Following Game 2 of the National League Division Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, both teams are entrenched in a battle now tied at 1-1 heading into Game 3.
A Dodgers offense that seemed to come to life in their initial matchup, fell flat on Sunday, suffering a blowout loss. Among those who didn’t produce was Mookie Betts, mired in a postseason slump that dates back to the 2022 playoffs.
Since then, Betts is 2-for-31 in the postseason, and following his 0-for-4 performance in this year’s Game 2, is hitless in his last 22 playoff at-bats. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke on the former MVP’s ongoing struggles, seeing the weight of the slump play into his NLDS plate appearances.
“I thought early they started well, and I can see, I don’t know if it’s angst or the pressure, of past performances starting to kind of bleed in,” Roberts said on Monday. “That’s something that I don’t want to happen. I understand it but I believe he’s going to come to life.
“I know he has the talent. Obviously he’s not afraid of the situation. So for me it’s more of just go out there and compete your tail off. The last few, I think there was something that was bleeding into the mindset, which it’s up to all of us to make sure that he’s in a good headspace to go out there and compete and not get too worried about each particular at-bat.”
The narrative around Betts’ lack of postseason impact is seen both in the box score, and in the team’s success. Roberts went on to say that he expects his star right fielder to perform as he did in the regular season.
“I’ll have a little conversation with him,” Roberts said. “The fact is you can’t change the last X amount of postseason games. I understand the burden a player might have. But all anyone is concerned about is right now and how to best prepare yourself mentally for tomorrow night and the first at-bat. So that’s going to be basically my message.
“And the funny thing is you look at postseason performers, it’s not that they over-performed their career stat line in the regular season. What they’ve done is that they do what they’ve done in the regular season. But on that stage they’re considered postseason players. So in this particular case, all we expect Mookie is to be the same player he is in the regular season. And that’s it.”
With teammate Freddie Freeman still impacted by his ankle injury, even more emphasis is placed on Betts to be a counted-on two-man for Shohei Ohtani in the heart of the Dodgers’ lineup. Having at least two consistent hitters at the top of the batting order is what will be required if they want to compete in the rest of the NLDS and beyond.
“He’s got to be Mookie,” Roberts added. “Like I said, I don’t expect any more than he’s done over his eight- or nine-year career. And it’s also up to the other players to chip in also. And, so, again, all of my ask is for the guys to be what they have been, what they’ve shown throughout their careers.”
Dave Roberts not considering putting Mookie Betts back to leadoff spot?
“No, I haven’t,” said Roberts. “I don’t think that hitting first or second at this point is going to change much. I think Shohei’s in a really good spot, we scored a lot of runs this year, and I just don’t think that after two games or three games that it calls for that.”
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