{"id":32947,"date":"2025-03-14T03:04:32","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T03:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32947"},"modified":"2025-03-14T03:04:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T03:04:32","slug":"mookie-betts-missed-dodgers-last-2-cactus-league-games-for-unfortunate-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32947","title":{"rendered":"Mookie Betts Missed Dodgers&#8217; Last 2 Cactus League Games for Unfortunate Reason"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wrapper_1vgzeyt\">\n<div class=\"style_1q03211\">\n<figure class=\"base_1ruub6q\" data-mm-type=\"image\"><picture class=\"base_1emrqjj\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"base_1emrqjj\" title=\"Mar 4, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) against the Cincinnati Reds during a spring training game at Camelback Ranch-Glendale. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_5775,h_3248,x_0,y_201\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/inside_the_dodgers\/01jp64y05kgjws7qfqfn.jpg\" alt=\"Mar 4, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) against the Cincinnati Reds during a spring training game at Camelback Ranch-Glendale. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images\" data-uw-rm-alt-original=\"Mar 4, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) against the Cincinnati Reds during a spring training game at Camelback Ranch-Glendale. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images\" data-uw-rm-alt=\"ALT\" \/><\/picture><\/figure>\n<div class=\"wrapper_brpv6a\">Mar 4, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) against the Cincinnati Reds during a spring training game at Camelback Ranch-Glendale. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images \/ Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"inStoryContainer_1r009zu\">\n<div class=\"wrapper_qe1qt7\">\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_4a1zu9nct\">The Los Angeles Dodgers are off to Japan to open up the MLB season with two games against the Chicago Cubs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_6sqdepwrl\">Fans saw the last few Cactus League games from the defending World Series champions this week, but a key player not on the field for the final two games in Arizona was superstar Mookie Betts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_d0vr9bwi4\">So far in Cactus League play, Betts has six hits, three RBIs, and a home run. His .240 batting average through 25 at-bats is just an incremental sample size as for what is to come in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_2idorlqdq\">Fans missed seeing the outfielder-turned-shortstop the past two contests as The Orange County Register&#8217;s\u00a0Doug Padilla\u00a0reported that manager Dave Roberts claimed he has an illness he has been dealing with that didn&#8217;t leave him healthy enough to play in the exhibition games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_w4q2jr8p4\">The eight-time All-Star is confirmed to be traveling with the team to Japan as the Dodgers official Instagram account posted a picture of Betts and his wife boarding the plane Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n<div id=\"tout_d_16_5\" class=\"mm-slot-content\"><\/div>\n<figure class=\"style_hfl21i-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_0vn1ftgg3\"><iframe id=\"instagram-embed-0\" class=\"instagram-media instagram-media-rendered\" title=\"instagram\" src=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DHHVUwQRsiU\/embed\/captioned\/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=618&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.si.com&amp;rp=%2Fmlb%2Fdodgers%2Fnews%2Fmookie-betts-missed-dodgers-last-2-cactus-league-games-for-unfortunate-reason-01jp64wg4842#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A13283.299999952316%2C%22ls%22%3A4334.899999976158%2C%22le%22%3A13236.399999976158%7D\" height=\"914\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-instgrm-payload-id=\"instagram-media-payload-0\" data-uw-rm-iframe=\"gn\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_ous4wko7w\">The 2018 American League MVP will do whatever he can to bring a third title to Los Angeles since his arrival, and the first consecutive title MLB has seen in a quarter-century.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_iaf3plcru\">Last season&#8217;s stats certainly showed why he is one of the pillars of the organization.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_fpvgfd4rz\">Despite missing about six weeks with a broken wrist, Betts batted .289\/.372\/.491 with an OPS of .863. He added 19 home runs, 75 RBIs, and 130 hits with a WAR of 4.8.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_3sj0rdo26\">The illness doesn&#8217;t look to be very much of an issue as Roberts surely would have announced his concern or potentially kept the shortstop from traveling internationally. The excitement to defend last year&#8217;s title is palpable and fans will finally get to see the new-look Dodgers in action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_6ycs05ilx\">Despite all the offseason moves, Betts continues to be among the most respected players on the roster and a cornerstone of the franchise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_oy1c09eyg\">He&#8217;ll hope to be healthy enough to get some action in one of the two exhibition games over the weekend ahead of Opening Day on March 18.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mar 4, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) against the Cincinnati Reds during a spring training game at Camelback Ranch-Glendale. Mandatory Credit:&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mookie Betts Missed Dodgers&#039; Last 2 Cactus League Games for Unfortunate Reason - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=32947\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mookie Betts Missed Dodgers&#039; Last 2 Cactus League Games for Unfortunate Reason - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mar 4, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts (50) against the Cincinnati Reds during a spring training game at Camelback Ranch-Glendale. 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