Dave Roberts Opens Up on Dodgers Legacy and $32.4M Extension as LA Battles Brewers for Playoff Positioning

Dave Roberts is opening up about legacy, pressure, and unfinished business at exactly the wrong moment to be reflective. The Dodgers manager sat down with USA Today for an exclusive published Aug. 13 that dug into his contract, his place in franchise history, and the intensity of managing in Los Angeles — even as his defending World Series champions are locked in a dogfight for playoff positioning against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Roberts, 54, is in his 11th season steering the Dodgers, trailing only Wilbert Robinson, Tommy Lasorda, and Walter Alston for tenure in franchise history. He owns the highest winning percentage of any manager in MLB history outside the Negro Leagues at .627, has delivered two World Series titles in 2020 and 2024, and this season became the fastest manager ever to reach 1,000 career wins, doing it in just 1,606 games. In March 2025 he signed a four-year, $32.4 million extension through 2029, a deal that made him the highest-paid manager in the sport on an annual basis.

Roberts Reflects on LA Intensity and a Book in the Works

In the USA Today piece by Bob Nightengale, Roberts described sitting behind a desk in a visiting manager’s office, eyes closed, before opening up about the scrutiny that comes with running one of baseball’s most scrutinized franchises. He revealed he originally planned to walk away once his current extension expired, content to leave on his own terms. That has changed. Roberts says he now wants to keep managing and make what he called an “indelible impact,” not just on the Dodgers or baseball, but in life. That mindset is fueling a book, “Relentlessly Positive,” set for release next spring.

The introspection arrives during one of the tougher stretches of his tenure. The Dodgers were rocked by a rough skid before rallying to win four of five games, and they now sit at 73-49, two games back of the NL Central-leading Brewers (75-47) for the top seed in the National League. Roberts has reportedly been direct with his group behind closed doors, pushing a slumping roster to find its edge again with the postseason picture still very much unsettled — the Braves (73-48) are also lurking in the mix.

Brewers Series a Measuring Stick, Skubal Still Finding His Footing

The Dodgers and Brewers opened a highly anticipated four-game set at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, a rematch of last year’s NLCS with major playoff-seeding stakes attached. Milwaukee won the opener 5-4 after closer Edwin Diaz blew his third save in his last four appearances, surrendering four straight one-out singles in the ninth as his ERA ballooned to 11.57. The loss kept the Dodgers chasing the top two seeds, both of which come with a first-round bye — a spot Los Angeles currently sits outside of as the No. 3 seed.

Complicating matters is the continued adjustment period for Tarik Skubal, the two-time reigning AL Cy Young winner the Dodgers landed from Detroit at the trade deadline in a deal the Brewers also pursued. Skubal is 0-1 with a 4.09 ERA across his first two starts in Dodger blue, having allowed five runs over 11 innings, though his season numbers remain strong at 7-6 with a 2.93 ERA and 128 strikeouts. He’s scheduled to start the series finale Sunday against Milwaukee’s Logan Henderson, with the Roki Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Justin Wrobleski trio rounding out the rest of the rotation assignments against the Brewers this weekend.

What’s Next for LA

A series win over Milwaukee would push the Dodgers back into position for a top-two seed and a bye through the wild-card round, a scenario the club is desperate to avoid repeating from last October. For bettors tracking the race, checking the latest MLB odds is a good way to gauge how the market views the Dodgers’ chances down the stretch. Roberts, for his part, sounds like a manager settling in for the long haul rather than counting down days on his contract — a shift in outlook that could shape how the Dodgers approach not just this final playoff push, but the years still remaining on his deal through 2029.

Whether Los Angeles can find its footing against a Brewers team playing for the best record in the National League will go a long way toward determining if Roberts adds another deep October run to a resume that already includes two championships. For now, both the manager and his roster are being tested in real time, with the standings and the stakes lining up perfectly for the kind of pressure Roberts told USA Today he has learned to live with.