Dave Roberts had been through enough champagne celebrations over the past decade that opening another bottle for himself shouldn’t have felt that different. But Tuesday night was different. His Dodgers had just beat the Athletics 9-3 in West Sacramento, and somewhere in the handshakes and the clubhouse noise it hit him — win No. 1,000.
Roberts is only the fourth manager in Dodgers history to reach that number, joining Walter Alston, Tommy Lasorda and Wilbert Robinson. But he got there faster than any of them. Faster than anybody, actually. The 1,000th win came in his 1,606th game, which makes him the quickest manager in MLB history to hit the milestone.
His career record now sits at 1,000-606. That’s a .623 winning percentage, and it’s not like he’s managing a roster of Hall of Famers every single year. (Okay, sometimes he is. But still.) The Dodgers have won three World Series under Roberts. They’ve won 90-plus games in every full season he’s managed. The sustained success is ridiculous when you step back and look at it.
The actual game Tuesday was comfortable. Tommy Edman had four hits and four RBIs including a three-run homer. Miguel Rojas went deep and drove in two more. Justin Wrobleski struck out a career-high 11 over seven innings, which is the kind of start that makes you forget the bullpen even exists.
But the moment after the game is what people will remember. Roberts doing a champagne toast in the clubhouse with his guys. The photo hit social media immediately — him holding up a glass, grinning, surrounded by players who clearly wanted to be part of it. A 1,000th win is a team thing in a way that individual stats usually aren’t. You can’t get there without a front office that keeps putting together contenders and players who keep delivering.
The Dodgers are 56-30 now, best record in baseball, and they’ve won seven of their last eight. It’s July. They look like a team that’s going to be playing deep into October again. But for one night, the standings didn’t matter as much as the round number and the bottle of champagne.
Roberts has managed 11 seasons in Los Angeles. He’s been to the postseason every year. He’s taken heat for bullpen moves and lineup decisions like every manager does. But 1,000 wins before any other manager in history got there — that quiets a lot of the noise. At least for a night.
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