Dave Roberts doesn’t get the same butterflies before opening day that fluttered in his stomach early in his managerial career.
He’s been through the transition from spring training to regular season plenty of times over the course of a 10-year playing career and 10 previous seasons at the helm.
“The game’s slowed down more,” Roberts said before leaving Camelback Ranch for the Freeway Series, “but my joy for opening day or the start of the season hasn’t changed.”
The Dodgers open the season Thursday at Dodger Stadium against the Arizona Diamondbacks, in pursuit of a third straight World Series title. On paper, they’re the clear favorite.
There have been just four three-peats in MLB history, three by the Yankees (1936-39, 1949-53, 1998-2000) and one by the A’s (1972-74). But because of the starpower and payroll of this team, if the Dodgers miss the mark, the season will be branded a failure.
Roberts has gotten used to that kind of outside pressure.
“Every single year, if we don’t win the World Series, it’s a ‘failure,’” Roberts said. “I don’t really believe in that because it is hard to win the World Series. Baseball is different. We’ve done it back-to-back, three out of the last six years. But baseball, you need a lot of good fortune, you need to play well at the right time, you’ve got to win a lot of games to put yourself in that position.
“I think that our guys do a really good job of not letting that narrative, that expectation, bleed into our psyche.”
Roberts’ “just win today,” mantra may sound cliche, but recent years have served as proof of concept. It’s worked for those star-studded rosters.
This offseason the Dodgers raised their on-paper ceiling even higher by signing the best available free-agent hitter, Kyle Tucker, and closer, Edwin Díaz for deals worth a combined $309 million.
“When you’re in a moment in time with an incredibly talented roster,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said, “I think the mindset is, ‘Don’t sit back on your heels, be aggressive, and don’t be nonchalant about the opportunity that we have in front of us.’”
Not to mention, who knows what financial guardrails may be in place beyond this year, under a new collective bargaining agreement.
As big spenders who keep winning — they spent close to $600 million in player payroll and luxury taxes last year — the Dodgers have taken on a villain role outside of Los Angeles. Every new signing the past couple years elicited a collective groan from opposing fan bases who had dared to hope their team had put the most compelling offer on the table.
“It’s really hard for me to believe that we are the ones doing the wrong thing,” World Series hero Miguel Rojas said. “There’s other teams that were just maybe one pitch away from getting into the World Series, or a couple wins away from going into the playoffs, and they didn’t do anything to get better. So who are the ones who are doing bad for the sport? And I just feel really proud that they’re doing what they’re doing here with the Dodgers.”
It’s a virtuous cycle. That aggressive offseason approach, even after winning back-to-back World Series, was also a selling point for the very same big-name free agents who made it pay off.
“This is a winning team, and they want to keep winning,” Díaz said last week. “When you’re going to make a decision like that, that’s going to push you to be here because this team is really good. They keep improving every single year. And I’m really happy to be here, and can’t wait to start the season with these guys and try to win another World Series.”
Díaz is still seeking his first.
“The chance to pitch for them and help them to win will be something I’m looking forward to,” Díaz said. “I prepare myself to win every single night. I just need the opportunity to show all my abilities and be ready always.”
This core won’t be together forever. And though this roster doesn’t inspire much hand wringing, the age of the Dodgers’ stars has at least raised some eyebrows.
“It’s a really talented roster, it’s a roster that competes as well or better than any other roster, it’s a roster that prepares going into a game, I would argue, better than any other roster,” Friedman said. “There’s a lot of benefits that come with that [experience]. But as we look out years, that’s going to start to become more and more of a challenge.
“And I think in a lot of ways, that’s why a lot of these large-revenue teams that had success ultimately fell off the cliff, was they just kept going back to that. And at some point the music stops. And so for us, before the music stops, it’s how to try to … accomplish both maintaining a really high level of play while introducing young, talented players onto our roster.”
It’s a push-and-pull that the Dodgers have managed well enough to make 13 straight playoff appearances. And when the first seven trips didn’t result in a World Series trophy, they kept pushing.
“It’s never going to be easy,” Rojas said. “When you’re trying to win your first one, you’re kind of chasing everybody else, and you’re in that hunt of the championship. But as soon as you have it, you’re going to have everybody else behind you.”
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