LOS ANGELES -- Toward the end of the Dodgers' midsummer swoon that spanned July and August, manager Dave Roberts was often faced with variations on the same question: Could his team flip a switch when the games mattered most?
As it turned out, the answer was yes. The Dodgers shook off a listless start to September to win 15 of their final 20 regular-season games, then rode that momentum into taking nine of the 10 games they've played this postseason to land on the doorstep of the promised land.
If the Dodgers can win four more games against the Blue Jays, they'll become the first Major League team in a quarter century to repeat as World Series champions. It would also put Roberts alone in third place in all-time postseason manager wins with 69, behind only Joe Torre's 84 and Tony La Russa's 71.
Roberts knows what it takes to make a deep postseason run, having won a World Series as a player and leading the Dodgers to two titles and five pennants in 10 years at the helm. And just like his players, he believes he flips a switch while managing under the bright lights of the postseason.
"I think it starts with me," Roberts said earlier in October. "Just decision-making, making sure I'm in tune with the players, how they are emotionally. I think, for me, that's a lot of managing in the postseason, just really having an understanding where their heartbeat is at, how you expect them to respond to certain situations, being prepared for certain situations and then making decisions with that information."
That feel for big moments is something that has developed with time.
For this year's Dodgers, that began even before the postseason arrived. They had played middling baseball in the second half, but they were dealt the ultimate gut punch on Sept. 6 in Baltimore. Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched 8 2/3 hitless innings, but he lost the no-hit bid on his final pitch. Neither Blake Treinen nor Tanner Scott could record the final out, and L.A. was walked off.
It was the Dodgers' fifth straight loss to open September, and by far the most painful. The following day, Roberts addressed his team. He challenged them to give the next four weeks and beyond everything they had.
"It was really powerful," Miguel Rojas said, "because he always has the touch to kind of talk to the group whenever we need it the most. I feel like Dave has been not just a manager on the field, but a manager of personalities. He knows when to talk to us. I think it was the perfect time."
It was at that point that the Dodgers seemed to flip a switch. They have lost just six games -- regular season and postseason combined -- in that span.
Not only has Roberts' experience shown in his knowledge of the pulse of his team, but he has also pushed the right buttons. This year, some decisions have been easier on him because of the elite starting pitching he has at his disposal. The star-studded four-man rotation of Blake Snell, Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani has pitched deep into games, cutting out some of the low-leverage spots that Roberts thinks can be especially difficult to manage during the playoffs.
But even dominant pitchers get taken out of games prematurely. The Dodgers benefited from such a decision during the 2020 World Series, when a dealing Snell -- then with the Rays -- was removed in the sixth inning after throwing just 73 pitches.
Some nights, it seems like an obvious decision. Roberts faced it in this year's NLCS, when he turned to the 'pen after Snell had faced the minimum across eight innings on 103 pitches. The Brewers rallied against Roki Sasaki to make it a one-run game, but Treinen was able to escape the jam.
One night later, Roberts was in a similar spot, with Yamamoto through eight innings of one-run ball on 97 pitches. This time, Roberts sent his starter back out for the ninth, and Yamamoto rewarded his trust by going the distance.
Roberts has always had no shortage of talent on his rosters, but it's all about how he uses it. And over the years, he's learned how and when to best flip the switch.
"You see how he manages the bullpen. You see how he manages personalities. You see how he manages just us as a group," Mookie Betts said during the NLCS. "I think he's one of the best, and I love playing for him. I'll never say anything bad about Dave Roberts, because he's amazing in my eyes.”