Bryan Cranston is such a huge Dodgers fan that he got goosebumps in a Los Angeles studio six years ago while narrating an MLB Network documentary on the team’s 1988 season, which culminated with one of the most dramatic home runs in World Series history, Kirk Gibson’s Game 1, pinch-hit, walk-off shot off Dennis Eckersley.
The 68-year-old actor of “Breaking Bad” and “Your Honor” fame was in Chavez Ravine in late-October for another stunning World Series homer, Freddie Freeman’s Game 1, 10th-inning walk-off grand slam that lifted the Dodgers to a 6-3 comeback victory over the New York Yankees and propelled them toward their eighth World Series title.
“That was the most exciting game I’ve ever been to,” said Cranston, a lifelong fan who was 5 years old when his father took him to his first Dodgers game in the Coliseum in 1961. “Complete strangers were hugging each other.”
Cranston was back in a Los Angeles studio on Thursday, this time to conduct a SiriusXM Town Hall interview with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, but before the four-time Emmy Award winner sat down to grill the two-time World Series-winning skipper, he artfully dodged a difficult question directed at him:
Will Freeman’s delirium-inducing drive in 2024 supplant Gibson’s lightning bolt in 1988 as the most dramatic postseason home run in Dodgers history?
“Can’t they live side by side?” Cranston said after a long pause.
“Good answer,” Roberts said, impressed with the actor’s diplomacy.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, left, and actor Bryan Cranston.
(Los Angeles Dodgers)
Cranston and Roberts then spent an hour discussing a season that began with a $1.2-billion splurge on two-way star Shohei Ohtani and pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow and ended with the Dodgers erasing a 5-0 fifth-inning deficit in a World Series Game-5 clinching win over the Yankees.
The interview, which was held before a small live audience, will air on MLB Network Radio on Friday (1 p.m., 5 p.m., 8 p.m. PST) and again on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Among the highlights:
Roberts on the dizzying array of pitching injuries that forced the Dodgers to use 17 different starters and 40 total pitchers: “Our organization does such a good job of scouting, developing, trading for guys and having depth, but there were a lot of guys, to be honest, who were on our roster who I had never heard of. I know you guys here today better than I knew some of these players who pitched for me this year.”
Roberts on the rare team meeting he called before a Sept. 15 game at Atlanta, the day after the Dodgers learned Glasnow suffered a season-ending elbow injury and a 10-1 loss to the Braves reduced their division lead over San Diego to 3½ games:
“The crux of the meeting was, ‘I believe in each one of you guys, but it doesn’t matter, if you guys don’t believe in each other, that we have enough talent in this room to win 11 games in October.”
Roberts on the conversation he had that same afternoon with Walker Buehler, who took a 1-5 record and 5.95 ERA into a Sept. 15 start in which the right-hander, who returned from a second Tommy John surgery, gave up one earned run and three hits in six innings of a 9-2, season-turning win over the Braves.
“Walker was scuffling, but I told him, ‘You’ve pitched some of the most meaningful games in Dodgers history and succeeded. We need you to step up tonight and go on a heater, because if we don’t have you, we’re not gonna win the World Series.’ It was a challenge to raise the bar for all of us, and he answered the bell.”
Dave Roberts walks in the dugout before Game 5 of the World Series against the New York Yankees on Oct. 30.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Roberts on a testy 10-2 National League Division Series Game 2 loss to the Padres, in which pitcher Jack Flaherty and San Diego slugger Manny Machado jawed at each other several times and Machado drew the ire of the Dodgers when he flung a ball toward Roberts in the third-base dugout between innings:
“They wanted a street fight — I think we needed to turn into street fighters and kind of play their game. We needed to do something to balance out the playing field, and I felt that it sort of flipped after that.”
“It certainly did,” Cranston said. “The last two games [of the NLDS], your pitching staff allowed zero runs.”
Roberts on Freeman’s World Series grand slam: “That was the biggest moment for me that I’ve ever witnessed in person in sports. We celebrated after that hit like we had just won Game 7. I felt like we had won the World Series, and when you look back, that might have been when we won the World Series.”
Cranston then steered the interview toward 2025, asking Roberts how the Dodgers can improve next season.
“The biggest thing we’ve done so far is sign Blake Snell,” Roberts said of the veteran left-hander who signed a five-year, $182-million deal in late-November. “We have Glasnow coming back, we’ve got Yoshinobu coming back …
“Sasaki,” Cranston interjected, referring to highly coveted 23-year-old right-hander Roki Sasaki, who was posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines in November and is expected to sign with a major league team in January. “Sasaki.”
“Right,” Roberts said, “I can’t say anything about that.”
“Sasaki,” Cranston persisted.
“Don’t get me in trouble, Bryan,” Roberts said with a laugh.
The Dodgers are among the teams trying to sign Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki.
(Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press)
Roberts thinks the Dodgers, who hope to re-sign free-agent slugger Teoscar Hernández and add another impact reliever, “should be better” in 2025 than they were in 2024,” but he acknowledged that “it’s hard to ultimately be better than winning a world championship.”
If the Dodgers are to become the first team to repeat as champions since the Yankees won three straight titles from 1998-2000, they will need the proper mindset and motivation, a subject Roberts discussed this week with Dodgers partial owner Magic Johnson, the star point guard who led the Lakers to five NBA titles from 1980-88.
“I really feel that the carrot, the incentive for our club, in 2025, is now you’re getting into legacy territory,” Roberts said. “I talked to Magic about legacy and [former Lakers coach] Pat Riley and what he instilled in those guys, the mindset. That’s something I’m going to try to [instill] in our guys because now we’re trying to do something that will last forever.”