Should Mookie Betts replace Shohei Ohtani as Dodgers’ leadoff hitter?…
Plan A, as always, is Shohei Ohtani.
But over the last couple nights, Plan B has regarded fairly good too.
Whenever Ohtani returns from the injured record, the two-way star will doubtless reprise his customary position as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter –– one he has held since midway by way of his debut 2024 season with the team.
Likely, however, was as far as supervisor Dave Roberts was keen to explain it on Saturday.
Mookie Betts hits a first-inning double during the Dodgers’ 10-4 blowout win over the Giants on Sept. 20, 2026 in Los Angeles. IMAGN IMAGES by way of Reuters Connect
Because in Ohtani’s absence, Mookie Betts has made a case to spearhead the team’s order, too.
Over the last week, a red-hot Betts has served as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter 3 times. In each of those contests, he delivered a classic performance.
There was a 2-for-4 show with an RBI and a double in Miami last week.
A 3-for-4 outburst with two house runs (including one to steer off the game) against the San Francisco Giants on Friday evening.
Then, a 4-for-4, three-double, two-RBI, one-walk masterpiece in another 10-4 rout of the Giants on Saturday, a victory that lowered the Dodgers’ magic quantity to clinch a first-round playoff bye right down to 4 with eight days remaining in the season.
“I just think he’s physically in a better spot than he has been,” Roberts said after Saturday’s outburst, which pushed Betts’ season common as much as .261 and OPS to .785. “The ball’s coming off the right way.”
Of course, Betts has been crushing the ball regardless of the place he’s been in the order recently. Since Aug. 5, he’s batting .336 in 39 games with 9 house runs, 12 doubles, 31 RBIs and a 1.008 OPS.
It has marked the former MVP’s best prolonged stretch since early in the 2024 season. It has been a reminder that there’s still loads of life left in his beforehand slumping bat.
Mookie Betts gestures with a protected name after being called out by house plate umpire John Tumpane while making an attempt to score on a single by Will Smith before the name was overturned during the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ blowout win over the Giants. AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
“I know I’m still capable of it,” the 33-year-old Betts said. “I know it was in there somewhere.”
Added Roberts: “It just doesn’t matter where you hit him, who he’s facing, [what’s] the situation –– he’s taking good at-bats.”
Betts’ impression at the top of the lineup particularly, however, has been not possible to disregard over the last week; particularly when juxtaposed with the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Ohtani, who is anticipated again next week from proper arm and left knee accidents however still doesn’t determine to be 100% bodily.
That’s why, after writing Betts’ identify in at the leadoff spot for a second-straight day Saturday, Roberts was requested if it’s still a certainty that Ohtani will stay in the leadoff spot upon his return.
Shohei Ohtani, who didn’t play, works out on the subject before the Dodgers’ blowout win over the Giants. IMAGN IMAGES by way of Reuters Connect
“Yeah, I mean, I think that’s my first kind of thought,” Roberts said. “But until he gets back, or when he gets back, then I’ll kind of potentially read and react.”
Much will clearly depend upon how Ohtani appears, which can be the largest query after a 6-for-52 stoop main as much as his IL stint.
Roberts also cited other components like making an attempt to match up against both right- or left-handed pitching, leaving the door open to some game-by-game tinkering in October.
“I haven’t really thought too much about it [yet],” he insisted.
Mookie Betts is congratulated by teammates in the dugout after scoring on a double by Kyle Tucker during the first inning of the Dodgers’ blowout win over the Giants. AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
The approach Betts goes, though, it’d soon turn into a crucial lineup-construction determination.
Run the danger with a probably diminished however ever-dangerous Ohtani? Or give the most at-bats as attainable to the team’s hottest current hitter?
Granted, Betts hasn’t pushed to take over the leadoff spot, saying Friday that “I’ll hit wherever” and “there’s a guy that’s named Shohei that needs to be up there and to get us going.”
But if the Dodgers must pivot among Ohtani’s ongoing illnesses, he’s rapidly rising as their best fallback possibility –– particularly with their preliminary leadoff alternative, the switch-hitting Tommy Edman, mired in a brutal 2-for-39 stoop.
Mookie Betts rips an RBI single scoring Josue De Paula during the second inning of the Dodgers’ win over the Giants. Getty Images
“Going back up there, it is fun,” Betts acknowledged, having performed virtually 1,100 profession games as a leadoff hitter over his 13-year profession. “Kind of feels like home.”
“You do got to kind of prepare for whatever,” Roberts added, “and I just think that Mookie’s swinging the bat well, has hit there many times throughout his career, so it just kind of makes sense.”
For now, the Dodgers’ larger precedence can be ensuring Betts retains swinging the bat nicely, whether or not that’s in the No. 1 spot or some place else in the coronary heart of the order.
His late-season surge has been considered one of the largest causes the team has survived Ohtani’s absence –– successful 13 of its last 16 despite the celebrity slugger playing in just one of those contests.
“It’s good. It’s fun. But the main thing is doing it when it counts,” Betts said of his current success. “Right now, just keep laying the foundation, and then when playoffs come, just need it to show up.”
Still, given how issues are trending at the second, it won’t be a shock if the Dodgers’ first at-bat of the playoffs belonged to their streaking shortstop.
“I couldn’t tell you that I saw this [coming],” Roberts conceded. “But he’s got stronger. He’s worked hard on that … And just for it to come together has been great.”
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