WEST SACRAMENTO -- Dave Roberts managed his first Major League game on June 15, 2015. The Padres' bench coach at the time, Roberts served as interim manager for one game, a 9-1 loss to the A's, before returning to his regular role for the rest of the year.
The following season, Roberts was hired to manage the Dodgers. He won his first contest at the helm on Opening Day 2016 -- a 15-0 victory in San Diego -- the first of many wins to come during his time in L.A.
Tuesday night's 9-3 victory over the A's at Sutter Health Park secured a career achievement for Roberts: 1,000 managerial wins in the regular season, all in Dodger blue. Roberts reached the milestone in his 1,606th game, passing Cap Anson (1,641 decisions) to become the fastest manager to 1,000 wins.
In his time as a manager, Roberts' feel for the role has grown with every season. He didn't have to dig deep into that acquired knowledge for win No. 1,000, though, as seven strong innings from Justin Wrobleski and another big night for the offense keyed by homers from Tommy Edman and Miguel Rojas got the job done.
Roberts is the 69th manager in MLB history to win 1,000 games and the third active manager, joining the Reds' Terry Francona (2,072 wins) and the Tigers' A.J. Hinch (1,001 wins), who is fresh off reaching the milestone on Monday.
Only three Dodgers skippers have won more regular-season games than Roberts: Walter Alston (2,040 wins), Tommy Lasorda (1,599 wins) and Wilbert Robinson (1,375 wins). Roberts has more postseason wins than any of them: 69, the third most in MLB history behind Joe Torre (84) and Tony La Russa (71).
Roberts is surrounded by Hall of Famers on managerial leaderboards, and he's put himself on a trajectory to join his peers in Cooperstown one day. His credentials speak for themselves: 10 postseason berths, nine division titles, five National League pennants and three World Series championships.