Betts discusses challenges on and off the field

LOS ANGELES -- Professionally, probably no Dodgers player has as much to gain or lose as Mookie Betts during the 60-game season scheduled to start July 23.

The key to a February blockbuster salary dump that included David Price, Betts became a Dodger after turning down a reported $300 million extension offer from the Red Sox. During the pandemic pause, while Dodgers fans wondered if they would even see him play a game that counted as a Dodger, Betts said he wondered as well.

He said he doesn’t regret rejecting Boston’s offer and that free agency is “back burner” for now -- “The market will be what the market will be. Cross that bridge when we get there.” He said there are multiple more pressing issues, like player safety protocols that have him concerned about the season’s viability and the Black Lives Matter movement and baseball’s response to it.

As for the former, “I can’t say that I’m confident” the season will be played to its completion during a pandemic, “but there’s not a whole lot, it’s out of my control.”

As for the latter, Betts was critical of the game’s overall response, but added that “voices were heard ... and I hope it leads us to where we need to be,” adding that Black players share the responsibility to “bring the game to the Black community. It’s on us, Black players, to kind of make baseball cool.”

Manager Dave Roberts said the team had a Zoom call on the topic of social injustice “and it was very well received. ... For me, I don’t want us to lose the traction, the momentum, the conversations we’ve had over the last couple of months. I think any person of color would agree with me on that. It just can’t be a footnote.”

As for the challenge facing his new team, Betts earned immediate cred in the spring for challenging his teammates not to be satisfied with anything short of a World Series championship. But he said maintaining that tone will be a test after all that has happened in the last four months.

“It’s not the same game we’re preparing to play, it’s a different game,” he said. “It’s going to be much harder to focus; we have to concentrate on everything going on around you. We’ve got to lock everything else out, but during the game we have to watch our health and also play the game. Two different things going on. It’s hard to switch back and forth, but it’s what we signed up for.”

They’ll be doing it without Price, whose decision to not play this season is supported by Betts.

“He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever had,” Betts said. “He’s doing the right thing for himself. He's got to make his own decision, what’s best for him. The guys in the clubhouse all supported his decision.”

Betts called the time he spent at home during the pause the best in his life because it was spent with family, when he wasn’t fishing for catfish or lowering his golf handicap from “12 or so to 8ish.”

Only 27, Betts has an MVP Award, four All-Star appearances, four Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers and a World Series ring. He’s slotted in as the right fielder, flanking reigning NL MVP and center fielder Cody Bellinger.