LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts watched his drive sail over Dodger Stadium’s left-field fence late Friday night, and the emotions spilled out of him as if he had delivered a walk-off in October, not March. An emphatic raised finger was followed by a forceful fist bump then an emphatic toss of his helmet and a deafening roar as he pranced toward his teammates at home plate.
Betts hadn’t just sent the Los Angeles Dodgers to an 8-5 come-from-behind victory over the Detroit Tigers on the same day their World Series rings were distributed. He hadn’t just given the Dodgers their first 4-0 start to a season since 1981. He had done so in the wake of a debilitating illness that caused him to shed almost 20 pounds and often made him wonder if he could muster the energy to provide moments like this.
“That was super special,” Betts said. “I know it sounds super selfish, but more for me. I was really proud of myself for coming in and playing underweight. Not that it’s a big deal playing underweight, but just the fight that I’ve kind of been through — the ups and downs, and the nights I’m just crying because I’m sick, and my wife’s there holding me. That’s where the emotion comes from.”
As the Dodgers prepared to fly to Japan and begin their season last week, Betts, who had spent the past four months pouring himself into the arduous task of becoming an every-day shortstop, struggled to keep food down.
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He didn’t play in either of the team’s first two regular-season games against the Chicago Cubs at the Tokyo Dome and was sent home early. He was supposed to play in the Dodgers’ exhibition opener against the Los Angeles Angels the ensuing Sunday but was a late scratch. Vomiting persisted. By that point, Betts’ weight had dropped from 175 pounds to 157.
A day later, Betts started to turn a corner. He played 5½ innings in the Dodgers’ exhibition finale Tuesday then faced live pitching during the off day Wednesday. By the time the home opener came around roughly 24 hours later, Betts was back to feeling like his normal self. On Friday, he made his presence felt.
With one out in the sixth, Betts recorded just the second hit off former Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty then came around to score on Freddie Freeman’s tying two-run homer. In the bottom of the eighth, he hit what would have been the game-winning home run had the Tigers not come back to tie the score in the top of the ninth.
In the 10th, Betts capped a five-run inning by coming up with runners on second and third and the score tied, working the count full against Beau Brieske then turning on a low changeup and sending it 376 feet.
“Just given what he’s been under the last couple weeks and still to go out there and be ready, and not be 100 percent and still give us everything he has, coming up huge — I can’t say enough about Mookie,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
Betts is just the second player to hit multiple go-ahead homers in the eighth inning or later since the franchise moved to Los Angeles 67 years ago, according to ESPN Research. The other was Andre Ethier, who did the same on Aug. 2, 2015 — at about 4 inches taller and roughly 50 pounds heavier.
“I didn’t lose much strength, relative for my weight,” said Betts, who has since regained eight pounds but would like to add eight more. “I’m still pretty strong. But obviously as you add on more weight, you can add on more strength. Right now I’m just having fun hitting 160-pound homers.”
Betts’ homer capped an epic two-day stretch for a Dodgers team that opened its season more than 5,000 miles away and is still coming off the high of its first full-season championship since 1988.
On Thursday, iconic rapper Ice Cube drove a Dodger Blue Chevy Bel-Air along Dodger Stadium’s foul territory with the World Series trophy strapped to the passenger seat. He then brought it onto the field with the team lined up along the third-base line. On Friday, each of the Dodgers’ coaches and players walked onto a makeshift stage by the pitcher’s mound to receive gaudy championship rings decorated with 343 diamonds and 129 sapphires.
Amid all the pomp and circumstance, the 2025 Dodgers, seen as one of the most talented teams ever assembled, continued to win. They breezed past the Cubs in Japan without Betts and Freeman then came back to the United States and sneaked past the Tigers thanks in large part to a pitching staff that stranded 11 baserunners. On Friday, they fell behind twice and kept coming back.
“It kind of feels like we’re just picking up where we left off last year,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. “There’s still a whole lot of fight on this team. There’s no give up.”
