Game 2 of the National League Division Series featured a sideshow amid the tense, see-saw struggle between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, involving Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Padres third baseman Manny Machado. It started when Machado threw a baseball at the Dodgers’ dugout, which bounced off a protective screen in front of Roberts.
Context is important in understanding why the Padres thought nothing of it: the ball had been scuffed previously, and Machado was tossing it in the direction of a ball boy, as he generally does in that situation. However, the throw seemed a little faster than normal. A few Dodgers, including pitcher Jack Flaherty, took offence.
Roberts made no mention of the incident in his postgame press conference following the Dodgers’ 10-2 loss. But the next day, he was especially harsh on Machado, calling the episode “unsettling,” “very bothersome,” and “pretty disrespectful.” He stated that Machado’s toss was “intent-driven.”
After the Dodgers defeated the Padres 2-0 in Game 5 to win the series, Roberts largely recanted his claims in an interview with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. He stated that his reply was intended to alleviate the heat off his own players.
“As a manager, you never want to make it about you,” Roberts added. “But I simply felt that in that situation, if we could take some of the weight off our guys…Manny and I have a pretty excellent relationship. I’d take him any day. But I don’t believe that diversion was a terrible thing for our team.
They replied by having my back.” Machado played for both the Dodgers and Roberts in 2018. After the season, he signed a free-agent contract with San Diego worth $350 million for 11 years. Machado’s heel turn, which included signing a lucrative contract with a division foe, made him a natural lightning rod for the Dodgers and their supporters. Machado, 32, has embraced the role.
He used it as a rallying point to motivate his teammates during an impromptu conference in the dugout later in Game 2, which was halted for 12 minutes after fans at Dodger Stadium threw objects at the Padres’ outfielders. The Dodgers sent Major League Baseball a video of Machado’s throw toward Roberts. The league apparently concluded that the incident did not justify any additional punishment.
Roberts eventually chose to let go of the past. Perhaps it was easier to do after his team won a difficult series, but credit to the manager for clearing the air – and for effectively exploiting an opponent’s innocuous behaviour as a motivational weapon for his squad.
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