Friday, September 05

Welcome back to the Dodgers Beat newsletter! Manny Randhawa pinch-hit for this story on Mookie Betts.

“It” being the essence of his game, that unseeable element that you can’t quite describe but know is central to his success -- what if it vanishes?

After he was racked by an undiagnosed stomach illness this past spring, when he said he felt like his body was “eating itself,” that’s what happened to Mookie Betts. And it’s been a sobering season for the Dodgers’ star shortstop.

“You go through all the phases,” Betts said. “You go through anger, then you’re sad. I don’t even know what all the phases are, but at the end is acceptance. And once you get through the acceptance phase, it’s like nothing can really hurt me anymore.”

Betts has been hurt on multiple levels in 2025. From the illness that caused him to lose nearly 20 pounds in two weeks to the death of his stepfather, the eight-time All-Star and six-time Gold Glove Award winner has been through a wringer that has taken a toll on his body and mind.

And “it” was gone.

“I’m OK if I don’t play well,” Betts said. “But I’m not OK with not playing well and not being who I am.”

When the season opened, the 32-year-old looked like his usual self after missing the first two games in Tokyo, though at 157 pounds instead of 175. Over his first 15 games, Betts posted a .304/.400/.554 slash line with four home runs.

But he then struggled to a .637 OPS over his next 91 games. As much as Betts was trying to get right physically and mechanically, the mental aspect of it all was heavy. He wasn’t used to being unproductive for such a long stretch, and he was searching.

“All these are firsts,” Betts said. “I’ve never felt like this. I’ve never been in this mental headspace.”

Work is what made Betts one of the game’s elite players. So while he grappled with that unfamiliar headspace, he put his nose to the grindstone. But no matter how many swings he took, something was missing.

“When I worked throughout the day, I knew it wasn’t good,” Betts said. “But I had no idea how to fix it. I just wasn’t getting that feeling that I had a chance. You’d have to play to understand. I don’t care if you’re Shohei Ohtani or the 26th man on the roster, you get that feeling when you know you have a chance.

“I felt like when I was going up there, I had to be perfect. You can’t play this game having to be perfect.”

The feeling of “not having a chance” evoked self-reflection. Entering this season, Betts had never produced anything remotely close to league average results or below at the plate. But by the end of July, his OPS was .682.

“You just start thinking about life and the stuff that you’ve built,” Betts said. “Like, kind of hanging my hat on being Mookie Betts, you know? Not that that’s my identity, but it’s part of it. I felt like a different person than me.”

On the field, Betts didn’t recognize the player trotting out to shortstop each day. But over the past month or so, we’ve seen something more familiar. Entering play on Thursday, he was hitting .330/.405/.454 since Aug. 5.

The difference? For one thing, Betts decided that his overall season numbers are irrelevant. It was that acceptance he was talking about.

“This is no shade to anybody; there’s always role players and role players are very important in sports,” Betts said. “It takes a whole team. I’ve never been a role player. And I’m not saying that to boast, I’ve just never been that guy.

“So this year, it’s kind of new, but I’m playing kind of a supporting cast role. [The new mindset] is just something that helps me not go insane.”

It seems to be working. Back to his customary playing weight, Betts is focused on contributing in whatever way he can as the Dodgers seek to become the first team in 25 years to successfully defend their World Series title.

“It’s been a lot better, a lot more normal,” Betts said. “Even then, it’s not like I’m going off, but at least I feel like I’m giving myself a chance every single day.”

Perhaps Betts has rediscovered “it” as the season enters the stretch run.

After Roki Sasaki made his fourth rehab start with Triple-A Oklahoma City on Tuesday, the next steps for the rookie right-hander are unclear.

Rehab assignments are typically about getting feel back, rather than performance. But the Dodgers have been clear about needing to see promising results from Sasaki before bringing him back to the big league level. So far, he hasn't shown that he's a viable option for the Dodgers during the stretch run.

Sasaki has gone 0-2 with a 7.07 ERA in four starts for the Comets. He's walked as many batters as he's struck out (eight). Adding to the concerns, his fastball velocity averaged just 94.4 mph in his previous start.

"Against Triple-A hitters, you would expect more," manager Dave Roberts said. "And I guess the bar is high right now, because we’re in a pennant race. So to warrant pitching on our staff right now, there’s got to be urgency on his part and really dominant performance."

Roberts previously said that pitching in games is most important for Sasaki, who made only eight starts for the Dodgers before going on the IL with an impingement in his right shoulder. But this week, the manager didn't say no to the possibility of sending Sasaki to the team's complex in Arizona to focus on his development. 

“I think," Roberts said, "the organization is gonna huddle together and figure out what’s best for Roki and how we can get the most out of him.”

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