Dodgers Interview: Doc can finally exhale

TORONTO — The goggles were still on and the room smelled like victory. Dave Roberts stood in Toronto on Saturday night trying to put words to a World Series that stretched every nerve. He didn’t reach for grand labels. He talked about players, trust, and the long road from March in Tokyo to November in Canada.

“Right now I’m really elated and really proud of our team, our guys, the way we fought,” Roberts said. “We’ve done something that hasn’t been done in decades. There were so many pressure points where that game could have flipped and we just kept fighting and guys stepped up big.” He paused on the legends who came before him. “I’ve got so much respect for Tommy [Lasorda] and what he did in the game. To be mentioned with him is hard to reconcile.”

Asked how his buttons kept lining up in the biggest moments, Roberts made it simple. “It just comes down to trusting your players,” he said. “It’s nice when you can look down the roster and have 26 guys you believe in and know at some point their number is going to be called.” He singled out Miguel Rojas and the way the ninth-inning swing seemed to reward years of quiet work. “I always say the game honors you. Right there, the game honored him. He does things the right way and he deserved that moment.”

Then the manager turned to the pitcher who bent the night to his will. “What Yoshi did tonight is unprecedented in modern-day baseball,” Roberts said. “There’s a mind component, a flawless delivery, and an unwavering will. I just haven’t seen it.” He smiled when asked why Yamamoto could shoulder so much on short rest. “He uses his body very efficiently. It’s the whole engine that works, not just the arm. He told me, ‘Daijobu’ — I’m okay — and I trusted him.”

The dugout, he said, never sagged when the deficit looked heavy. “We were going to play 27 outs,” Roberts explained. “It didn’t look great in that moment, but I trusted Miggy to take the at-bat. He got a pitch he could handle and hit the biggest hit of his life. At that point we felt really good about it, and we needed a next-level performance from Yama. We got it.”

Walking through the late-game chess, Roberts admitted the adrenaline still hadn’t settled. “I’m still trying to unpack it,” he said. “Snell was good. Glass pitched before him. I tried to push guys as much as they could. Emmet was in there. Robo did his thing and got some big outs.” The turning point, of course, was handing the ball to Yamamoto and refusing to take it back. “I wanted to give Yamamoto an opportunity to keep the game at bay,” he said. “Once he did that, he felt confident he could stay in his delivery and not compromise health. Even for that third up, he said, ‘I’m okay,’ and I just trusted him. He came up big again.”

The bigger picture came up — the talk-show word that follows champions from year to year. Roberts didn’t bite hard, but he heard it. “We’ve put together something pretty special,” he said. “I’m proud of the players, the fans, scouting, player development. To do what we’ve done in this span is remarkable. I’ll let the pundits and fans talk about whether it’s a dynasty. I’m pretty happy with where we’re at.”

He was asked to compare Yamamoto’s night to another famous October push from a certain homegrown ace. Roberts nodded. “There are similarities,” he said. “Walker is in Dodger lore, and Yoshi just put himself right there with him, throwing 100 pitches, coming back after one day off, and going three innings. It’s pretty crazy. I’m kind of crazy for sending him back out there, but I felt he was the best option. You have to trust players. I believed in him. We all did.”

All season, three Japanese stars shaped the Dodgers in different ways, and Roberts wanted to say that out loud. “Shohei has the weight of the world on his shoulders as far as expectations, probably the face of baseball,” he said. “He’s going to be the MVP in the National League. It’s really special what he’s done and he’s a great person and competitor. Yoshinobu is one of the top pitchers in all of baseball. He’s shown that. And Roki is a young player who had a tough time early, found a way to get healthy, and contributed in a huge way. There’s a lot of growth in Roki this year. We’re very lucky to have them.”

Roberts also tipped his cap to the opponent and the chaos that can’t be planned. “That’s what it’s about,” he said. “I’ve got so much respect for what John does with his team and his staff. They gave us everything they had. It was a brawl. Both teams fighting and punching back and responding. We’re going to be talking about this game for a long time.” He laughed at himself for losing his train of thought mid-answer. “As I’m answering, I kind of forgot your question. Did I answer it? Yeah? Good.”

The offense wasn’t always crisp this October, and it changed his calculus on the mound. “We didn’t swing the bats all postseason like we’re capable of,” Roberts said. “So you really try, on the margins, to prevent as many runs as you can because I wasn’t expecting an offensive game. In a do-or-die Game 7, you do the best you can to prevent runs. Miggy’s hit and Will Smith’s hit were huge, just huge.”

He kept circling back to the journey as champagne soaked the carpet. “You can look back at the miles we logged,” Roberts said. “Grit comes to mind. The real definition of grit, passion, and perseverance for a long-term goal. We started in Tokyo. We kept going. We persevered. We were the last team standing.”

One more time, he looked around and talked about choosing the right man for each moment. “You look around the room and see guys who want to participate,” Roberts said. “You have to figure out when to call their number and when to bet on them. It makes it a lot easier when you know these guys are ready for whatever moment you ask of them.”

Night ended, voices hoarse, goggles still in place. The manager didn’t chase poetry. He stuck with the thing that carried them from spring to fall. “I’m proud of this group of guys,” Roberts said. “I’m exhausted. But I’m proud.”

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