Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts spoke about how he felt upon hearing the Boston Red Sox traded him to the Dodgers in 2020.
Betts spent the first six seasons of his MLB career with the Red Sox, and had won the AL MVP award with Boston in 2018. The Dodgers traded for him just before the 2020 season, sending Alex Verdugo, Connor Wong and Jeter Downs to the Red Sox in exchange for Betts and left-hander David price.
“I knew, they told me,” Betts said. “It was weird, man. I was like ‘why’. …I didn’t know anything different. I didn’t wanna leave, but I understood the business side of it. It worked out.”
Betts had established himself as one of MLB’s best players by the time the Red Sox traded him, having solidified himself as a perennial All-Star and Gold Glove candidate. He posted unreal numbers through his first six seasons in MLB, slashing .301/.374/.519 with 139 home runs and 470 RBIs.
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He also won a World Series with the Red Sox in his MVP season, during which he boasted a career-high 1.078 OPS.
The move, as Betts said, was for the better, though.
Since switching coasts, Betts has become a fan-favorite superstar in Los Angeles, and has won three more World Series titles with the Dodgers. He placed second in MVP voting with LA in 2023, won four Sliver Slugger awards and has made four All-Star Games since his arrival.
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Nearly six years later, Betts has all but confirmed his spot in the Hall of Fame, and it’s hard to imagine he’ll be wearing anything but a Dodger hat in Cooperstown. While the Red Sox decision to trade him is questionable at best — even with their financial constraints — it ultimately gave the Dodgers a franchise cornerstone and marked the beginning of a dominant era of Dodgers baseball.
Photo Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
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