Much is made about the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup being led by three former MVP winners in Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, but the trio has yet to find its collective groove this season.
That’s largely due to inconsistency from Betts, who dealt with a stomach illness for multiple weeks at the beginning of the season. It caused him to miss the Tokyo Series, but Betts managed to recover in time for the Dodgers’ home opener.
He’s remained in the lineup since that point, with the exception of an occasional off day. Despite that, Betts recently noted he’s working to correct bad habits that were caused by losing weight from the virus and there’s a desire to improve bat speed.
Betts came to life on Monday night with two home runs, albeit in a loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“I had a good game and we’ll see,” he said. “I’ve had a couple good games and then kind of went missing. I have to keep it going.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called Betts’ two home runs “huge” for the superstar.
“It’s kind of been all over the place,” Betts said of the ongoing work to solve issues with his swing. “Just trying to figure things out. I found a little cue that worked today, so we’ll see tomorrow. It’s a constant battle. You don’t feel good every day.
“There’s a lot of variables that go into it, so we’ll see tomorrow.”
Betts proceeded to go 1-for-5 and had a productive out in the Dodgers’ 4-3 walk-off win on Tuesday. Even with some decline in production, he remains above league average with a 122 OPS+, .345 wOBA and 121 wRC+ all the while playing strong defense in what’s shaping up to be his first full season as Dodgers shortstop.
Mookie Betts home run stats
The multi-homer game was Betts’ second of the season and 31st in his career. He’s also now hit more home runs for the Dodgers (140) than during his six seasons with the Boston Red Sox (139).
Betts is currently in his sixth year with the Dodgers as well.
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