Dodgers’ Mookie Betts Opens Up on Brutal Illness He Dealt With Last Couple Weeks
The Los Angeles Dodgers are 4-0 to start the regular season, but it wasn’t without a brief scare earlier this month.
Two games before the team flew to Japan to kick off the MLB season, superstar Mookie Betts was scratched from a Cactus League matchup with an illness. He missed the last two games of spring, the first two exhibition games in Tokyo, and was on a plane home before the first pitch was thrown on Opening Day.
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The illness kept growing into something Betts just couldn’t shake. This stomach bug, that was later speculated to be norovirus, caused the 32-year-old to struggle to hold down any food that wasn’t a smoothie and reportedly lose close to 20 pounds.
With the excitement of the Tokyo Series dampened by Betts’ illness, the superstar was set to return for the first of three spring games against the Los Angeles Angels before the home opener. Even then, Betts was a late scratch after having to vomit just hours before the contest.
As the regular season is now officially underway, it appears that Betts has healed.
The home opener saw Betts present, but the next game saw him take over.
With the Dodgers down 3-5 entering the bottom of the tenth inning, L.A. was able to quickly tie things up at 5 runs a piece. Betts then stepped up to the plate with two on and unleashed a three-run walk-off bomb to win it.
It was his second home run of the day.
After everything that Betts has gone through recently, he spoke after the game about the core memory he delivered to Dodgers fans in attendance.
“That was super special. I know it sounds super selfish, but just more for me. I was really proud of myself for coming in and playing underweight,” Betts said. “Not that it’s a big deal to play underweight, but just the fight that I’ve kind of been through — the ups and downs, the nights where I’m just crying because I’m sick. My wife was there just kind of holding me. And so that’s really where that emotion kind of comes from. Then obviously winning for the boys.”
The Dodgers plays the Detroit Tigers once more on Saturday night and will try to improve to 5-0 on the year.
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Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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