LOS ANGELES ― It was just four days ago that Mookie Betts couldn’t eat, hadn’t played a game in two weeks, and was crying himself to sleep wondering what was wrong.
He was sent home from Tokyo, hoping his nasty stomach virus would pass, but still couldn’t keep any food down, watching his weight plummet by nearly 20 pounds, and wondering how long it would take for him to ever get healthy.
Well, Friday evening, a couple of hours after he received the most beautiful piece of jewelry in his life during the Los Angeles Dodgers’ World Series ring ceremony, he finally got his answer.
He is officially back.
Now, it’s the rest of baseball that’s getting sick.
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Betts hit a walk-off three-run homer in the 10th inning – after hitting a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning – to lift the Dodgers to a wild 8-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers and leaving everyone to wonder if the Dodgers will ever lose.
“It’s a great thing to be a Dodger,” catcher Austin Barnes said.
The Dodgers are 4-0 for the first time since 1981, showing the kind of resiliency that led them to last year’s World Series championship, coming back three times to knock off the Tigers and their former teammate, starter Jack Flaherty.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says has enjoyed some fine first weeks of the season during his playing, coaching and managerial career, but nothing can compare to this, winning two games in Japan, returning home, unveiling the World Series banner, getting rings almost as big as the Stanley Cup trophy, and continuing to win in every conceivable way.
“This is by far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced,” Roberts said. “I think that if you’re a Dodger fan, I think that you feel the same way I do. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.
“Obviously, we’re 4-0, finding ways to win, and we’re not even playing our best baseball and are still finding ways to win.”
It was a night where the Dodgers had plenty of heroes, from starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s career-high 10 strikeouts in five innings, Freddie Freeman’s game-tying 2-run homer off Flaherty, second baseman Tommy Edman’s defensive brilliance, Barnes’ game-saving tag at the plate, but no one came up bigger than Betts.
While his teammates were playing in Tokyo, he returned home and continued to constantly throw up, unable to keep down any solid food. He saw trainers. He visited doctors. He took medical tests. It scared him to death.
It wasn’t until 72 hours earlier when he felt healthy enough to even play a game.
He didn’t hit the ball out of the infield in the Dodgers’ home-opener on Thursday, and finally was able to hit a single to center in the sixth inning Friday. Then, it happened. With the game tied at 2-apiece in the 8th inning, he drove a 87-mph fastball from Will Vest that just cleared the left-center-field wall, which required an umpire review to make sure there was no fan interference.
In the 10th, with the Dodgers having already scored two runs to tie the game, Betts stepped to the plate with two runners on and hit a full-count, 90-mph changeup from Beau Brieske over the left-field fence, sending the crowd of 52,029 into hysterics.
Betts threw his right arm up in the air, danced around the bases, jumped on home plate, and the celebration began.
“That was super special,” Betts said. “I know it sounds super selfish, but just more for me, man. I was really proud of myself coming in, and playing underweight. Not that it’s a big deal playing underweight, but just the fight. I’ve kind of been through ups and downs, the night where I’m just crying because I’m sick. My wife, they’re kind of holding me, you know, so that’s where that emotion comes from.
“And then, obviously winning for the boys.”
Considering that Betts is still 10 pounds lighter than his usual playing weight of 175, was he stunned he was able to produce a two-homer game?
“No, like I’m still good at baseball,” he said. “It’s still possible.”
Said Barnes: “He’s a freak, man. He’s one of the best baseball players on the planet. But he was down and out. So, for him to come out here, and put two homers on the board, and win us the game, pretty impressive.”
Betts quickly dressed, packed his bag, headed home, and was looking forward to stuffing his face with home-cooking from his wife and family chef.
“Another seven or eight pounds will help me a lot, but 10 would be ideal,” Betts said. “Got to keep eating. I got both of them cooking. I’m eating during the game. So, we’re doing what it takes.”
Roberts laughed afterwards, still trying to completely comprehend what happened.
Here they are, getting no-hit by Flaherty for four innings. They’re being shut out entering the sixth inning. They are still down two runs in the sixth. They are tied in the eighth until Betts’ homer. They blow the lead in the ninth. They’re down two runs in the 10th.
And they still manage to win.
“It’s kind of the hallmark of our ballclub,” Roberts said. “We just don’t quit. We keep going, and as bleak as it might look at times, we keep competing and putting it back together.”
And, on this night, no one exemplified their resilience more than Betts with those two majestic swings of the bat.
“That was not on my bingo card,” Roberts said. “He just does some special things. He’s obviously a tremendous ballplayer. … But given what he’s been under the last couple of weeks, and to still go out there and be ready, and not be 100%, and still give us everything he has, coming up huge, I can’t say enough about Mookie.”
Now, the biggest challenge, Betts says, is just getting enough strength to be able to wear their new World Series ring.
“This is my favorite one so far,” Betts said, “but a little heavy.”
When you’re wearing a ring that’s made of 14 karat gold with more than 300 diamonds and 120 sapphires, Betts can put on 100 pounds and it’s still going to feel like a sculpture on his hand.
“It sure is beautiful,” Betts says.
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