Mookie

Betts

Betts was scratched from Wednesday’s lineup against the Athletics due to soreness in his right wrist, but it appears to have been only a minor issue. The 33-year-old shortstop has been sizzling at the plate as of late, slashing .373/.408/.657 with five homers and 11 RBI over 71 plate appearances in his last 16 games.

Betts was scratched from the game against the A’s because of right wrist soreness, but he’s already feeling better. According to Roberts, there was no clear incident which led to the soreness.

Miguel Rojas takes over at shortstop with Max Muncy moving into the cleanup spot against his former club. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters they made the decision to scratch Betts out of an abundance of caution. It doesn’t sound like a significant concern, but fantasy managers should closely monitor his status heading into Friday’s series opener against the division-rival Padres.

Betts didn’t get his fourth straight game with a homer, but he did drive in a run for the fifth straight. He always seems to pick it up against the Padres, the only team besides the Dodgers that showed any interest in trading for him when the Red Sox decided to move on after the 2019 season. His surge ought to continue with games in Sacramento the next three days and then back-to-back home series against the Padres and Rockies afterwards.

It could have been a better night, as all four balls that Betts put into play were hit hard. However, only his 402-foot homer in the sixth eluded the defense. He’s up to 11 homers to go along with a .230/.292/.440 line in 209 plate appearances.

Finally, Betts has shown genuine signs of life. He got the scoring started in this one with a second inning home run off Joe Ryan and both of his hits had at least a 101 mph exit velocity. This was his second straight game with multiple hits and he has a .317/.358/.524 slash line over his last 15 games as he desperately tries to get himself back on track ahead of the midway point this season.

Betts gove the Dodgers to within a run with his solo homer in the eighth inning. The Dodgers would score a pair in the ninth for the comeback victory. That’s now eight homers on the season for the 33-year-old, who is slowly starting to see his numbers crawl after a slow — and injury-riddled — start to the 2026 campaign.

The stolen base was the first of the season for Betts. The homer was the seventh, but it came with the Dodgers trailing 6-2 and with no runners on. Betts is starting to swing the bat better, but his .204/.267/.374 slash leaves a lot to be desired, even before you consider how good Betts has been for the overwhelming majority of his career.

In spite of the big day, Betts had quite a letdown with two outs in the eighth, committing an error on a grounder to end Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s bid for a perfect game. Yamamoto wound up giving up a homer to lead off the ninth anyway, so it’s a lesser story now. Though who knows if things might have ended differently if Yamamoto didn’t have to pitch to the extra batter in the eighth. Betts had three hits for the third time this year and scored three runs for the first time.

It’s a planned day off for both Betts and Andy Pages, so no need for fantasy managers to worry here. Miguel Rojas will start in his place at shortstop and will bat eighth against Angels’ right-hander Jose Soriano.