The scene in the locker room on Sunday night was reminiscent of last year at this time.
Bets on Mookie expired.
He looked down at the carpet and ran his hand over his clean-shaven head.
“I don’t really know what to say, brother,” he said.
Following a 10-2 defeat Sunday evening, Dodgers are on par with the San Diego Padres in their National League Division Series at one game apiece.
Betts is hitless in six at-bats.
He said of his at-bats in the first two games of this best-of-five series: “They’re all out, so they’re all terrible. »
As the series moves to San Diego’s Petco Park for the next two games, Betts remains stuck in a playoff slump that stretches through October fourth. He is 3-for-44 in his last 12 playoff games, dating back to Game 4 of the 2021 NL Championship Series.
When the The Dodgers were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks Last year in the NLDS, Betts was 0-for-11.
He can’t continue like this.
For the Dodgers to avoid elimination at this point in the playoffs for the third year in a row, Betts needs to start hitting.
Shohei Ohtani will be pitched extremely cautiously for the rest of the series, as the Padres seem determined not to let him beat them again. Freddie Freeman might not even play in Game 3, as his sprained ankle kept him from playing Sunday beyond the fifth inning.
The responsibility for reviving the offense falls squarely on Betts, who is in the fourth season of a 12-year, $365 million contract.
To be fair, he was just inches away on Sunday from ending his personal October crisis.
In the first inning, Betts fielded a first-pitch sweeper by the Padres starter Yu Darvish over the short wall in the left corner of Dodger Stadium. Betts thought he had hit a home run. So did Darvish and FS1, who posted a graphic on their TV show reading “HOME RUN!” »
Moments later, Betts realized that the Padres outfielder Jurickson Profar had reached across several pairs of outstretched hands to secure the ball in his glove.
Almost a home run was no consolation for Betts.
“I mean, it didn’t matter,” he said.
These playoffs were supposed to be different. During the final month of the regular season, Betts punished opponents who threw around Ohtani.
Twice in September, Ohtani was intentionally walked in front of Betts. Both times, Betts made the other team pay, once with an extra-inning home run against the Angels and the other time with a run-scoring single that broke a ninth-inning deadlock against the Atlanta Braves.
In Game 1 of the NLDS, Betts drew three walks, but two of them were intentional with the first base open. In his other two plate appearances, he withdrew his bat and was out.
His at-bats in the second game after his near miss in the first inning weren’t particularly competitive. He struck out in the third inning. He moved to second base in the sixth. He grounded out to third base in the eighth.
Learn more: Plaschke: Dodgers fans lose their cool and Dodgers lose edge in series debacle
“I don’t,” Betts said. “Then I have to understand.”
Manager Dave Roberts didn’t seem as concerned, suggesting that the quality of his last two at-bats was affected by the lopsided score.
“It’s two games,” Roberts said. “I’m not worried.”
Last week, Betts emerged from a two-week slump to deliver a critical two-run single against the Padres in a victory that clinched the NL West title for the Dodgers. He later estimated that he had made 300 to 400 swings earlier in the day.
Learn more: Jurickson Profar sets tone for Padres in NLDS Game 2 win over Dodgers
By Game 3 on Tuesday night, Betts said he’ll “probably go three or four hundred more.”
He added: “We will see when the game starts. »
With Betts, taking care of them was never a problem. If anything, his problem is that he cares too much. But caring doesn’t necessarily lead to results. Betts knows this, which is why he hasn’t made any promises.
When asked how confident he was in his ability to produce this series, he offered an honest answer.
“I am convinced that I will continue to give the best of myself,” he said.
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This story was originally published in Los Angeles Times.
