PHOENIX \u2014 Halfway through a grueling and frustrating season, Mookie Betts knew he had to change his mentality.<\/p>\n
Betts\u2019 offensive numbers slid last August to lows he had never seen. Slumps are inevitable in the major leagues, even for a seven-time Silver Slugger, but this lull was something different. On Aug. 8, when Betts cracked his first home run in more than 30 days in a 5-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays, he also declared the end<\/a> of his year.<\/p>\n \u201cMy season\u2019s kind of over,\u201d Betts said then. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to chalk that up as not a great season.\u201d<\/p>\n For Betts, the focus was no longer about how the stats on the back of his baseball card would read. Instead, it became about producing in different ways: situational hitting, moving a runner from first to third, driving in a run on a fly ball would all suffice, as long as it benefited the team.<\/p>\n It was the only way Betts could mentally make it through the season. It also changed how he\u2019s preparing for this year \u2014 one in which he \u201cexpects\u201d to return to an MVP-caliber player. Betts won the award in 2018 and has finished second three times, including as recently as 2023.<\/p>\n \u201cI learned a lot about myself,\u201d he said Sunday afternoon at Camelback Ranch, shortly after playing in his first game of the spring. \u201cI learned about how I operate. I was able to get in the right headspace and sustain the right headspace. And once I was able to get in the right headspace and stay there, I haven\u2019t been searching.\u201d<\/p>\n As advertised: Mookie Betts makes his Cactus League debut this afternoon, batting third. Pretty likely at this point we\u2019ll see Ohtani-Tucker-Betts-Freeman at the top of the lineup come the regular season.<\/p>\n