Dodgers’ play reminiscent of Roberts

Dave Roberts played for five teams during a 10-year Major League career. He was a full-time player for just three of those seasons.

Here’s the point: Nothing came easy for him. To stay on a roster, he had to sweat the small stuff: defense, baserunning, etc.

He understood that baseball games typically are won by the team that makes the fewest mistakes. And maybe that’s the larger story of these Los Angeles Dodgers, who on Sunday clinched their fourth straight National League West championship.

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This time, they did it under a rookie manager, Roberts, who somehow got his team to see and play the game the way he played it.

“Don’t they say a team takes on the personality of its manager?” third baseman Justin Turner said.

That’s exactly what they say.

“Everything we do starts with Doc,” Turner said, referring to Roberts’ nickname.

That the Dodgers entered this week’s series in San Diego 90-66 is remarkable considering that their roster has been a revolving door. They placed 28 players on the disabled list, the most in the Majors since at least 1987.

They’ve used 55 players, tying a franchise record, and 31 pitchers, also a record. Roberts gave at least 10 starts to five left fielders and at least 20 to three right fielders.

The Dodgers used 15 starting pitchers. Clayton Kershaw, the best pitcher on earth, spent 76 days on the DL. In the second half of the season, the Dodgers had five relievers and six starting pitchers on the DL at a time.

Somehow, they rolled to …

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