The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched a series win against the New York Mets on Saturday, led by another standout performance from Mookie Betts at the plate.
The 2023 All-Star finished the night 4-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored and a walk. It continued a red-hot month for Betts, who is now batting .342/.426/.726 over a 30-game stretch, including .444/.542/1.093 over his last 15 and .483/.559/1.103 in the last seven.
Betts is now on pace to finish with his second-best offensive performance in a season, trailing only his 2018 American League MVP season when he hit .346/.438/.640 with 32 home runs and a 185 wRC+. Betts is likely to break his career record in home runs, which he set last year at 35, as he already has 27 this season.
With a 162 wRC+, it’s the best Betts has performed in his Dodgers tenure, which was already a high bar to clear, and he credits that to being more consistent, via Juan Toribio of MLB.com:
“Yeah, for sure,” Betts said when asked if he feels more consistent. “It’s more just the quality of at-bat and solid contact, swinging at the right pitches; you can’t control if you get hits or not. I feel like I’m doing those three things and maximizing my chances of getting hits and that’s really what I want to be consistent with.”
Now in his fourth season with the Dodgers, Betts is also enjoying his first year that hasn’t been affected by something outside of his control.
During his first season with the team in 2020, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic cut Spring Training short and forced the league to shut down until a 60-game schedule was implemented. The Dodgers ultimately won the World Series with Betts as a big part of it, but it was anything but a normal campaign.
In 2021, Betts dealt with multiple nagging injuries throughout the year, including back and hip issues that kept him from reaching his full potential, despite his still-strong season. His 2022 season was more normal, but Betts still dealt with a fractured rib that caused him to miss a few weeks.
Betts has remained healthy so far in 2023, which has likely helped him find his consistency as his previous injuries came right after he was heating up at the plate.
Overall this season, the 30-year-old is batting .287/.387/.596 with 74 runs scored, 64 RBI and 4.5 WAR, second to only Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves and the current National League MVP favorite.
Mookie Betts among top-selling jerseys
The Dodgers were prominently featured on the list of the top 20 selling MLB jerseys for the first half of the 2023 season, with Betts, Freddie Freeman and Clayton Kershaw all making the cut.
Betts placed sixth, Freeman was 16th and Kershaw checked in at 20th. Rankings were based on Nike jersey sales from MLBShop.com since Opening Day.
Betts has consistently been among the leaders in jersey sales since his trade to the Dodgers prior to the 2020 season. He finished that year in the No. 1 spot and maintained it heading into the 2021 campaign.
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