How the Dodgers' Mookie Betts got his postseason groove back

LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts spent part of his 32nd birthday virtually locked in the batting cage at Petco Park. It was Monday afternoon in San Diego, a day off from a passionate National League Division Series and a chance for participants to separate themselves from it. Betts took the opposite approach. He swung and swung and swung, outside and inside, against smooth movements and high speed.

Two nights later, after a series-tying win in Game 4, relief filled the Los Angeles Dodgers clubhouse. Their season, however volatile, was saved. And Betts had been a catalyst, hitting a home run for the second straight game and then hitting a run-scoring single. Perhaps, his teammates and coaches hoped, Betts had put his confusing 0-for-22 postseason loss behind him. As the Dodgers prepare to face the rival San Diego Padres in Game 5 on Friday night, he may be able to give their offense another boost.

“Mook is our guy,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. “He is one of our leaders. He is still one of the best baseball players. I know he gets a little overshadowed because we have Shohei Ohtani, but this guy still gets $400 million. He's one of the best players in baseball, and I know he hasn't shown that in the last two years, but look at what he's done in the past. I think he just needed a few hits to get it out of his head.

IF THERE IS A moment that seemed to epitomize Betts' struggles in recent playoffs came early in Game 2 on Sunday. The first pitch Yu Darvish threw to Betts was a sweeper that didn't travel far enough to the outside. Betts followed its path and threw it deep into the left field corner, where it appeared destined for a home run. It wasn't until Betts was halfway to third base that he realized Padres outfielder Jurickson Profar had reached over the wall and cut through an eager group of Dodgers fans to grab the baseball. It was an out, the first of four for Betts that night. By the end, his postseason scoreless streak — which spanned NLDS exits in 2022 and 2023 — had extended to 22 tackles, tied for the fourth-longest all-time by a former MVP.

After the game, Betts found no solace in the near-homer.

“They’re all outs,” he said of his hitting. “So, everything is terrible.”

Batters typically have a process-oriented mindset. When a hitter saw a pitch well, when his mechanics worked properly, when he hit the barrel of his bat with the baseball, he is often satisfied, regardless of the result. So many of a hitter's outcomes are beyond his control—after all, the pitchers dictate the action—that focusing solely on the decisions that lead to them can serve as a useful defense mechanism.

Betts is different. He cares about his process, but what matters most is the results. A batted ball that should have gone over the fence but resulted in an out could bring him down; A broken-bat single that found space in the outfield could get him going. Early in the series, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts could see the pressure of putting his hitless drought into Betts' at-bats.

“It’s up to all of us,” Roberts said the day after Game 2, “to make sure he’s in a good headspace.”

Roberts planned to chat with Betts after the team made the 120-mile drive south to San Diego. He wanted to remind him that he can't change the past, especially not until October. That he had to focus on the present. And that the Dodgers don't need him anymore than what he was in the regular season. But Roberts never had that conversation. Too many of Betts' teammates were already in his ear.

Their message boiled down to one key point: You're still Mookie Betts.

“He’s one of the best at it,” Muncy said. “Sometimes you just have to remind him.”

The bets lasted He took a few hundred at-bats in the batting cage on Monday, give or take a few dozen, and some of his teammates are sitting around the clubhouse wondering when he'll be ready. As the sun set, he ventured outside to fire up a high-speed pitching machine stationed on Petco Park's pitching mound.

Betts was joined by Chris Taylor and Andy Pages, two Dodgers position players who were used sparingly in October and had to get used to the speed again. Betts continued to focus on the opposing field, repeatedly lifting throws toward the gap in right-center field and speaking at length with Dodgers hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc after each session.

The 2024 regular season was turbulent for Betts. He began by moving to second base, moved to shortstop near the end of spring training, got off to an MVP start offensively, missed nearly two months with a broken left hand, then moved back to right field and moved up to second Dodgers lineup. Betts still finished with a slash line of .289/.372/.491 and performed 45% above league average according to OPS+. But toward the end of September, he developed bad habits and watched them spread into October.

Betts spent most of the day off optimizing his prepitch load to get his hands back into an ideal “launch position” before he began his swing, Van Scoyoc said. Betts swung around until he found it.

“I know that,” he said. “I’m working.”

WHEN BETTING FEELS right in the batter's box – if he feels like it Mookie Betts – He tends to raise the right side of his upper lip, a half growl, like a dog growling at an intruder.

Roberts saw that look pop up in Game 3 on Tuesday and consoled him.

The Dodgers lost 6-5, but Betts performed. He ended his hitless streak with a home run in the first inning off Profar's glove – Betts was so confident he had been caught that he turned to his dugout before reaching second base – and lined a single in his second at-bat -field to right center -bat. He followed with a 97-mph one-hopper that was cleanly caught by Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts and a 368-foot fly ball caught by center fielder Jackson Merrill.

The next morning, the Dodgers learned that Freddie Freeman, who had suffered a sprained right ankle, would not be available. With their season on the line in Game 4, they would host a bullpen game without one of their top three hitters in front of a roaring opposing crowd. Betts handled it all in his first at-bat, maxing out the count against Dylan Cease before sending a 99 mph fastball 403 feet for another home run in the first inning. He followed with a two-out RBI single against the opposite field in the second inning, setting the tone for the 8-0 loss.

“I worked hard and finally saw one fall,” he said. “I think we’re fine now.”

THE DODGERS ARE the only franchise in the last four decades to play a postseason game with three MVPs on the same roster, having done so in three of the last four years. Betts was joined by Albert Pujols and Cody Bellinger in 2021 and Bellinger and Freeman in 2022. Now he's ahead of Freeman and behind Ohtani and is coming off an unprecedented 50/50 season. But there's always been a feeling that Betts calls the shots more than anyone else.

The build-up to Game 5 only made that point more clear. Freeman came onto the field during Thursday's practice with athletic tape wrapped around his right shoe and took part in light running drills. Roberts expects to be in the lineup for Game 5, but has repeatedly admitted his status could change at any time

Ohtani hit a home run in the second at-bat of his postseason debut and singled in the third before posting a 1-for-10 stretch before a productive Game 4. He is 1-for-8 with three strikeouts this season against Darvish Game 5 starter Ohtani identified himself as his “childhood hero.” If Darvish departs, the Padres will face Ohtani with one of their many lefty backups.

If the Dodgers want to advance, Betts may have to lift them up.

“We need him, and he knows it,” Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernandez said in Spanish. “He worked really hard to find the rhythm he needed, the rhythm he hadn't found. We all see it now. We're seeing a different Mookie now. We see the MVP.”