Dave Roberts deserves his fair share of the blame for Dodgers' disasterclass in NLDS Game 2

The Los Angeles Dodgers' flameout against the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2 of the NLCS isn't something they're going to live down anytime soon.

The Brewers — specifically, starter Logan Henderson — handed them opportunities, which the Dodgers were at least able to capitalize on to get out to a lead in the first, again in the third, and then to tie the game in the fifth. But when Milwaukee's defense got its act together, it was clear that LA was being out-hit, outsmarted, and outplayed.

Two of the Dodgers' four runs were unearned. They only picked up three real hits throughout the entire game. Shohei Ohtani is broken, and the Brewers had Yoshinobu Yamamoto's number almost from the jump.

Dave Roberts isn't innocent either. Replacing Roki Sasaki with Kris Bubic after just one inning was the first red flag. Bubic gave up a game-tying homer to William Contreras, but Sasaki was pulled because ...Roberts wanted a lefty to face Brice Turang.

Roberts' overestimation of Turang and underestimation of Contreras reared its head again in the sixth, when he held up four fingers to allow righty Brock Stewart to face righty Contreras. Milwaukee's NLCS MVP-apparent hit a go-ahead single on the first pitch he saw.

Dave Roberts' questionable management in NLCS Game 2 deserves just as much blame for Dodgers' loss

Roberts, though inevitably a Hall of Fame manager, has made some distinctly ruinous blunders. Remember when he pinch-hit Austin Barnes in Game 2 of the 2022 NLDS against the San Diego Padres? Or when he put Anthony Banda on the mound to give up a pinch-hit grand slam to Addison Barger in Game 1 of the 2025 World Series? The list goes on and on.

Accordingly, Roberts can be a divisive figure amongst Dodgers fans. All of his foibles are quickly forgotten about when the Dodgers win, but now that Los Angeles is down 2-0, they're stark.

The role of a manager is, all things considered, mostly thankless, and there's a larger existential question as to how much they can actually make or break a team. But Roberts has it easier than most — a lot easier. He has, what he called at the beginning of the season, the best team he's ever managed. He has three MVPs and nearly $400 million worth of talent to work with.

That shortcomings of that talent are being exposed now, but there are some things — taking Sasaki out and intentionally walking Turang — that are entirely in Roberts' hands, and he looked lost.

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