Mookie Betts is entering his seventh season with the Los Angeles Dodgers since being acquired from the Boston Red Sox in February 2020.
Betts was set to become a free agent after that season but the Dodgers prevented that from happening by signing him to a 12-year, $365 million contract extension.
Betts recently turned 33 and still has plenty of baseball left, but he is already thinking about his future plans.
During an episode of “What Drives You With John Cena,” Betts said he is going to retire after the 2032 season when his contract with the Dodgers expires:
“Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I’ll be 40, and my little girl will be 14, 15, my son will be 10. I know for me, my parents were always there, and I want to do that same thing for my kids.”
Betts anticipates having a difficult time walking away from baseball because it has been an important part of his life for so many years:
“Toward the end, it’s probably going to suck. For a while, it’s kind of what has defined me. There’s no way for me to substitute going into the locker room, being on a plane and developing relationships with so many people for 20 to 30 years.”
If Betts sticks to his timeline, he will have exactly seven more seasons with the Dodgers before calling it a career.
The eight-time All-Star is on a Hall of Fame trajectory, having won four World Series titles, seven Silver Sluggers, four Gold Gloves and the 2018 American League MVP Award.
Mookie Betts remaining Dodgers shortstop for 2026 season
Coming off his first full season at shortstop, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed Betts is going to remain there in 2026.
“He was right there in that Gold Glove race. I think the only person that could’ve felt he had that in him this year was Mookie,” Roberts said during the Winter Meetings. “Really proud of what Mookie did at shortstop.
“Even that last play in the World Series, he worked on that play a lot to not make that ball go arm side. On the run, fielded, runner bearing down on you, to then throw it on the run and throw a strike to Freddie, that’s just a little snippet of his growth.”
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