Dodgers notes: Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, NLDS fallout

After capping off the best full regular season he’s played with the Dodgers, Mookie Betts hit an all-time low in the postseason.

Betts failed to record a single hit in twelve plate appearances, reaching base just one time via a walk, while struggling to capitalize in key opportunities.

For a player who’s production in the batter’s box diminishes in the postseason, it was safe to assume that Betts wouldn’t hit similar to Corey Seager’s 2020 postseason run, but failing to record a single hit in the postseason is simply not how MVP caliber players should be performing when the stakes are at their highest.

Betts felt the same way, letting reporters know after the Dodgers after Game 3’s defeat that he basically did absolutely nothing at the plate to help his team claw their way back.

Mike Chiari of Bleacher Report has more about Betts’ and the Dodgers’ overall brutal postseason, noting that their recent early exits have prevented a potential dynasty from forming:

“The Dodgers have top-notch talent and the means needed to make a splash in free agency or the trade market, so they should continue to be contenders next season and beyond. However, every time the Dodgers fall short, it feels like a missed opportunity to establish themselves as a dynasty given the incredible roster they have amassed.”

Links

Betts and Freddie Freeman going hitless against Diamondbacks’ Game 1 starter Merrill Kelly spelled doom for the rest of the series, as the duo combined for a horrific 1-for-21 at the plate in the three game series. Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times writes a column about how the failures of the two superstars could spell an omen for things to come for the Dodgers in postseasons to come:

“Betts is under contract for nine more years and Freeman for four. The Dodgers can run this back again, and again, and again, and again. But can they really?... For how many more seasons will they both be at the heights of their powers? Two? One? None?”

Jim Alexander of the Orange County Register writes a column that questions what or who is truly to blame for the Dodgers’ postseason catastrophe.

Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic writes various questions and other obstacles that lay ahead of the Dodgers once the postseason concludes.