give the man his flowers for this season.

The 2023 season has been one of the weirdest, but most satisfying years for the Dodgers in recent memory. They were supposed to take a step back this season after a lackluster offseason, but instead, they have put together one of the better years in the league.

The team has pushed through adversity from day one, despite uncharacteristically poor pitching. But everything that they have gone through has helped lead them to this point, and they will enter the postseason ready to prove more doubters wrong.

Their success this season is a testament to the entire organization, and how they do things. But there also should be praise thrown the way of manager Dave Roberts as well.

He did such a good job that insider Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic believes he should win the National League Manager of the Year Award.

“I don’t have a National League Manager of the Year vote this year. But if I did, I think Roberts would get my first-place vote," Ardaya wrote. "This season, by his own admission, has been Roberts’ most challenging. Losing critical pieces in the clubhouse and incorporating young players means either having a strong enough voice to ensure things don’t skip a beat, or enough of a feel to know that such a conversation isn’t necessary. The Dodgers kept on winning. There is plenty of credit to go around for this Dodgers regular season, but Roberts deserves his fair share.”

Per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic

While there have been plenty of good teams this season, Roberts should be atop the list. LA lost a ton of talent over the offseason and replaced them with mainly young players. They wanted to see what they had with their farm system, and it didn’t let them down.

For all the criticism that he has received in the past, fair or not, he proved people wrong this year. He has managed well through everything this year and showed just how good of a manager he really was.

The team has battled through duct-tapping a starting rotation together all year and managing a bullpen that has pretty much played musical chairs with its relievers. 

Roberts helped them get through the adversity and deserves his flowers.