Mookie Betts could be the answer to the Dodgers Shohei Ohtani problem

Before the Dodgers became Shohei Ohtani’s team, they were Mookie Betts’ team.Manager Dave Roberts used to say that as Betts went, the Dodgers went.Betts was the best player on the 2020 championship team.He finished in the top five in National League MVP voting three of his first four seasons with the Dodgers.Now, with the Dodgers trailing the Brewers in the National League Championship Series and unable to count on a physically-limited Ohtani to jumpstart their offense, Betts will have to turn back the clock.The Dodgers scored only once in the first game of the NLCS and each of the four runs they scored in the second game was the result of an error or wild pitch by the Brewers, but Betts can’t be faulted for the lack of run production.Betts, who replaced Ohtani as the leadoff hitter last month while the four-time MVP was on the injured list, was 2-for-7 through the first two games of the NLCS. He reached base four times in nine plate appearances.“Mookie’s at-bats at the top, and what he’s done over the last couple months has been very consistent,” Roberts said.

“It’s at-bat quality at the highest level.”The effect of those at-bats on the Dodgers’ other hitters was particularly obvious in a victory over the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of their NL Division Series.In his first at-bat against Braves ace Chris Sale, Betts laid off a slider that just missed the lower outside corner of the plate to work the count full.On the next pitch Betts reached base on an infield single.“Really just trying to have good at-bats and try to not have a bunch of empty one-out flyouts,” Betts said.The Dodgers forced Sale to throw 24 pitches in the first inning.

By the end of the third inning, Sale’s pitch count was already at 69.In the fourth inning, the Dodgers struck, with home runs by Kiké Hernández and Freddie Freeman moving them in front, 3-0.The Dodgers went on to win the game, 3-1, and Betts finished with two hits. “When you’re getting into a playo...