Dodgers' Mookie Betts: Improvement with oblique injury
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Betts (oblique) said Monday that he already feels "light years ahead of where I thought I was going to be," Sonja Chen of MLB.com reports.
Betts tweaked his right oblique in Saturday's game against the Nationals and landed on the 10-day injured list Sunday. It's an injury type that usually necessitates longer than a minimum stay on the injury list, but Betts' encouraging update Monday suggest he could be back before the end of April. Hyeseong Kim is handling shortstop for the Dodgers on Monday and will continue to get reps at the position while Betts is out, with Miguel Rojas, Alex Freeland and Santiago Espinal also in the mix.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: IL bound with oblique strain
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Manager Dave Roberts announced Sunday that Betts was diagnosed with a right oblique strain and is being placed on the 10-day injured list, Jack Harris of the California Post reports.
Betts exited Saturday's contest with the injury, which was originally labeled as lower-back pain. An MRI revealed it's actually an oblique issue, which carries an expected recovery timeline of 4-to-6 weeks, per Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register. Hyeseong Kim is joining the Dodgers in a corresponding move and is expected to split time at shortstop with Miguel Rojas while Betts is unavailable.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: Headed for MRI
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Betts will undergo an MRI on his back Saturday evening, Jack Harris of the California Post reports.
Betts was removed from Saturday's game against the Nationals in the first inning with lower-back pain, and the Dodgers will send him for testing to determine the extent of the issue. Manager Dave Roberts described the injury as "more moderate than significant," though he is already ruling Betts out for at least the next couple days. Miguel Rojas and Alex Freeland are candidates for playing time at shortstop while Betts is sidelined.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: Exits early Saturday
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Betts was removed from Saturday's game against the Nationals in the first inning with lower-back pain.
The 33-year-old infielder drew a walk during his lone plate appearance and scored shortly afterward on a Freddie Freeman double, but Betts was replaced on defense when the Dodgers took the field for the bottom of the inning. The severity of his injury is still unclear, but the team may send him for imaging to determine whether he's dealing with a structural issue. Miguel Rojas entered as Betts' replacement Saturday and will likely be the next man up to start for Los Angeles if the 2018 AL MVP has to miss additional time.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: Slugs second homer Friday
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Betts went 2-for-6 with a home run, two total RBI and two total runs Friday in a 13-6 victory versus the Nationals.
Betts gave the Dodgers their first lead with a two-run blast in the third inning, two batters after Shohei Ohtani tied the score with a three-run homer of his own. Betts has two home runs and seven RBI through Los Angeles' first seven games after logging a modest 20 long balls and 82 RBI across 150 regular-season contests last year. However, Betts is batting just .179 (5-for-28) so far, with three of his five hits going for extra bases.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: Lifts three-run homer
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Betts went 1-for-4 with a three-run home run in Friday's 5-4 win over the Diamondbacks.
Betts gave the Dodgers a short-lived lead in the third inning with his first homer of the season. The 33-year-old is 2-for-8 with four RBI and one strikeout over his first two games of the season. Betts is operating as the Dodgers' everyday shortstop for the second year in a row. He's looking to bounce back from a somewhat difficult 2025 regular season, in which he posted a career-worst .732 OPS with 20 home runs, 82 RBI, 95 runs scored and eight stolen bases over 150 contests. He should get some positive regression, as his .258 BABIP last year was also a career low, though gains in luck could be partially offset by some age-related drops in terms of skills.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: Belts first spring homer
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Betts went 1-for-3 with a solo home run Sunday in a Cactus League win over the Cubs.
Betts went deep for the first time this spring with a third-inning solo shot to center field. The veteran shortstop has managed a relatively light workload this spring, as Sunday was just his seventh Cactus League game. Betts has gone 6-for-19 (.316) with four runs and two RBI in exhibition action.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: Nearing spring debut
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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Thursday that Betts won't play in a spring game until at least Sunday, and maybe not until "early next week," Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register reports.
Betts isn't dealing with an injury, but Roberts has intentionally held him out of Cactus League contests thus far. The veteran manager stated that the Dodgers "wanted to ramp [Betts] up differently," per Plunkett, and further explained, "I wanted Mookie to start a little bit later as far as not getting into spring training ready to go, and kind of use spring training to build up." Betts is looking to rebound from a subpar season offensively, as his .732 regular-season OPS last year was the lowest mark of his big-league career.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: Likely to hit third in 2026
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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Wednesday that he's leaning towards using Betts as the team's No. 3 hitter against both right- and left-handed pitching in 2026, Katie Woo of The Athletic reports.
Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani will continue to serve as the club's leadoff hitter during the upcoming season, but Roberts has yet to decide who will bat second and fourth in the Dodgers' star-studded lineup. The 33-year-old Betts primarily served as the Dodgers' No. 2 hitter in 2025, so the move down one spot in the order shouldn't dramatically affect his fantasy value. Instead, the bigger question is whether he can halt or potentially reverse the decline at the plate and as a baserunner he displayed in 2025; Betts' .258 average and .148 ISO were the lowest marks of his career, and his eight stolen bases were his fewest since his 2014 rookie campaign, when he played just 52 games.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: 'Rewiring' body after down 2025
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Betts said Saturday that he's spent the offseason "rewiring" his body after falling into bad habits during a down season offensively in 2025, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.
Betts' .318 wOBA last season was easily the worst of his career. The cause of his regression at the plate, Betts believes, was twofold: the preparation for becoming a full-time shortstop threw off his normal routine, and an early-season stomach virus that caused him to lose 20 pounds sapped his strength and led to bad habits. Betts said he's now "in a really good spot" as he looks to bounce back in 2026 in his age-33 campaign. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts indicated over the weekend that "you could certainly see" Betts batting third this season behind Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker, though nothing is set in stone yet in regard to the lineup.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: Will retire after contract runs out
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Betts said on the "What Drives You with John Cena" podcast that he will retire when he contract runs out following the 2032 season, Brent Maguire of MLB.com reports.
Betts will be 40 years old following the conclusion of his 12-year, $365 million contract, so it's unsurprising to hear he plans to hang up his cleats at that point. The 33-year-old is coming off a down 2025 campaign offensively, having slashed .258/.326/.406 with 20 home runs over 150 regular-season contests. However, Betts thrived defensively in his first season as a full-time shortstop, finishing with a plus-6 Outs Above Average, per Baseball Savant.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: Staying at shortstop next season
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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Monday that Betts will remain at shortstop next season, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.
The news comes as no surprise after Betts earned a plus-6 in Outs Above Average in 2025 in his first season as a full-time shortstop. Betts played just one inning in right field in 2025, so he will enter the 2026 campaign with only shortstop eligibility in fantasy leagues.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: Works key walk
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Betts went 1-for-4 with an RBI and a walk in Game 4 of the NLDS against the Phillies on Thursday.
The matchup was a pitcher's duel between Cristopher Sanchez and Tyler Glasnow, and Betts had one of the most important at-bats of the low-scoring affair. He came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning, when he worked a walk to tie the game at 1-1. While Betts had a subpar regular season relative to his lofty standards, he's gone 10-for-26 with four RBI across six postseason contests.
Betts went 4-for-5 with three doubles, three RBI and one run scored in Wednesday's win over the Reds in Game 2 of the National League Wild Card Series.
Betts helped lift Los Angeles to the NLDS with his seven total bases Wednesday and six hits across the two-game set. His .732 OPS during the regular season was by far the worst mark of his career, but the 32-year-old can still make a big impact on any given night. Betts is chasing his fourth World Series title and third with the Dodgers.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: Not in Friday's lineup
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Betts is not in the Dodgers' starting lineup against the Mariners on Friday, Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times reports.
Betts will join Freddie Freeman, Tommy Edman and Max Muncy on the bench for Friday's series opener after the Dodgers clinched in the NL West with an 8-0 win over the Diamondbacks on Thursday. Hyeseong Kim will start at shortstop and bat fifth.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: Reaches 20-homer mark
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Betts went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Friday's 6-3 win over the Giants.
Betts stalled out with a month-long power drought from July 6 to Aug. 6, but he was able to turn things around in a big way. He reached the 20-homer mark Friday after missing that plateau last year. He's smacked six long balls and supplied 19 RBI over his last 15 contests, a span in which he's hitting a stellar .339 (21-for-62). Overall, Betts has a .260/.328/.413 slash line with 79 RBI, 93 runs scored, 22 doubles, two triples and eight stolen bases over 143 games.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: Clubs 19th homer in loss
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Betts went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and two additional RBI in Monday's 6-5 extra-inning loss to the Phillies.
Betts had no trouble getting the ball in the air Monday, supplying sacrifice flies in the third and fifth innings before getting one to go over the fence for a solo shot in the seventh. He is batting .381 (21-for-55) with five homers and 19 RBI over 13 games in September, numbers more in line with the level of production expected of a star player. He's up to a .263/.331/.415 slash line on the year while adding 19 homers, 78 RBI, 92 runs scored, eight stolen bases, 22 doubles and two triples through 139 contests. While his progress lately has been encouraging, he's still tracking toward an OPS under .800 for the first time in his career.
Betts with 4-for-5 with a grand slam and an RBI double in Wednesday's 9-0 victory versus the Rockies.
Betts contributed to a four-run Los Angeles second inning with a double that drove home Shohei Ohtani. Betts then broke the game open with a grand slam that made the score 8-0 in the eighth inning. The big game marked the fifth straight multi-RBI effort by the talented shortstop. Extending further, Betts has reached base in 16 consecutive contests, batting .381 (24-for-63) with five homers, 17 RBI and nine runs scored over that span.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: Cranks 15th homer in loss
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Betts went 1-for-4 with a solo home in Thursday's 5-3 loss to the Pirates.
The 32-year-old shortstop smacked his 15th homer of the year, and he now has at least one hit in five of his last six outings. Betts has found himself in a season-long slump -- his .701 OPS is well on pace to be the worst mark of his career by far -- but his overall fantasy upside should remain decent from the top part of the Dodgers' lineup. Through 568 plate appearances, Betts is slashing a pedestrian .250/.322/.379 with 18 doubles, 61 RBI, 83 runs scored and eight stolen bases.
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Dodgers' Mookie Betts: Pops 14th homer
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Betts went 2-for-4 with a solo home run in Monday's 7-0 win over the Reds.
Betts logged his fourth multi-hit effort over his last six games, a span in which he has gone 10-for-25 (.400) at the plate. He's up to 14 homers on the year, including three over 22 contests in August. The 32-year-old has added 58 RBI, 79 runs scored, eight stolen bases, 17 doubles, one triple and a .250/.320/.378 slash line over 121 games. While it's been a challenging year, Betts looks to have his hitting back on track in time for the stretch run.
