Dave Roberts: Phillies 'Clearly a Better Team' Than Dodgers After 3-Game Sweep

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made his thoughts clear Thursday on where his team stands in the National League hierarchy.

Following a 5-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, which completed a three-game sweep, Roberts said the following about the Dodgers in relation to the Phils, per MLB.com's Todd Zolecki:

"They're clearly a better team than we are right now. We really didn't do much well this series. Starting pitching, defense, we had a mistake tonight on the bases. Situational hitting, getting hits—all that kind of stuff, we were outplayed. It's certainly ... I know where we're at right now."

The Dodgers are still tops in the NL West by seven games with a 55-39 record, but they are now 6.5 games behind the Phillies for the best record in the NL.

Before Philly's 5-1 win on Thursday, the Dodgers fell 10-1 on Tuesday and 4-3 on Wednesday, so it wasn't a particularly competitive series.

It does come with a caveat, though, since several key contributors for the Dodgers are on the injured list.

Superstar shortstop Mookie Betts, top starting pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Walker Buehler, slugger Max Muncy and outfielder Jason Heyward are a few of the many Dodgers on the shelf.

By comparison, the Phillies are quite healthy with catcher J.T. Realmuto being their only star player on the IL.

Regardless, the Phillies have been the top team in Major League Baseball for much of the 2024 season, as their 61-32 mark is 3.5 games better than the Cleveland Guardians' 57-35 record for the best in the league.

In 2022 and 2023, the Phils had to make the playoffs as a wild card, going 87-75 and 90-72, respectively.

Despite having to play in an extra series, the Phillies went on a pair of deep postseason runs, reaching the World Series in 2022 and the National League Championship Series last season.

This season, it is looking more and more like the road to the World Series could go through the City of Brotherly Love since the Phillies hold a 9.5-game lead over the Atlanta Braves for first place in the NL East.

As for the Dodgers, they may not currently be the top team in the NL, which is what many expected them to be during the offseason when they signed Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani to massive contracts, but to have the second-best record in the NL despite their injuries is no small feat.

Assuming the Dodgers can get healthy and field a team more representative of what they were expected to be, it stands to reason that their next series against the Phillies in L.A. from Aug. 5 through Aug. 7 will be far more competitive.