Sunday, September 6, 2020

All Betts Are Off


 It really is that simple. Mookie Betts joins the Dodgers and the Dodgers are the best team in baseball. 

It's not like they were unworthy before, and the 2019 team was certainly a mega-stacked goliath that happened to have an embarrassing downfall against Washington. But they didn't lose because they were bad. They still had Cody Bellinger, Walker Buehler and Max Muncy in prime seasons, and this season has lower-key offerings from all three, even as Bellinger catches up.

This is a Dodgers team being led by new people, like Tony Gonsolin and his sub-1 ERA, Chris Taylor and his sharp utility work, Dustin May mirroring Clayton Kershaw, Adam Kolarek refusing to give up any runs, and...yes...yes...Mookie Betts, who's playing like an absolute beast and is probably gonna win MVP.

For shits and giggles, I looked up my first post about Betts on here, and it said, in 2014, that Mookie Betts was either going to be a World Series hero in about 5 years or out of Boston in 2. That was eerily specific, and it was four years, but I'll take it. Betts is one of the most consistent big-game athletes of contemporary baseball, he's been stellar for Boston, and ALREADY he is living up to the mega-ultra contract he signed with the Dodgers. Dude's got 13 home runs, 48 hits, 31 RBIs, he's batting .316, he's got a 1.018 OPS and a 3.0 WAR. Those are MVP numbers in any league in America. Only Mike Yastrzemski and Fernando Tatis have numbers near that caliber. And yet Betts has been in the league for longer than both combined. 

This Dodgers team was the first to 30 wins, and will likely be the first to 40, and end with an exhilaratingly nice W/L ratio and get a nice seed in the playoffs. I'd love it for them, especially for a team that's been competitive for the past like 13 years yet hasn't won a World Series since before I was born. I'd love for Mookie Betts to get another MVP and another World Series ring. If the latter's this season, that'd be cool as heck.

Also, I love the irony that I do a post with this title on a day where Mookie Betts is off. I didn't mean that, but it's amazingly convenient.

Coming Tomorrow- [loud sigh] Best team in the AL East, their ace.

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