LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers spent Tuesday packing for Toronto and meeting with the media over Zoom. Mookie Betts kept the tone measured. He talked about the week, the break, the Blue Jays, and what’s really on his mind when the lights go up Friday night at Rogers Centre.
“Everything for me is obviously we play the game to win a World Series,” Betts said, asked about legacy and what three titles in six years would mean. “That’s doing pretty well if you can win three titles in six years. Obviously my end goal, a goal of probably everyone, is to be in a Hall of Fame one day, and I think that definitely helps the case.”
When the word “dynasty” came up, he didn’t bite. “I never really thought about dynasties,” he said. “I think just because I’m in it, I know how hard it is. I don’t really think about dynasties, so I don’t know what it consists of. If you’re going into the postseason and having a chance to win a World Series year after year, I guess that would kind of qualify as some type of dynasty, but I don’t know what it takes to call it that. I’m just going to enjoy being in whatever moment we are now.”
The layoff is real, and he didn’t shy away from the effects on the offense. “I would say it affects hitters more,” Betts said. “The timing aspect, the flow of the game, it’s not necessarily just hitting. It could be a simple ground ball, simple rhythm and timing in plays. You can only get that through games.” As for a fix, he kept it simple: “I don’t think we can do much different. There’s not a magic formula that makes you come out fired on all cylinders. The only real thing is experience, and going five or six days you’re going to lose a little bit of that, but I think everything will be all right.”
This break hits at a different point than last year, and he’s curious how it lands. “I’ve never had a break right before the World Series,” he said. “It is coming at a different time. We don’t know how it’s going to affect us until we know how it affects us, but I think we’re all locked and loaded and ready to go. We’ve played some, so we should be okay.”
Asked about the vibe now that the opponent is set, he drew a line between eager and even. “I think everybody’s excited, but I don’t think anybody’s too excited,” Betts said. “Everybody’s locked and loaded. We know we have a task at hand, and we’re excited for the opportunity of winning a World Series and the opportunity of winning back-to-back World Series, which is another story, but that’s not important right now. We have to focus on winning the first game.”
The Jays? Mookie wouldn’t put too much stock in the Dodgers series win in August. “Seeing them during the season doesn’t matter right now, so that’s kind of irrelevant,” he said. “They pitch, they hit, they play defense, they kind of do everything well. You don’t make it to the World Series on accident. That means you’re playing your best baseball at the right time. We just have to play our best baseball at the right time. That’s all we can control, and that’s all we can do.”
This isn’t his first October rodeo, and the experience shows. “I remember the first time you’re just excited to be in the postseason,” Betts said. “You don’t know how long it’s going to last. You’re there and you want to win, but you don’t really know what it takes. Now, going back over and over again, you kind of learn what it takes to get to the next step and how hard it is. Sometimes you learn how to weather certain storms. There’s a lot that goes into winning in the postseason that you wouldn’t know when you’re young. Most of us have some experience now, and we can kind of stay even keel.”
The roster tells its own story about urgency. “Once your team signs Shohei, and then you sign Yoshi, and then you sign Roki, you go get guys,” he said. “That lets you know where the team is. We want to win, and we want to win a lot now. You can kind of look up and know the window you’re in is important and you need to win now. We understand that, but to do it you have to take it one day at a time. You’ve got to just win one at a time. Then eventually you look up at the end of that window and you’ve taken care of business. If you don’t take care of one day at a time, there’s no way to get where you want to get.”
And the offense that’s carried L.A. to a 9–1 postseason mark so far? Betts isn’t making predictions. “We just have to do our thing and have good team at-bats, a good team approach,” he said. “If we get the hits, cool. If we don’t, cool. We have to continue to play our game and do what we do. There’s no formula to it. You have to be able to win 3-1 games just like you have to be able to win 10-9 games. You never know which one’s going to come, but you’ve got to be ready for whichever one.”
That’s the plan. Pack the bags, keep the heartbeat steady, and take Friday one pitch at a time. As Betts puts it, “Enjoy the moment we’re in now,” and make it count in Toronto.
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