For those who casually tune into baseball, it is all too easy to assume that Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has a largely stress-free job. He helms a supremely talented club that racks up divisional titles and consistently contends for championships. When big names hit the free agent market, the nine-year skipper can trust the organization to make a strong and often successful pursuit. The sun does not always shine in La La Land, though.

Roberts has weathered plenty of adversity during his managerial tenure. The injury bug munches on the Dodgers arguably as much as anyone, leaving their pitching staff in a perpetually diminished state. He was backed into a corner once again in 2024, forced to lean steadily on his bullpen throughout the team's World Series title run. LA does not want Roberts to work so hard this year, however.

Backed by ownership, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman crushed the franchise's offseason agenda, completing tasks that fans did not even know were achievable. He significantly boosted the starting rotation with Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki, strengthened the bullpen by signing Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates, added defensively versatile infielder Hyeseong Kim and brought back fan favorite slugger Teoscar Hernandez. Needless to say, Roberts is a happy man.

“What a year, right?” he said at DodgerFest 2025, per SportsNet LA. “I think we all had our wish list on certain players that we wanted {in order} to make our team even better going forward, and there's not a prayer that wasn't answered yet.”

Dodgers are seeking immortality

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Dodgers fans, always hungry for more, started chanting Kike Hernandez's name during Roberts' organizational glorification. He echoed their sentiment, but with or without the October great, this team is built to dominate.

That sentence is not written lightly in this modern age. The days of the true baseball behemoth are seemingly gone, or at least on hiatus, as no team has won back-to-back championships since the New York Yankees' three-peat from 1998-2000. Los Angeles is under an unprecedented amount of pressure to pull off the feat in 2025.

When surveying the roster, which now includes the deepest rotation in the league, one of the most accomplished top-halves of a lineup in recent MLB history and a stout bullpen, it seems like the Dodgers have raised expectations to an impossible level. The bar is not merely a championship, but rather annihilation.

Dave Roberts knows firsthand how unpredictable this sport can be, though. He recorded the most iconic stolen base of all-time and guided LA to a title during the COVID-19 pandemic. A first-rate roster will not convince him to let down his guard. Meeting the public's standard is implausible.

The Dodgers just need to live up to the one they have set for themselves, because, if followed, this group of guys will leave an indelible mark on America's Pastime.