{"id":246987,"date":"2025-10-28T19:31:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T19:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/246987\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T19:31:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T19:31:12","slug":"mookie-betts-is-incredible-untold-story-of-dodgers-run-to-world-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/246987\/","title":{"rendered":"Mookie Betts is ‘incredible untold story’ of Dodgers’ run to World Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 \u201cWhy\u2019s it gotta be like Jeter? Why can\u2019t it be like Mookie?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jimmy Rollins is walking to short left field, donning a patterned velour suit before Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, before Shohei Ohtani turned in the greatest single game baseball performance we\u2019ve ever seen. Rollins \u2014 a four-time Gold Glove winner, World Series Champion and 2007 NL MVP \u2014 is headed to the broadcast set alongside three-time All-Star Curtis Granderson and three-time Cy Young Award winner Pedro Martinez. At this point, it\u2019s impossible not to be sold on the impact that Markus Lynn Betts<\/a> has had on the infield this season.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t that long ago that folks were calling him the weakest link of the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> defense, when he was pressed into action after Gavin Lux struggled during Spring Training and they swapped positions, while Betts was playing second base. <\/p>\n

Now, his defensive prowess knows no superlative too effusive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSpecifically, his defense. We know that he is finding it at the plate. But this guy shifts over to shortstop; all he does is he\u2019s now tied for most defensive runs saved at the shortstop position,\u201d Robert Flores noted last week on MLB Network. \u201cHow do you explain that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if you put it all together, you could make the argument that he\u2019s one of the greatest defenders of all-time,\u201d Mark DeRosa, head coach of USA Baseball, replied. \u201cAnd not only the ability to move around \u2014 I know he started as a second basemen \u2014 but to go to the outfield, be a Gold Glove rightfielder the way he was for years at a time, and then come to shortstop \u2014 come back in. As a former utility player, it\u2019s very easy if you play your whole life at shortstop to kind of bounce around. Second\u2019s a little confusing because you feel like you\u2019re on the other side of the universe; it takes a minute. Moving over to third\u2019s a day off. Going to the outfield means you\u2019re just flat bored. \u2026 But to think I sat in the outfield for years, and to come to shortstop and play the defense he has? I wanted to give him love for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the seventh inning, Betts was comfortable enough to goof around like he was faking not knowing who was calling a pop-up, then giving his buddy Christian Yelich<\/a> a wry smile after taking it himself. Then, Betts turned an unassisted double play to end the inning that felt as easy as tying his shoes.<\/p>\n

Mookie Betts, however, is not Los Angeles\u2019 magic negro \u2014 in the tradition of so many American tales in fiction. It\u2019s far more real than that. It sounds crazy to say that on a team that features a man capable of striking out 10 batters while hitting three homers, another who\u2019s hit a grand slam to win a World Series game, and a guy who has pitched two straight complete games, No. 50 is the most valuable player the Dodgers have.<\/p>\n

In Game 1 of the World Series, he helped turn a quality 3-6-3 double play with Freddie Freeman in the third inning that was crucial. He saved another run in the sixth with a heck of a play, and in Game 2 he had more than one backhand pickup that ordinarily would have been seen as a problem, but no, that\u2019s just in his range these days.<\/p>\n

Mookie Betts, in his first full season at shortstop, wins Fielding Bible Award from Sports Info Solutions as best-fielding shortstop in the major leagues.<\/p>\n

He won five such awards as a right fielder.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) October 23, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re going to have a decent team, what you have up the middle is of utmost importance. Meaning, between the battery \u2014 who\u2019s at short and who\u2019s in centerfield \u2014 could determine the overall quality of your team. It\u2019s an idiom that works from youth ball to the big leagues and isn\u2019t as simple as say \u201cgrabbing some shooters\u201d like so many NBA teams choose as an option to buttress their stars.<\/p>\n

On top of that, there\u2019s a psychological element for a player that\u2019s almost as tricky as the physical execution, particularly if you play for, hello, the Los Angeles Dodgers. It took him a while, but it\u2019s pretty clear that heading into the World Series, Mookie isn\u2019t just playing shortstop. He IS a shortstop. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel like his work ethic took him to the place where he\u2019s at right now because he\u2019s got a desire to be really good at short, be a good defender,\u201d said Dodgers veteran Miguel Rojas with the vigor of a guy who has seen how far Betts has come in terms of his work on the dirt. Rojas is a career shortstop who worked with Betts in the offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got here in 2023 even though he was playing in the outfield, he was moving to second base a little bit. And I know he knew at the moment he felt more comfortable at second than short. But I mean, he looked natural at second base, and obviously in right field, but I think he\u2019s the best defender that I\u2019ve ever seen. When he got the news that he had to play shortstop last year, he was kind of like worried, because he hadn\u2019t played the position in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MookieAn underrated aspect of the Los Angeles\u2019 Dodgers\u2019 postseason run has been Mookie Betts\u2019 defense.<\/p>\n

Sean M. Haffey\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

This holiday season, you\u2019ll probably go back to your cousin\u2019s house. They\u2019ll say hey, you wanna play Mario Kart? Maybe an Uno game, or lord forbid you have to get out there and skate on a pond on run down the block to prove your worth. You limber up enough to remind folks that you still got it, but you reserve the right to detonate at any time because, hello, you don\u2019t really do this anymore. <\/p>\n

Betts took that energy and turned into one of the best shortstops in the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cWatching him from last year to this year, he switched his arm angle, and ever since that \u2014 even last year, his fielding percentages were great. I think it was just throwing errors \u2014 [he] lowers his arm angle, and he\u2019s a Gold Glove shortstop,\u201d Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow said. \u201cHe\u2019s probably one of the most obsessed people I\u2019ve ever met. Like when he gets his mind on something \u2014 bowling, whatever \u2026 I think a lot of that too was, \u2018I wanna play shortstop.\u2019 And they were like, \u2018All right.\u2019 If he tries to do something, he will probably be the best at it. It\u2019s taken like a year, and he\u2019s probably one of the best shortstops I\u2019ve ever played with.\u201d<\/p>\n

But again, this isn\u2019t just a matter of walking on the field and reverting to old methods from his high school and minor league days. Everything happens at a completely different speed than on the outfield.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see the level that he\u2019s played at all year long defensively, and you kind of take it for granted and you forget that he\u2019s kind of new at the position,\u201d Dodgers utility man Enrique Hernandez said before Game 4 of the NLCS. \u201cAnd you forget how long he played in the outfield. From a guy that plays everywhere, the game in the outfield is a lot slower than the game in the infield.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, playing infield my whole life is why the outfield became easy because the game is that much slower back there. You basically play infield back there. When it\u2019s the other way around, I\u2019ve had times where I\u2019ve played a lot of outfield, and then I haven\u2019t played infield in about a month. And I have to go back to the infield, and the game feels a lot faster. For him to be able to do what he\u2019s done after all these years, to play a new position like that, in my opinion he\u2019s got to win the Gold Glove. I don\u2019t think anybody was more valuable in that position on the defensive side of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts will haunt Boston Red Sox forever \u2013 AndscapeRead now<\/a><\/p>\n

Point being, positionally, it\u2019s real work things that won\u2019t necessarily show up on a stat sheet unless you\u2019re super into advanced metrics. But when you watch how his game fits into the rest of the flow of a game it\u2019s clear what\u2019s changed. He\u2019s not just playing the position anymore. He is the position, and it shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, when he first moved into second base, when he first moved to shortstop, I said, he\u2019s a great athlete playing those positions. I go, what we see is a great athlete playing second, we see a good athlete playing short, but we don\u2019t see a shortstop. We don\u2019t see a second baseman. We see a great athlete capable of playing it,\u201d said Nomar Garciaparra, who played three seasons with the Dodgers and made the 2006 All-Star Game as a first baseman after playing short for more than a decade. \u201cIt was like August, where I was like, \u2018he is now a shortstop,\u2019 compared to a great athlete playing shortstop. I\u2019m sure he probably feels that way. When I moved to first base, it was until like August that I said, \u2018I\u2019m a first baseman.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

There are legit mechanics that have to change as well when you make the shift. The throws one makes from outfield, never mind second base, aren\u2019t the same in terms of distance, timing or setup. The repetitive nature of baseball means not just learning new things but unlearning other parts of muscle memory that become second nature when you\u2019re playing at the highest level every day. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s doing things now at short that are more instinctive,\u201d Garciaparra added. \u201cA lot of it at short was getting used to the way his footwork was before he even received the ball for that throw. Sometimes he thought about what arm slot to throw at a certain place. That\u2019s no longer [the case]. It\u2019s just easy. He drops down whatever is comfortable wherever the body is. So he is now no longer having to think. He\u2019s just a shortstop.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ShoheiOn a team with Shohei Ohtani (left), Mookie Betts (right) and his defensive brilliance at shortstop might be the Los Angeles Dodgers\u2019 most valuable player.<\/p>\n

ALLISON DINNER\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Perhaps most impressive about all of this is that for all the MVPs and accolades Betts has received in his career, including the Roberto Clemente Award, which he was given ahead of Game 3 on Monday, is that he still isn\u2019t a \u201clook at me\u201d kind of guy. Even if you wanted to dislike him, it\u2019s hard to find a reason. The work he started doing by giving food to homeless people outside of Fenway Park in Boston, has continued. The Roberto Clemente Award is given to the player \u201cwho best represents the game through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropic excellence, and positive contributions on and off the field,\u201d according to MLB, who has recognized players for their philanthropic work since 1971.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t personally need a ton of external humility in ballplayers to like them, but there\u2019s a point to be made about the fact that within himself, getting back to the things that made him the player he was early in his life might have been harder than giving back to the community. Meaning, just because you try, doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019ll succeed \u2014 never mind excel \u2014 at the highest level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel like his work ethic took him to the place where he at right now because he got a desire to be really good at, short and being a good defender,\u201d Rojas said. \u201cIt was a goal for him. And even in the offseason, when, I mean, we didn\u2019t have anything to really like, work on or kind of like the season was like, so far away, he still wanted to get better every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n

To go to a teammate, a guy who\u2019s definitively established at the position and ask for help and get it, just shows what kind of respect he gives and demands as a guy in a clubhouse. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got here in 2023 even though he was playing in the outfield, he was moving to second base a little bit. And I know he at the moment, he felt more comfortable at second. [The change] affected in a really positive way, because we bond really well together,\u201d Rojas said. \u201cHe was kind of like worried, because he hadn\u2019t played the position in a long time. He is a creature of routines, and he didn\u2019t have one yet. So last year, we worked hard kind of like trying to find something that helped him. I was trying to get him my point of view of the position, but I felt like this offseason when he knew he was going to play shortstop every single day in 2025 he kind of found little things like his glove, the way that he likes to break it in, the way that he likes to move around the shortstop position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone has to do everything the same way, but the tinkering from a guy who\u2019s literally only played that position certainly helped Betts take what Rojas taught him, input it into his brain and make it work with his physical tools. And my god has it worked. <\/p>\n

While his teammates continue to boot balls in clutch moments, Mookie is as steady as anyone. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are different shortstops. He\u2019s way more athletic than what I can do. My hands are definitely better than him, and I play the shortstop position different than him, and he found kind of, like a lot of different ways to kind of get it done,\u201d the man known as Miggy Ro concluded. \u201cAnd I feel like that\u2019s why he was able to put everything together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oddly enough, for all the nice things people say about Betts, and deservedly so, some of his most staunch defenders have been his opponents \u2014 particularly managers who\u2019ve faced him this postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always respected him the way he plays the game,\u201d Jays manager John Schneider said before World Series Game 3 with zero hesitation. \u201cGoing back to when he was with the Red Sox. [He] makes playing shortstop look easy for a guy that\u2019s a Gold Glover in right field. He\u2019s just consistent. I think he understands the speed of the game, understands big stages of the game. I think any manager feels comfortable and confident writing a lineup when you got a guy like that in there every day. A couple plays that he\u2019s made, man, just going to his right against us in the first couple games, pretty impressive what he does. And the fact that he\u2019s hitting at the top of the order, I think Mookie\u2019s a hell of a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the Brewers were eliminated at Dodger Stadium, I asked manager Pat Murphy what he thought of Betts transformation as a player. His response was hundreds of words long, with multiple replies, unprompted. Murph, to say the least, was blown away.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible untold story. Shohei Ohtani might be the best baseball player on earth right now. It\u2019s debatable, whatever, but he might be. Freddie Freeman has touched our hearts many times in the wrong way,\u201d Murphy said with his usual barrel-chested confidence. \u201cBut Mookie Betts, what he\u2019s doing in the game of baseball, is incredible, to move from outfield to playing shortstop on the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team that\u2019s stacked with everything you can be stacked with. For him to do that and do it well is incredible.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then [he] struggled early, according to Mookie, and now he\u2019s swinging in every clutch situation and hitting behind Shohei, which is a huge responsibility. I\u2019m just telling you, man, that needs to be brought out because if you\u2019re talking about Most Valuable Player, you\u2019re going to go through the stats and all that kind of stuff. But if you\u2019re talking about a player that really was valuable to this team this year, I\u2019m saying Mookie Betts is No. 1. No disrespect to Shohei and\/or Freddie or some of the great pitching, et cetera. Imagine [Golden State Warriors guard] Steph Curry just saying, okay, he\u2019s going to go play power forward and guard the other team\u2019s best player. That\u2019s what it\u2019s like. So, he\u2019s going to guard the other team\u2019s best player, who\u2019s bigger, whatever, [he\u2019s] never done it, and he does it and they win still. And he puts up his 30-plus a game. [It\u2019s an] amazing, amazing thing. And I would just like that to be recognized because I know as [Dodgers manager] Dave [Roberts] is sitting over there, he\u2019s thinking the same thing, like, \u2018this is freaking incredible.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d give him MVP votes for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JoeJoe Torre (left) presents Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (right) with the Roberto Clemente Award on Oct. 27.<\/p>\n

Daniel Shirey\/MLB Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

He likely won\u2019t get those votes, but he\u2019s the most valuable player to the Dodgers, no doubt. Monday before the Dodgers\u2019 6-5 walk-off win in 18 innings against the Blue Jays in Game 3, Betts reminded everyone why he\u2019s so likeable, so qualified and so decorated. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhoever voted, thank you. I don\u2019t know how it kind of works. But first, I want to thank God just for giving me the platform to give back to all kids \u2014 it doesn\u2019t matter, grownups, whoever. I want to thank my parents \u2014 my mom\u2019s here, dad\u2019s at home \u2014 but my parents for raising a good kid. You guys did a good job, gave me a lot of morals and values, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m able to sit here today with this award,\u201d Betts said. \u201cI want to thank Unique [Kizer], who is the CEO of 50\/50 Foundation. I remember last year when we were nominated and we lost, and I remember after that, telling her like, \u2018No, I want to win this award. I want to win.\u2019 Like, I\u2019m not used to losing, so I wanted to win this. So, thank you, \u2018Nique.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then, obviously, my beautiful wife. She\u2019s been with me every step of the way, and when we\u2019re going to give food to the homeless in the middle of the night or to schools or whoever, she\u2019s always by my side. So, thank you.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd last, I feel like I\u2019m a part of the Puerto Rican family now. Kik\u00e9 came and said something, [Alex] Cora texted me and said I\u2019m Rican now. But being able to put on No. 21 and knowing all that he did and what his family still does is just a blessing, so I thank you guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never has a player been more worthy of being mentioned in the same sentence as Clemente, both on and off the field. <\/p>\n

But remember: Clemente never played shortstop.<\/p>\n

Clinton Yates is a tastemaker at Andscape. He likes rap, rock, reggae, R&B and remixes \u2014 in that order.<\/p>\n

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