Kapler and Roberts have been connected since long before SF Giants-Dodgers NLDS

SAN FRANCISCO — When Don Mattingly left his post as Dodgers manager after the 2015 season, Gabe Kapler interviewed and was a frontrunner for the job. But Los Angeles settled on then-Padres bench coach Dave Roberts, who took the role and ran with it, winning three pennants in five years.

Farhan Zaidi, who was the Dodgers’ general manager during those interviews, didn’t forget about Kapler after becoming president of baseball operations for the Giants. When future Hall of Fame manager Bruce Bochy retired at the end of the 2019 season, Zaidi had Kapler, fresh off a firing as manager of the Phillies, at the top of his list.

Even before competing for the job in Los Angeles, the two managers’ careers had followed similar paths. Both now manage their rival teams with similar conviction and intensity.

“I think he, like myself, likes to think that we maximize the most out of our talents in our baseball careers,” Roberts said of Kapler before Game 1 of the NLDS. “Really good leader, always has been. I see a consistent demeanor. There’s no panic. He’s always been cerebral, ahead of things.”

The pair was also well acquainted early in their respective playing days. First teammates with the Detroit Tigers’ Double-A affiliate in Jacksonville, Fla., Kapler and Roberts found each other again as reserves with the Boston Red Sox team that won the 2004 World Series. Roberts played a key role in the postseason run, stealing a base in Game 6 of the ALCS against the Yankees to set up the game-tying run en route to their series victory.

Andrew Friedman gave Kapler his first front-office job as the team’s farm director in 2014. After beating out Kapler for the managerial job, Roberts led LA to a division title in 2016. It was the first in a run of five straight NL West titles that ended with a second-place finish to Kapler’s Giants in 2021. This year’s division race came down to one game, with the Dodgers winning 106 games and the Giants 107.

The tight finish didn’t spoil the mutual admiration.

“I just think he works really hard and cares a lot,” Kapler said of Roberts. “And I think one thing that stands out to me is when I watch Doc managing games he’s very intense and very emotional and very invested and I respect all of that.”

Kapler’s path to this NLDS took a different kind of detour. After losing out on the Dodgers job, Kapler landed in Philadelphia before the 2018 season, following the ousted Pete Mackanin.

It didn’t go well. Questionable managerial decisions overshadowed the Phillies’ best season since 2012 — they finished 80-82 — and Kapler was out after an 81-81 season the following year. One team’s trash was the Giants’ treasure.

Kapler, with the help of a new coaching staff, turned a downtrodden Giants offense into one of baseball’s best in 2021. Kapler took over after a 2019 season in which the Giants compiled a 77-85 record with a batting average of .239 (fourth-worst in MLB), an OPS of .694 (third-lowest) and 167 home runs (fifth-fewest).

In 2021, the Giants’ .249 average ranks seventh in MLB, their .769 OPS is fourth and 241 home runs rank as most in the National League and second to the Toronto Blue Jays’ 262 in MLB.

Kapler has managed the Giants roster by depending on platoons to optimize matchups. He’s also been instrumental in getting buy-in from the team — veterans and rookies alike — to sacrifice at-bats and pitching roles for the greater good.

“We don’t, as a group, talk about analytics all that much,” third baseman Evan Longoria said. “I mean obviously there’s an understanding that a lot of the way that the lineups and the way that we kind of go about the game, a lot of it is analytically based.

“But I think that’s been part of the reason why there’s a lot of buy-in, because it’s not like the kind of cookie-cutter approach. There’s a more human aspect to it that has been easier for the group to buy into.”

Before he dazzled with 7 2/3 innings of scoreless ball in Game 1, 24-year-old pitcher Logan Webb lauded Kapler’s approach:

“He does such a good job at making you feel comfortable. There were times this year where I got sent to the bullpen and he’s the first one to say, ‘Hey, this isn’t the last time you’re going to start for us.’ And just having him there and saying that has been huge. He does that for every single guy and that’s pretty special. You don’t see that very often.”