Dodgers' Dave Roberts becomes 6th rookie manager to win award

ByDOUG PADILLA
November 15, 2016, 7:10 PM

— -- Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers has topped Joe Maddon and Dusty Baker to win the National League Manager of the Year Award.

After taking over for Don Mattingly this past season, Roberts continued the Dodgers' trend of playoff appearances by guiding the club to a 91-71 record, and a fourth consecutive National League West title. The Dodgers have now reached the postseason in four consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history.

As much as the team's on-field success defined Roberts' rookie season as a manager, so did the player injuries he was forced to overcome. The Dodgers broke camp in spring training with 10 players on the disabled list, believed to be a record to open a season.

It did not get any better for the Dodgers, as 28 players ultimately hit the disabled list, the most players any club has put on the DL in the past 30 seasons. The list of injured players even included staff ace Clayton Kershaw, who was lost for 75 days after a back injury in late June.

But instead of the team collapse that was predicted, the Dodgers turned an eight-game NL West deficit at the time of Kershaw's June 26 injury into a division-title-clinching celebration one week before the regular season was completed. The Dodgers ended up winning the division over the San Francisco Giants by four games.

Roberts becomes just the second Dodgers rookie manager to lead the team into the postseason after Tommy Lasorda in 1977 and only the sixth rookie manager to ever win the award.

The Dodgers won 90-plus games for the fourth consecutive season, a feat that had been accomplished just one other time in franchise history, when they won 90-plus games in six consecutive seasons from 1951 to '56.