Mookie Betts is on one of the great hot streaks in Dodgers history

Mookie Betts is front and center this weekend as the Dodgers are at Fenway Park. It’s his first game in Boston for Betts since getting traded by the Red Sox. He returns to his former home on an absolute heater.

In the extremely short term, Betts is coming from Cleveland, where he made two outs while batting against the Guardians, to go with nine hits and two walks. He tied his career high with five hits in a game that took two days to complete. He got two hits in that game on Wednesday, and three more on Thursday. Betts is so addicted to multi-hit affairs that he had two in one game!

Betts has four straight multi-hit games, and has multiple hits in nine of his last 11 games.

He has 29 hits in his last 58 at-bats, dating back to his last at-bat on August 6 (a home run in San Diego). When someone is scorching hot at the plate, I like to see just how far back I can go to see how long they’ve been hitting at least .500. Betts also did so in a stretch from June 28 to July 16, with 24 hits in 48 at-bats.

Freddie Freeman had 31 hits in 62 at-bats over a 15-game stretch from July 17 to August 3, the first Dodger to bat at least .500 over a full 15 games since Matt Kemp in April 2012. Betts could potentially join that list Friday night in Boston (or perhaps Saturday, if the rains come).

But if you’ll notice, Betts has two extended .500 streaks in the last two months. Dating back to June 28, he’s hitting a ridiculous .407/.478/.779 with 15 home runs, 19 doubles, 42 RBI, and 48 runs scored in 45 games.

Unsurprisingly, Betts during those 45 games leads baseball in OPS, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage (old friend Corey Seager is slugging .725 during that span), wRC+ (237), and runs scored.

But how good is this stretch in Dodgers history? Betts’ 1.277 OPS is the fifth-best over a 45-game stretch by a Dodger dating all the way back to 1901. Pedro Guerrero’s sublime summer of 1985, encompassing his 15-homer June and equally hot July, tops this list.

There are a slew of 45-game stretches of Brooklyn Dodgers hitting .400-plus, especially in the offense-friendly 1930s. But looking at only Los Angeles Dodgers, only four players had a higher 45-game average than Betts’ .407.

The nature of these 45-game stretches is that some lasted much longer than that, so a player might have multiple 45-game stretches that show up on these lists. In that case, I used only the best 45-game stretch in that category for each player.

Betts also has 34 extra-base hits in his 45-game supernova. In Dodgers history, only three times has a player had more in a 45-game stretch. Shawn Green had 36 in 2002, a stretch that began shortly before his four-homer, six-hit game. Duke Snider had 36 extra-base hits in 45 games in 1954, then had 35 extra-base hits in 45 games in 1955.

In August alone, Betts is hitting .463/.516/.817 with seven home runs, eight doubles, 21 RBI and 24 runs scored in 21 games. He has 14 multi-hit games in August.

Betts raised his batting average on the season 33 points in this month alone, which feels remarkable considering how late it is in the season. He’s also added 67 points to his OPS (1.009), which now tops the National League.

The Dodgers still have seven more games remaining in August, which gives Betts a chance to set some personal monthly records:

• Hits: 45 (August 2016), 44 (September 2015), 39 (May 2022)
• Runs scored: 33 (July 2019), 31 (May 2022), 30 (May 2016), 30 (August 2022)
• RBI: 27 (August 2016), 27 (May 2022)
• OPS: 1.200 (May 2018); Betts is currently at 1.334 this month
• Batting average: .378 (August 2016); Betts, currently at .463, can go hitless in 18 at-bats and still hit .380 this month
• OBP: .482 (September 2018); Betts is currently at .516 this month. The last Dodger to reach base at least half the time in a month with at least 50 plate appearances was Cody Bellinger in April 2019.
• Slugging percentage: .766 (May 2018); Betts is at .817 this month

Slumps are inevitable, and Mookie Betts isn’t likely to hit .400 the rest of the way. But it’s worth appreciating just what a great run Betts is on at the plate, both in the last two months, and all season long.