Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts endured a difficult 2025 regular season. The former MVP slashed just .258/.326/.406 across 150 games played. Betts, however, has looked like a completely different player so far in the postseason. Through two series (vs. Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies), the Dodgers star is hitting .385/.429/.577 to go along with a 1.005 OPS.
What's changed? How has Betts been able to bounce back in such a big way following a challenging regular season? It is worth noting that Betts began to play much better in August and September. Still, overall, it was a difficult regular season, but Betts has been tremendous in the playoffs.
Mookie Betts is swinging the bat well once again
Of course, it likely doesn't surprise anyone to see Betts playing well. After all, he is one of the best players in the sport when he's on his game. Still, such a dramatic shift following a difficult season surely caught fans' attention. The underlying numbers help to tell the story.
Betts was unlucky in the regular season, recording a .258 BABip (batting average on balls in play). So far in the postseason, that number has jumped to .417. After striking out 10.3 percent of the time in the regular season — which was still impressive for Betts — he has recorded an even better percentage in the playoffs up to this point. Betts has struck out just 7.1 percent of the time in the '25 postseason.
Surprisingly, Betts has yet to hit a playoff home run this year. However, he is consistently putting the ball in play. Betts is hitting the ball hard, seeing the ball well, and getting on base. His two walks and .429 OBP support that narrative.
Sometimes, though, success goes beyond the numbers.
What Dave Roberts said about Betts' play
During a recent interview with Jim Rome, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts commented on Betts bouncing back from his previous slump.
“You know what's interesting is you talk about the postseason in any sport, they talk about the postseason as now you play for the team and the stats don't matter,” Roberts said. “And that essentially is when you get the best out of the player, right? So, with Mookie struggling through April, through May, June, July, he finally told himself, ‘Hey, my season in totality is lost. So now, I'm just gonna focus on just playing a great shortstop, doing whatever I can to help the team, and that's okay.' And the thing that's interesting is that it freed him up mentally to then now, you look back from middle of August, early August to the end of the season, he's put forth Mookie Betts type numbers.
“The ironic thing is that when you do let go and just play for the right reasons, which most players like to say they do… But when you do that, the good stuff does happen. And I give Mookie a lot of credit for that.”
Roberts credited Mookie Betts' mindset shift for his late-season and postseason success. As a result, as Roberts said, we are now seeing “Mookie Betts type numbers” — and that's certainly promising for a Dodgers ball club that wants to win its third World Series this decade.
