Mookie Betts Puts Dodgers’ Early Season Struggles in Great Perspective
The Los Angeles Dodgers appear to be past their slump from earlier this season. The Dodgers lost six of eight home games at Dodger Stadium from April 12-20, including a disappointing 2-0 shutout loss at home to the Washington Nationals. This streak dropped the Dodgers to just 12-11, as lessened their lead over their division opponents.
The Dodgers broke out of the slump during their final home game against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium, when they rolled to a dominant 10-0 win. That win began a six-game winning streak, and the Dodgers have won eight of their last 10 games overall.
Friday, the Dodgers return home to kick off a series against the Atlanta Braves. While the Dodgers are obviously glad to be winning again, Mookie Betts said the expectations for them were unrealistic and that naturally there will be down games and moments, especially over a long season.
“People expect us to win every game,” Betts USA TODAY’s Bob Nightengale. “They expect us to hit homers every at-bat. It’s like we’re not humans.
“It’s a silly game,” Betts added. “You’re going to have ups and downs no matter who you are. It’s inevitable. Remember, this game is based off failure, not success. It’s good to have those expectations though. The guys we have in here, the coaches, we have a lot of confidence.”
Even with the slump, the Dodgers are right to have that kind of confidence with the team they’ve put together. Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Freddie Freeman, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto constitute one of the best cores in MLB. They’ve shown their depth when they can even get a dominant 8-0 win while resting their highest-paid player, Ohtani, versus the Diamondbacks on Wednesday.
Still, big expectations are going to follow this team, and overreactions are part of being a fan. The Dodgers have been dominant over the last decade, and put together the pieces to attempt to bring home another World Series. If they fall short of this quest, or show signs of being unable to live up to their potential, they will certainly draw criticism.
Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, livestreams, and more!
“Still, big expectations are going to follow this team, and overreactions are part of being a fan. The Dodgers have been dominant over the last decade”. Such a disconnect from reality and shows some of the writers here are just pandering to the know nothing about baseball fanboys or the organization itself.
Outside of 2020, which to me, still counts as a valid WS win in a compressed season and without fans because all team played under the same set of circumstances, LAD has been dominant in the NL West, but nowhere else. Four 100 or more seasons in a row for the first time in MLB history, resulting in 3 NLDS losses by teams that finished 13 games behind (2019), 22 (2022), and 16 (2023), and an NLCS loss to a team that finished 18 games behind in 2021.
100 win regular seasons is what creates expectations for dominance…and dominance is what happens in the playoffs, not July. Sure, we (actually all of MLB) got ripped off by a team that cheated all year and still has the trophy and rings (way to go Manfred), but that team has also made it to 7 straight ALCS series, winning 4 of them.
How about Roberts figuring out how to win games when it matters, the crucible of the playoffs, not when they are up by 15 games in the NL West in August. If he can’t do that, he has to go.
Couldn’t agree more!