The Los Angeles Dodgers have not enjoyed a good stretch of baseball lately, which contrasts with their exciting trade deadline activity.
While the recent losses they have earned are not the end of the world, they would like to get back to their winning ways. Receiving a boost from Mookie Betts in the lineup would certainly help the cause.
Betts is experiencing another difficult season and has statistically been worse in 2026. While talking on SportsNet LA after the Dodgers’ fifth loss in a row, he expressed his frustration with not contributing more to the team on offense throughout this season.
“It’s a long season, just a rut. I just know I need to be better. I can’t speak for everyone else, but I’m going to have to help the team at some point. It’s been too long,” he said. “Frustrating, but as far as the boys, everybody is in a pretty good headspace. It’s just a time that we go through.”
The fact that the results in the scorebook do not reflect the quality of Betts’s at-bats is likely contributing to his frustration. His slash line is indeed worse than in 2025, but his chase, whiff and strikeout rate have been elite in 2026.
His expected batting average, expected slugging percentage and average exit velocity have all greatly improved as well. While still not exceptional, his barrel rate and hard-hit percentage have also increased noticeably.
It has been difficult for Betts to stay committed to his approach, especially because the quality of his at-bats and results do not align.
“I mean, it’s very hard. I’ve never done this, so I don’t really know how to get through it. So every day I show up and try to restore that hope meter in order to keep myself going. This has been really hard,” he said.
Near the end of last season, Betts admitted he was all out of ideas on how to get his offense back on track. He gave up on looking at his results and took a mindset of just trying to help the team win. The 13-year veteran has already made that same decision this year.
“I did that earlier in the season. I just want to help us win. That’s really it,” he said.
Betts has already proved capable of producing like his old self during a strong month of June. His underlying numbers suggest that production was not necessarily a flash in the pan. The Dodgers have to hope that he can break through again as long as he continues to swing it the right way in the batter’s box.
Mookie Betts believes in his ability to fight offensive decline
Betts has previously said he does not believe the offensive production from the past two seasons is his new baseline, even if the odds seemed stacked against him.
Inspired by Freddie Freeman, the Dodgers’ shortstop committed to maintaining a consistent routine regardless of game-to-game performance instead of making numerous changes to his routine this season in search of new practices that work for him.
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