In Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series, Dave Roberts entered as a pinch runner in the bottom of the ninth inning and stole arguably the biggest base in Boston Red Sox history.
You know the rest of the story: Roberts scored the tying run, the Red Sox won in extras, overcame a 3-0 series deficit to vanquish the hated New York Yankees and ultimately busted the Curse of the Bambino.
It's not hyperbole to say Roberts is stepping into a similarly pressure-packed situation with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Dodgers are expected to officially name Roberts their new manager Monday, according to a report by Dylan Hernandez, Bill Plaschke and Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times, which cited unnamed sources since the news is not yet official.
Roberts, as Hernandez, Plaschke and Shaikin noted, beat out Dodgers farm director Gabe Kapler, who played for the Tampa Bay Rays under then-general manager Andrew Friedman, who is now L.A.'s president of baseball operations.
Bleacher Report's Scott Miller confirmed the news and noted Roberts' connection to a Dodger legend:
Roberts' mandate is as simple as it is daunting: Get the Dodgers over the postseason hump and guide the club to its first championship in more than a quarter-century.
There are reasons for optimism, so let's start with those.
While this is Roberts' first non-interim managerial gig, he's spent plenty of time in the National League West, including stints as a player with the Dodgers, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants and a run as the Padres' first-base coach and bench coach. He also spent one day as San Diego's interim manager after the club fired Bud Black in June.
So he's familiar with the lay of the land out West. And he impressed during his interview with the Dodgers, as USA Today's Bob Nightengale noted before the hire:
Roberts, whose parents are African-American and Japanese, will also be the first minority manager in team history, a not-insignificant footnote for the franchise that signed Jackie Robinson.
The bottom line, though, will be results. And while we don't yet know the parameters of Roberts' contract, it's doubtful he'll be given much of a grace period.
He is inheriting baseball's most expensive roster, after all, a team that has won three straight division titles but has fallen short of an NL pennant—let alone a Commissioner's Trophy—each time.
He might enter 2016 without the services of Zack Greinke, the Cy Young runner-up who is currently floating in the free-agent pool.
But he'll have ace Clayton Kershaw and whatever additions Friedman makes to the rotation, lineup and bullpen in the coming months. It'll be a group capable of winning—that much we know. The trick will be making them jell.
To that end, Roberts would be wise to sidle up quickly next to Yasiel Puig and establish a relationship. Assuming he's not traded, the Cuban slugger will be a key piece of the puzzle next year in L.A., and Roberts needs to ensure the ultra-talented but often polarizing Puig understands where he fits.
We won't know what kind of skipper Roberts will be until we see him in action and watch him evolve into the role. But Padres catcher Derek Norris offered a clue last season, when Roberts made his one-game stint at the helm.
"We love Doc," Norris said, per Kirk Kenney of the San Diego Union-Tribune. "He's great. He's awesome. He's very optimistic and very positive. People respond to that."
"Doc" is Roberts' nickname, a play on his initials. It'll be apt as he tries to resuscitate a clubhouse that was often less than healthy under Don Mattingly, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post outlined:
[If] anything created tension in the organization, it was the front office felt it had to clean up messes in the clubhouse because Mattingly was not good with confrontation. Last offseason, the Dodgers did not sign free agent Hanley Ramirez, traded Matt Kemp and released Brian Wilson in the name of improving chemistry. Still, Yasiel Puig was left behind, as were a swath of expensive players who were expecting to play daily and in some cases weren't.
There's no guarantee Roberts will expertly juggle every ego and deftly sidestep every playing-time minefield. Undoubtedly he'll make his share of mistakes, as all rookie managers do.
But by tapping a guy with a reputation for likability and relatively recent experience as a player in the Dodger dugout, Friedman and company have sent a message that cohesion and harmony matter. This talented, expensive ship needs a captain with a bright smile and a steady hand. Roberts appears to have both.
Based on Nightengale's note on Roberts' interview, it's safe to assume the new skipper is open to suggestions from Friedman and Los Angeles' analytically inclined front office. The key will be filtering that down to the field without creating tension.
It's a balancing act, no question, and Roberts could wobble. All managers can, no matter how many years they've logged on the top step.
But this feels like the right hire—a positive development and a needed reset for a team that was looking increasingly like baseball's winningest mess under Mattingly.
Eleven years ago, Roberts' legs helped end Boston's championship drought. Now, the Dodgers are hoping his head—and heart—can do the same thing in Southern California.
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