Dave Roberts sits in the quiet corner of a Dodger Stadium press room, the weight of a decade behind him and a future that still feels uncharted. The manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who has guided the club to three World Series titles and five National League pennants since 2015, opens his new book *Relentlessly Positive* with a simple confession: his greatest victory is not measured in trophies but in the daily choice to lead with optimism.
A decade of dominance
Roberts’ résumé reads like a Hall of Fame ledger. He boasts the highest winning percentage (.619) of any manager in baseball history and stands as the only National League skipper to reach the postseason in each of his first ten seasons. Behind him sit 69 playoff wins, trailing only Hall of Famers Joe Torre and Tony La Russa, while his .619 mark eclipses every contemporary peer.
The journey has not been linear. In 2010 Roberts battled Stage II Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a fight that forced him to step away from the game for six years while he served in the San Diego Padres front office. He emerged with a renewed perspective that now informs his approach to every lineup card and clubhouse meeting.
His current contract, a four‑year, $32.4 million extension through 2029, was initially framed as a short‑term commitment. Yet Roberts, who predicts he can stay sharp into his early sixties, cites CEOs in their sixties as proof that energy need not wane with age. ‘I want to keep making an indelible impact on baseball and beyond,’ he says, eyes fixed on the 2028 Olympics, where he hopes to steer a U.S. team at Dodger Stadium.
The road ahead
The Dodgers’ pursuit of a third straight World Series title fuels a broader debate about competitive balance in the sport. Roberts acknowledges the controversy, arguing that the very existence of a dominant franchise sparks the conversations that keep fans engaged. ‘If we’re the team everyone talks about, that’s good for baseball,’ he contends.
Inside the clubhouse, Roberts is celebrated for cultivating a culture where every player, from veteran Miguel Rojas to emerging reliever Evan Phillips, feels valued. He credits this cohesion to a philosophy that blends humility with a relentless drive to improve, a stance that has earned him respect from peers like Pat Murphy and even legendary managers such as Tom Lasorda and Walter Alston.
As the conversation turns to legacy, Roberts points to the lineage of Black managers who have broken through the sport’s glass ceiling — himself, Dusty Baker and Cito Gaston among them. Their stories, he says, are a reminder that progress is built on the shoulders of those who came before.