{"id":88506,"date":"2025-08-13T01:52:59","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T01:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=88506"},"modified":"2025-08-13T01:52:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T01:52:59","slug":"exclusive-dodgers-mookie-betts-speaks-out-on-family-matters-bad-offensive-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=88506","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Dodgers\u2019 Mookie Betts Speaks Out on Family Matters, Bad Offensive Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"has-video wp-caption \">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2227459015.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2227459015.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2227459015.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2227459015.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers\" width=\"780\" height=\"540\" data-img-load-time=\"3631\" data-dom-ready-time=\"3633\" \/><\/figure>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Andy Lyons\/Getty Image<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s been a tough offensive season for the\u00a0Los Angeles\u00a0Dodgers\u2018\u00a0shortstop,\u00a0Mookie Betts. In what feels like years ago, Betts started the season by getting a nasty stomach virus.<\/p>\n<p>This illness caused him to lose up to 20 pounds. Moreover, he is now experiencing career lows in almost all major statistical hitting categories.<\/p>\n<p>There will always be speculation around baseball\u2019s best player, like Betts, and one of the speculative ideas that has been swirling around is whether or not his full-time positional change to shortstop has affected him with the bat.<\/p>\n<p>Betts also missed a few games at the end of July due to the death of his stepfather. Furthermore, he had to spend time in Tennessee with his mother and some of his family.<\/p>\n<h2>Dodgers Star Opens Up About Offensive Troubles<\/h2>\n<p>The good news for Betts is that he may be breaking out of his slump little by little, as he\u2019s put together a five-game hitting streak and homered for the first time on August 8.<\/p>\n<p>The home run led to\u00a0Betts opening up a bit about the death of his stepfather,\u00a0and what the year has been like for him:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cEvery home run I\u2019ve ever hit [his stepfather] always texted me, \u2018Home run Mookie time!&#8217;\u201d Betts said. \u201cThat\u2019s just what he says and then it has the number of homers after. Not getting that text was sad.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI was thinking about it after hitting the home run. I\u2019d always know. It was like clockwork. I\u2019d look after the game and it would say \u2018Text sent at 8:12\u2019 or whenever I hit the home run. It\u2019s a situation that kind of sucks. It\u2019s been a year. It\u2019s life.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Mookie Betts is hitting just .240 on the season. That production is acceptable for some MLB players, but the 32-year-old new shortstop has a higher standard for himself.<\/p>\n<p>His OPS is also a career low at .680. He has just 30 extra-base hits this season, whereas he\u2019s usually in the 55-60+ range in his usual offensive years.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI just got lost and I spiraled. \u201cIt\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve ever spiraled like that. I was in new territory in a slump like this. Usually, something just happens and I get out of it. It wasn\u2019t working that way. At that point, you have to realize it\u2019s not just going to happen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Mookie Betts Can Still Finish Strong<\/h2>\n<p>The Los Angeles Dodgers are still in a tight division race with the\u00a0San Diego Padres,\u00a0and could use Betts to finish strong during the 40 or so games that the Dodgers have left on their schedule.<\/p>\n<p>For an offense that has been struggling as of late, the re-emergence of Betts as a real threat hitting behind\u00a0Shohei Ohtani\u00a0could pay real dividends down the final stretch.<\/p>\n<p>This roster is built for October, and this lackluster offensive season can be put in the rearview quickly if Betts has a few big moments in the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>He is going into the final month and a half of the season with a new mindset, and that is chalking the season from a statistical perspective. However, understanding he can still make a play or two every game that can change the outcome, whether it be getting an RBI or making a solid defensive play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Andy Lyons\/Getty Image It\u2019s been a tough offensive season for the\u00a0Los Angeles\u00a0Dodgers\u2018\u00a0shortstop,\u00a0Mookie Betts. In what feels like years ago, Betts started the season by getting a nasty&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88511,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>EXCLUSIVE: Dodgers\u2019 Mookie Betts Speaks Out on Family Matters, Bad Offensive Year - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=88506\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EXCLUSIVE: Dodgers\u2019 Mookie Betts Speaks Out on Family Matters, Bad Offensive Year - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Andy Lyons\/Getty Image It\u2019s been a tough offensive season for the\u00a0Los Angeles\u00a0Dodgers\u2018\u00a0shortstop,\u00a0Mookie Betts. 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