{"id":289646,"date":"2025-09-03T12:07:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T12:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/289646\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T12:07:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T12:07:15","slug":"dodgers-5m-star-confronts-dave-roberts-complacency-callout-with-unflinching-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/289646\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers $5M Star Confronts Dave Roberts’ Complacency Callout with Unflinching Response"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dodgers\u2019 loss to the Diamondbacks on Saturday once again put the spotlight on their focus and attention to detail. Manager Dave Roberts has called out his team multiple times this year. And recently hinted that they\u2019ve been acting like they can just flip the switch whenever they need to. However, he\u2019d much rather see them approach every game with the same urgency.<\/p>\n

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Reportedly, since July 28, the Dodgers are 7\u201310 against teams under .500 but 11\u20134 when facing winning clubs. Hence, Roberts didn\u2019t mince words about the difference; he rather offered no excuse for it. \u201cWhatever it is, we\u2019ve got to do it right now,\u201d he said before Sunday\u2019s series finale. However, he\u2019s pushing his players to be more locked in. And this time, it sounds like the clubhouse is finally listening, at least according to Miguel Rojas<\/a>. The 36-year-old has a 2-year contract with the Dodgers, a deal agreed upon in February 2023 for $11 million, including a salary for the 2024 season and a\u00a02025 club option\u00a0for $5 million that the team exercised in November 2024, with a $1 million buyout option.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys gotta understand, we\u2019re human beings,\u201d Rojas said. \u201cAnd sometimes you get tired, especially mentally. And you got a lot of things going on in your life, and your year, and it\u2019s not easy to be locked in every single time. But I feel like we made a commitment to be locked in for 25 more games, plus the 20 or whatever we need to play in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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While that\u2019s that, the inconsistency has been glaring. Notably, the Dodgers went from holding a nine-game NL West lead at the start of July to briefly falling out of first, to then sweeping the Padres and reclaiming the top spot. And Roberts doesn\u2019t know how much longer they can keep counting on a late-season spark.<\/p>\n

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Now that September\u2019s here, it\u2019s officially postseason watch time. And the Dodgers find themselves in a crowded four-team mix where the gap between the No. 2 seed and the No. 5 seed is just three games! Yes, that\u2019s the difference between earning a first-round bye straight into the Division Series. Or having to grind through a full wild-card set on the road.<\/p>\n

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While it\u2019s still too early to dive into magic numbers with four weeks left, for those keeping track, the Dodgers\u2019 number to clinch the NL West sits at 23. So, that means any combination of Dodgers wins and Padres losses adding up to 23 would secure the division for L.A.<\/p>\n

Of course, with a month of baseball left, plenty can still shift before then.<\/p>\n

Inconsistency is the Dodgers\u2019 biggest threat<\/p>\n

Well, in the years under Dave Roberts, the Dodgers built their reputation on the little things. They were sharp, disciplined, and rarely did the team beat itself.<\/p>\n

This season, though, has felt different, and nothing showed it more than their weekend series at home against the Diamondbacks<\/a> to close out August. For the unversed, just days after sweeping the Reds with 21 runs across three games, the Dodgers\u2019 bats went quiet. Against three starters with ERAs north of 5.00, the Dodgers managed just a single run in the first 18 innings!<\/p>\n

That\u2019s inconsistency at its best.<\/p>\n

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And it wasn\u2019t just the lack of offense. They ran into outs on the bases, made sloppy throws in the outfield<\/a>, failed to hustle, and even committed two errors on the same play Saturday. It was about as un-Dodger-like as it gets.<\/p>\n

So now, the fixes sound simple, but won\u2019t come easily. But if they can do that, Rojas believes they have a real shot at making history as the first repeat World Series champions since the 2000 Yankees. Because this October, unlike last year, the Dodgers won\u2019t be counting on opponents to hand them extra chances. This time, the Dodgers\u2019 inconsistencies are their biggest rival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dodgers\u2019 loss to the Diamondbacks on Saturday once again put the spotlight on their focus and attention…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[5,39,1165,4332,4333,774,57,3224,4331,4,3324,3325],"class_list":{"0":"post-289646","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-dodgers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-dodgers","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-dodgers","12":"tag-ladodgers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangelesdodgers","17":"tag-mlb","18":"tag-npstrans","19":"tag-toppic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115140286529156912","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}