​Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts has made it clear that he wants manager Dave Roberts to stay with the organization until Betts’s contract runs its course in 2032, the year Betts plans to retire. The Dodgers, who recently added another marker to their already impressive resume, grinded out an 8-7 victory over the Colorado Rockies on July 6 to reach 60 wins for the season. Roberts, who took the helm in 2016, has guided the team to three World Series titles, five National League pennants, and nine NL West titles, while also achieving his 1,000th managerial win.
Roberts is currently signed through 2029, with a four-year, $32.4 million deal that keeps him in place for the next several seasons. Yet Betts has been explicit about his preference for Roberts’s timeline to align with his own, which centers on 2032. The back-to-back World Series champions are at once one of the most storied franchises in baseball and a club planning for the long haul, with Betts’s current contract securing his stay through 2032.
Betts signed a 12-year, $365 million contract with the Dodgers back in July 2020, a deal that ensures he remains with the club until 2032. In January, Betts reiterated that 2032 would be his final season in the majors. “I’ll be 40, my little girl will be 14, my son will be 10,” Betts explained to MLB.com. “My parents were always there, and I want to do that same thing for my kids.”
As Roberts’s potential expiration date edges closer, Betts hopes the manager’s tenure will mirror his own career arc. The Los Angeles Times’ Bill Shaikin confirmed that Roberts has taken Betts’s wishes into account. Reporting via Dodgers Nation on X, Shaikin noted, “Dave Roberts says that Mookie Betts wants him to manage Dodgers until his contract is up after the 2032 season. Mookie has already stated he’ll be retiring at that time. Dave says that’s something he’s thinking about.” Roberts himself added, “Mookie wants me to manage until his contract expires, so that’s something I am thinking about. But I can be certain I’m not going to do 20 years. It’s too much. I love it, but it’s a lot to give. To see myself doing that for another seven, eight, nine years, that’s a lot.”
Even with 2029 and 2032 still several seasons away, the notion of the Dodgers continuing to rely on both Betts and Roberts feels almost inevitable given the impact each has had on the franchise. Roberts has spent nearly his entire managerial career with the Dodgers, becoming the fastest manager in baseball history to reach 1,000 wins, and Betts has been a constant force at shortstop and atop the lineup since arriving in Los Angeles. The synergy between player and manager has helped shape a Dodgers era defined by sustained excellence and a shared commitment to a long-term vision for the organization. As the countdown to 2032 proceeds, fans will be watching not only Betts’s future but the evolving conversation around Roberts’s tenure and how the two timelines might align for years to come.