TORONTO — The Los Angeles Dodgers’ gamers flew right here late Wednesday evening, hours sooner than their coaches, and arrived at Rogers Centre for Thursday’s late-afternoon exercise on their very own. However Mookie Betts wasted no time. Earlier than most of his teammates might change out of their avenue garments, he had summoned Alex Name to feed baseballs onto a tee so he might repeatedly hit them into the netting of a batting cage.
For Betts, when slumps emerge, his solely answer is to aim to swing his approach out of them. The work offers him consolation, however solely success can present peace. And when it arrives — prefer it did within the early a part of Sport 6, when Betts hit the two-run single that made the distinction in a season-saving 3-1 victory in opposition to the Toronto Blue Jays — it tends to imply extra.
“He is actually onerous on himself, and he should not be as a result of he is nonetheless a celebrity and he is nonetheless a man who’s going to finish up within the Corridor of Fame,” Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas mentioned. “However I believe residing within the second for him is admittedly huge. I am simply blissful for him that he obtained the large hit, obtained an enormous evening. I do know for certain that is going to assist him going ahead.”
One other hitless efficiency in Wednesday’s Sport 5 loss made Betts 3-for-23 on this World Sequence, after which he addressed a gaggle of media members in entrance of his locker and offered the pithy quote that later made the rounds on social media. “I’ve simply been horrible,” he mentioned.
So Betts spent most of Thursday’s exercise striving to seek out extra stability and a extra snug hitting place that will “let his pure expertise take over,” Dodgers hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc mentioned. Betts mentioned he needed to “get again to being athletic once more within the batter’s field.”
Earlier than they left the Rogers Centre, Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts knowledgeable Betts that he would bat cleanup in Sport 6, a spot he had not occupied since 2017.
“I informed him he can hit me seventh,” Betts mentioned. “I simply wish to win.”
Roberts needed Shohei Ohtani, Will Smith and Freddie Freeman to obtain probably the most plate appearances with the Dodgers’ season on the road, whereas nonetheless maintaining Betts excessive sufficient to obtain alternatives to drive in runs. Batting him decrease was by no means an choice.
“I’ll, as they are saying, experience or die with him,” Roberts mentioned. “I am not going to run from Mookie Betts. He is simply too good of a participant.”
He proved it on Friday, within the prime of the third in opposition to Kevin Gausman, who spent many of the first two innings stifling the Dodgers’ hitters along with his splitter. Tommy Edman lined a double in between Gausman’s sixth and seventh strikeouts, after which the Blue Jays deliberately walked Ohtani. Smith adopted with a double to attain the Dodgers’ first run and Freeman drew a stroll, placing two on with two out for Betts, who approached the at-bat in search of fastballs. Betts took a 1-0 splitter for a strike, then swung by way of a fastball and fouled off one other. Gausman threw a 3rd consecutive fastball, this one barely up and barely in, and Betts lined it to left discipline, giving the Dodgers a lead that held up after a miraculous, game-ending double play.
“It felt nice to come back by way of for the boys,” Betts mentioned. “Clearly I’d like to play effectively for myself, however that is type of irrelevant. I wish to play effectively for the boys. I really like all people in there. I understand how a lot we lean on one another. And after they lean on me, I wish to come by way of for them.”
Early this season, whereas transitioning into an on a regular basis shortstop and making an attempt to recuperate from the debilitating virus that prompted him to shed shut to twenty kilos, Betts went by way of the worst offensive struggles of his profession. By the top of July, he was slashing simply .240/.313/.369. When he turned it round shortly thereafter — slashing .294/.351/.478 over the ultimate two months of the common season — it appeared as if Betts would keep locked in all through October.
However Betts’ bat slowed once more, as did most of his teammates’. By Sport 5, Roberts had opted to bat Smith behind Ohtani within the No. 2 spot, prompting Betts to bat third for the primary time in 4 years. After Friday’s win, Roberts mentioned he expects to expire an identical lineup in Sport 7, with Betts at fourth.
With every part on the road, the Dodgers can have Ohtani on quick relaxation, Tyler Glasnow out there, and maybe Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki coming in after them. They will have the consolation of realizing they’ve overcome challenges like these earlier than, most notably driving a bullpen recreation to avoid wasting their season in San Diego throughout final yr’s NLDS. And, if latest historical past is any indication, they imagine they’re going to have the most effective model of Betts at their disposal.
“I am simply blissful for him,” Van Scoyoc mentioned, “that he can have a bit of peace and sleep a bit of bit higher and are available in contemporary and assist us win one other recreation.”