Comparing Dodgers' contract for Dave Roberts with Cubs manager Craig Counsell's

The Dodgers officially extended manager Dave Roberts on Tuesday, just a few days after details of his new deal were initially reported by Jon Heyman. Roberts' current deal lasts through the end of the upcoming season, but with the new contract, he'll stay through 2029 for $32.4 million, or $8.1 million a year.

After LA's World Series win, Roberts' new deal was widely expected to break the record set by the Cubs, when they gave Craig Counsell five years and $40 million ($8 million AAV) in 2023; it was just a matter of how high the Dodgers were willing to go. Roberts' yearly earnings only exceeding Counsell's by a margin of $100,000 definitely reads like a statement on the Dodgers' part.

Roberts said that he wanted to "feel his value" in contract negotiations, and while a star manager is never going to make the same kind of money a star player does (especially not a star Dodgers player), the front office acknowledged the bar the Cubs set and crossed it to keep Roberts on for the foreseeable future and continue in the efforts to turn their dominance into a dynasty.

How does Dave Roberts' new record-breaking Dodgers contract stack up against Cubs' manager Craig Counsell's?

Roberts and Counsell's managerial histories have a lot of parallels. Both debuted as managers in 2015 (even though Roberts' stint was just one game with the Padres, right after Bud Black was fired and right before Pat Murphy was hired), have managed a similar amount of games — 1,358 for Roberts, 1,494 for Counsell — and have managed perennial postseason teams that have recent and notorious histories of not being able to crack their first rounds.

The Brewers made it all the way to the NLCS in 2018, the third year of Counsell's tenure there, to break a seven-year drought. They have made it back to October in five of the last six seasons, but have only made it past the Wild Card once. Don Mattingly had laid a little more groundwork for the Dodgers before Roberts took over, but the Dodgers were also burdened with a reputation for choking (in full seasons) until 2024.

What Roberts has that Counsell doesn't is two World Series rings, four pennants, a Manager of the Year Award, and status as a reigning World Champion. Again, he was always bound to break Counsell's record, so it's only right that he ultimately did.