Padres’ Yu Darvish connection resurfaces as Dave Roberts wins World Series Game 7

It's been a long time since anyone thought of Yu Darvish as a Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher, but the San Diego Padres' rotation stalwart still seemingly can't escape the most infamous moment of his career.

Back in 2017, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts trusted Darvish to handle the Houston Astros in Game 7 of the World Series. He struggled mightily, allowing five runs (four earned) in just 1 2/3 innings while failing to strike out any Astros hitters. Notably, Roberts sent him back onto the mound for the second inning after he had already labored through the first (two runs allowed), and things only got worse as Darvish's leash got longer.

Fast-forward to 2025, and Roberts made the exact same mistake again. Shohei Ohtani, pitching on short rest, made his way through the Toronto Blue Jays' lineup just fine the first time through, firing two scoreless innings to start. Then, Roberts chose to send him back out for the bottom of the third, and Bo Bichette made him pay with a three-run blast.

The Dodgers (unfortunately) went on to win the game and the title in extra innings, but it's hard to believe Roberts nearly blew another World Series Game 7.

Dave Roberts' big-game management could be an exploitable weakness for Padres

Now, that World Series, unlike this one (hopefully), was rocked by the infamous Astros cheating scandal. As much as Darvish may have been struggling, it's hard to know how effective he may have been in Game 7 had Houston been playing fair.

This time around, Roberts simply chose to ride Ohtani for better or worse. It's hard to put fault into that strategy — Ohtani is a singularly great force in this sport — but it very much backfired once again, and had Miguel Rojas not hit one of the most improbably home runs in World Series history, the baseball world have been left questioning Roberts' managerial choices once again.

Nevertheless, the Dodgers won their second straight World Series title (and third in six years). Meanwhile, the Padres were eliminated in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Round, as Darvish was again knocked around in an elimination game (two earned runs allowed in one inning pitched).

San Diego will need an impressive offseason to close the gap in the NL West, and that begins with bringing in a new skipper. Hopefully, whoever they hire to replace Mike Shildt as manager doesn't make the same crucial mistakes as Roberts.