Mookie Betts searching for way out of playoff hitting slump

SAN DIEGO — Mookie Betts turned 32 years old Monday and had a very specific plan for how he would celebrate. “Hitting,” he said.

Betts went 0-for-4 in the Los Angeles Dodgers ‘ 10-2 loss in Game 2 of the National League Division Series on Sunday. And though one of the outs was the result of San Diego Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar reaching into the stands to rob him of a home run, it was nonetheless a continuation of Betts’ head-scratching struggles in recent playoffs.

Betts, an eight-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion, is 2-for-31 in the Dodgers’ past three postseason series, the last two of which ended in elimination in the NLDS. He’s also hitless in his last 22 playoff at-bats, tied for the fourth-longest postseason hitless-at-bat streak by a former MVP.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says he believes Betts’ shortcomings in previous postseasons are starting to “bleed in” to his current at-bats.

“I’ll have a conversation with him,” Roberts said of Betts. “The fact is you can’t change the last ‘X’ amount of postseason games. I understand the burden a player might have. But all anyone is concerned about is right now and how to best prepare yourself mentally for tomorrow night and the first at-bat. So that’s going to be basically my message.”

Betts estimated taking somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 swings during Monday’s workout, including multiple rounds in which he purposely drove pitches to right-center field off a high-velocity pitching machine at Petco Park. He walked off the field and said he still had more swings to take inside. He’s intent on working his way out of a slump.

“If there’s another way,” he said, “please let me know.”

Shutting it down to clear his head is seemingly not an option.

“If I turn my brain off, it’s going to get worse,” Betts said. “I have to keep trying.”

Betts’ production is crucial to a Dodgers team that is continually uncertain about the status of star first baseman Freddie Freeman, who has spent close to two weeks nursing a sprained right ankle and had to be removed from the lineup midway through Sunday’s Game 2. Roberts doesn’t know Freeman’s status for Tuesday’s Game 3. But he knows others — primarily Betts, who resides behind Shohei Ohtani in the lineup — have to step up.

“He’s got to be Mookie,” Roberts said. “I don’t expect any more than he’s done over his eight- or nine-year career. And it’s also up to the other players to chip in also. All of my ask is for the guys to be what they’ve been, what they’ve shown throughout their careers.”

Betts has historically been a really good performer in high-leverage situations during the regular season, including this year, slashing .309/.370/.580 in that circumstance. He posted an .871 OPS in the 18-game run that saw the Dodgers win the World Series during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, then a .782 OPS in 12 games of a 2021 postseason that ended in the NL Championship Series. But it has been a struggle since.

Betts hasn’t been able to ignore it.

“It’s pretty impossible,” he said. “You guys [the media] are doing your jobs, but you’re asking me about it. So there’s no way to get away from it. The whole world knows. It’s not like it’s a secret. I know. Nobody’s telling me anything I don’t know already. Nobody can be any harder on myself. Only thing I can really do is look forward, but I know it’s there.”