This is the Mookie Betts everyone was expecting to see this season.
The Los Angeles Dodgers star shortstop has had a tumultuous season to say the least. Enduring a strange stomach issue which reportedly led to him losing 20 pounds at the beginning of the season truly put Betts behind the proverbial 8-ball. As major creatures of habit, baseball players are notoriously strict with how they get ready for a full 162-game slate.
In Betts’s case, the physical problem totally threw his season out of whack — and we’ve seen the results. A career .291 hitter, Betts had seen his numbers plummet as he worked to regain strength. The mental toll was evident, and he appeared to be pressing at a level no one had seen before.
Fortunately for the Dodgers, the funk appears to be over.
Most consecutive games with multiple RBI, Dodgers history (RBI official since 1920):
1953 Roy Campanella: 6
2025 Mookie Betts: 5 *active
2010 Matt Kemp: 5
1993 Mike Piazza: 5
1962 Tommy Davis: 5
1960 Wally Moon: 5
1930 Babe Herman: 5 https://t.co/j51CuPlrethttps://twitter.com/SlangsOnSports/status/1966001172805742838?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Betts has been tearing the cover off the ball in recent weeks — hitting .342 over his last 30 games. His batting average has risen about 30 points over the last month. Betts has also clubbed seven homers and accrued an elite .957 OPS during this stretch.
Mookie Betts over his last 30 games for the Dodgers:
41-for-120 (.342)
7 HR
26 RBI
8 K/11 BB
.957 OPSHis season OPS on August 4 was .657. After this grand slam, it’s .737.
What an unbelievable turnaround.pic.twitter.com/tNTSl7dATC
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After Wednesday’s game, manager Dave Roberts specifically spoke about the level Betts is playing at — and this includes his prowess as a defensive player.
“I think what that means is there’s real confidence, there’s edge, just letting his ability to just play,” Roberts said Wednesday. “I think that we’re seeing that at shortstop now, and in the batter’s box. There’s just that edge, and he’s not in between as he was for a lot of the season. So I think that for me, that’s what I mean when I say Mookie looks like Mookie right now.”
Defensively, Betts is a plus-16 in saved runs — the most of any shortstop. He also ranks in the 87th percentile in overall range compared to the rest of his peers.
This is the sort of run that can carry a ballclub well into October. Given that Betts is starting to heat up, it would enable Shohei Ohtani to see better pitches in front of him — as well as whomever is hitting behind Betts whether it be Will Smith, Freddie Freeman, or potentially Teoscar Hernandez.
Mookie Betts has a +33 DRS season as a RF, a +11 DRS season as a CF, a +16 DRS season as a SS, and a +7 DRS season as a 2B.
It’s not hyperbole to say he’s one of the best pure athletes baseball’s ever seen. pic.twitter.com/KeRzRoMjyc
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While some were quick to assume that Betts may be dropping off as an elite player, the underlying numbers — and the visibly tangible ones — suggest otherwise.
