When the Los Angeles Dodgers won their back-to-back World Series titles in 2025 against the Blue Jays in a tense Game 7, they didn’t just make history of the century. You have to go back 25 years to find the last team that achieved that feat. Yet, when the Dodgers won, people attempted to simplify things.

They look at the roster, which features Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Blake Snell, costing the team over $350 million in payroll (and over $1 billion if deferred payments are included). Some even say the Dodgers just “buy” their titles, implying money is the only reason for the success. But manager Dave Roberts says everyone is missing the real story.

“Yeah, I think that people just overlook the fact that every year we probably have the top-5 farm system in baseball,” Roberts shared with Dodgers Nation. “This year I think we probably have the No. 1 or No. 2. We pick at the bottom of the draft every year, towards the bottom, and we still have young guys, whether by way of trade or development, that continue to help contribute.”

“So on the business side, I think that we do a great job of marketing our organization. So it’s pretty buttoned up. I think we have great people and obviously great ownership too,” Roberts continued.

Doc referred to the team’s homegrown talent and farm system.

It started with the legendary Mike Piazza way back in the 90s and then passed the torch to Russell Martin, Clayton Kershaw, Cody Bellinger, Will Smith, and, most recently, Dalton Rushing. This long chain proves how strong the system is.

The Dodgers’ system is even more impressive considering where they draft.

As Roberts revealed, they always pick late every year. This means their scouts find stars where nobody else is looking. They once found Mike Piazza in the 62nd round, a 1,390th overall pick. And later, Piazza became a Hall of Famer and earned 12 All-Star nods. More recently, they drafted another All-Star, Tony Gonsolin, in the 9th round.

And the Dodgers are now doubling down on this secret weapon.

They are investing over $100 million in their new Single-A affiliate in Ontario. That is how you build a “Top-5 farm.” But the machine needs a skilled operator.

And, perhaps, the other overlooked factor is Roberts himself

Roberts doesn’t just manage the players and their stats; he manages the heartbeat of the team. He showed this in the most important game of the season. In Game 7 of the World Series, he trusted Miguel Rojas, who had barely played in this World Series and had just two home runs since the All-Star break.

Rojas proved that faith with his ninth-inning game-tying homer off Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman’s slider that forced the game into extra innings. It was the first game-tying homer in the ninth inning of a World Series winner-take-all Game 7 in history.

Roberts did the same back in 2017 and 2018.

In 2017, Doc trusted Chris Taylor, who became co-MVP of the NLCS, and in 2018, Roberts sent Kiké Hernández to pinch-hit in Game 7, and Hernández smashed a home run that tied the game. Even though they lost the rings to the Astros (2017) and the Red Sox (2018),  Roberts’ strategy can hardly be overlooked.

Even the “evil empire” had its setbacks.

In 2019, a 106-game winning Dodgers team was eliminated in the NLDS against the wild-card Washington Nationals. Then the Dodgers experienced one of the most disappointing upsets in postseason history when a 111-win LA got eliminated 3-1 by the 89-win Padres in the 2022 NLDS. In 2023, the Diamondbacks swept them in the NLDS.

But from 2024, things are looking sharper than ever. Probably, the scars of the past shaped things!