Emotional Dave Roberts after winning the National League pennant: ‘This is our year’

During the celebration of winning the National League pennant on Sunday night, Dave Roberts teared up when talking about what it meant to get back to the World Series.

Game 1 against the Rays is Tuesday, with a first pitch of 5:09 p.m. PT. But first let’s look back to Sunday night and how the Dodgers got here. Yes, they were expected to get back to the Fall Classic, but that doesn’t make it any less rewarding. You could see it on Roberts’ face during the postgame ceremony:

Roberts punctuated his speech by addressing the players and fans at Globe Life Field. “This year is our year,” he said. “This is our year!”

He explained his reaction afterward.

“I try to stay more even-keeled emotionally, I guess, when I’m not yelling and cheering,” Roberts said Sunday night. “I preface this by saying the job’s not done, and we all understand that. But I think that, to start with the pandemic and a lot of things going on, guys not with their families, and all the social injustices, it’s been a lot of sacrifices from guys. Guys were uncomfortable, but still to kind of buy in to the Dodgers and what we’re doing to win baseball games, to make such a difficult year in some instances positive, and a championship year for the Dodgers and the city of Los Angeles.

“We had our backs against the wall, and had to win three games in a row against a very good ball club. There was a lot of things that had to happen, and we did it. I don’t know, it just kind of all came together, and I was just really happy for our guys.”

The Dodgers won Sunday night 4-3 to win the NLCS, 4-3. That’s only the fourth time a decisive Game 7 has ended with such a score. The other three were in the World Series, in 1924 (Washington over New York), 1946 (St. Louis over Boston), and 1975 (Cincinnati over Boston).

Links

• The Dodgers were supposed to get to the World Series, but it didn’t make it any easier, writes Tim Brown at Yahoo Sports.
• “They were supposed to be the best team in baseball. After four games with the Braves, the Dodgers started to play like it,” writes Andy McCullough at The Athletic.
• The Dodgers’ NLCS win was a triumph of organizational might, writes Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic.
• A World Series between the high-payroll Dodgers and low-payroll Rays is a referendum on baseball economics, says Jared Diamond at the Wall Street Journal.
• The plays and decisions that got the Dodgers back to the World Series, from Jeff Passan at ESPN.
• A text message from Clay Bellinger after Game 4 of the NLCS stuck with his son Cody, writes Alden Gonzalez at ESPN.
• The younger Bellinger’s patience paid off in the later stages of the NLCS, writes Pedro Moura at The Athletic.
• Julio Urías etched his name in Dodgers lore, writes Dylan Hernandez at the Los Angeles Times.
• Rookie pitchers have thrived this pandemic-altered postseason throughout MLB, writes Bill Plunkett at the Orange County Register.
• An overview of what to look for in Dodgers vs. Rays, from David Schoenfield at ESPN.
• Here are your morning local papers: