Matt Zemek
 |  UCLA Wire

To know baseball is to love baseball. Don’t tell that to the people of Toronto and Canada right now after their beloved Blue Jays got punched in the gut, but baseball fans can appreciate how magnificent Game 7 of the 2025 World Series truly was. Dave Roberts nailed every big move in the final innings of this game and was rewarded with back-to-back World Series championships. Next stop: Cooperstown. Roberts has very clearly earned a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He probably had it already, but now it’s absolutely secure. The debate is over.

First repeat MLB champion in 25 years

It’s extraordinarily hard to repeat in modern baseball, with the added playoff rounds and more chances to trip up. Only one other team in the wild card era (1995-2025) has repeated. That’s the Joe Torre Yankees, who won three in a row from 1998-2000. That one achievement puts Dave Roberts in a higher class of MLB managers, but there’s so much more to the story.

Three Dodger championships

Only one man, Walter Alston, has won more World Series as Dodger manager (4) than Dave Roberts. He is in the top tier of managers for a franchise synonymous with winning and excellence.

Exclusive clubs

Roberts is one of only 11 managers to win at least three World Series. Only six have won four, and Roberts has a chance to pursue that goal, having won title No. 3.

Chess moves

Putting Andy Pages in for defense saved Game 7 and the World Series. Putting in Yoshinobu Yamamoto saved Game 7 and the series. Trusting Miguel Rojas saved Game 7 and the series. These were not obvious moves, either. Roberts made tough calls and was dead right on all of them. He had to make the decisions, not the front office, and he was nails.

Payback for 2017

This is less about beating George Springer, much more about the Dodgers winning a 50-50 series and getting the breaks this time. In 2017, the Houston Astros very plainly cheated. The Dodgers had every right to think they deserved that championship, but Houston denied them in Game 7 at Dodger Stadium. Eight years later, the Dodgers won a Game 7 on the road. Everything came full circle. If you felt Dave Roberts deserved the World Series in 2017, this felt like the payoff for not being able to lift the trophy back then. On balance, yes, Dave Roberts should have three Dodger championships, and now he officially does.

Certified Hall of Fame status

Dave Roberts is a certified Hall of Fame manager. This will never change or be undone. At a certain point, a Hall of Fame resume is cemented. Performers (athletes or coaches) don’t become Hall of Famers and then stop becoming them (except for something such as steroid use, the one exception). Roberts has clearly achieved at a Hall of Fame level. He will go to Cooperstown. It’s done.

How quickly things change

Yet, while noting that Dave Roberts’ place in Cooperstown is secure, we can also point out — this is not revisionist history — that in early 2024, with the Dodgers trailing the San Diego Padres 2-1 in the NL Division Series, Roberts was on the hot seat. If he had not won that series, there might have been a conversation about his future with the Dodgers. Keep in mind LA failed to make, let alone win, the World Series in three straight seasons from 2021-2023. A four-year drought might have been too much.

Here we are, 13 months later. Roberts owns back-to-back titles and is on top of the baseball world. What a ride, but Cooperstown will be the ultimate destination for the former UCLA Bruin.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, towering icon

Let’s keep in mind — while noting everything he did in this World Series and postseason for the Dodgers — that Yoshinobu Yamamoto shut down the Padres in Game 5 of last year’s division series. In many ways, Yamamoto has provided the signature moments and most important contributions to this Dodger dynasty. Dave Roberts trusted Yamamoto in Game 5 against San Diego. That same trust continued to be rewarded in Game 7 in Toronto.