Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts took a shot at the San Diego Padres amid their failed season after a massive reload in the offseason fell flat.
Betts is in the 10th year of his storied career, having already secured an MVP, a batting title, and two World Series crowns on top of his seven All-Star appearances. It is safe to say he knows what a successful franchise looks like, splitting time between the Red Sox and Dodgers over the last decade.
The Padres went on a spending spree after the 2022 season, spending hundreds of millions on added star power. The top deals included $280 million on Xander Bogaerts, $350 million on Manny Machado, and $108 million on extending Yu Darvish. Betts was not a fan of all the dollars poured into a losing effort, and shaded his rivals for it as their season slips away.
“Hey, you go to do what you’ve got to do,” Dodgers star Mookie Betts told Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports. “If that’s how you pump yourself, do it, by all means. For us, that’s not just the way we operate. We operate in a different fashion.”
The Dodgers decided to abstain from spending for the most part in the offseason, letting several top players walk away for big contracts elsewhere. Betts is more concerned with their play on the field, and not all of the contract drama and tough talking. The Dodgers have won the battle on the diamond, winning 8 of 10 against the Padres this year.
“So, it’s like, you can talk all you want, say all you want, but nobody what is being said, you’ve still got to go play the game. In between the lines is what’s going to dictate the outcome,” Betts continued.
The Padres are now five games out of the final NL wildcard spot, and have been largely unable to gain ground despite refusing to sell at the trade deadline at the beginning of August. Two hours up the road on i-5 to Los Angeles, the Dodgers are sitting pretty at the top of the NL West and riding high on a seven game win streak.