Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts will haunt the Boston Red Sox forever – Andscape

NEW YORK – Comparison is the thief of joy. Unfortunately, in baseball, the former is often all we have. Decisions made – be it using a substitute who hasn't pitched since the leaves began falling or deciding to send on a runner who appears to have a piano on his back – can haunt boys forever as they stay awake at night and I wonder what could have been.

Compared to other strategic bets, such as switching a right fielder to shortstop in spring training or throwing back a player who is at the top of the franchise's leadoff home run order, we are forced to Competitions are often viewed as binary and binary betting, a choice between right and wrong.

After the 2024 World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers staged their greatest comeback of all time with a World Series win following an underwhelming performance from outfielder Mookie Betts, one can't help but compare the stability of their teams Veterans.

And after a performance in Game 4 that included a double in his first at-bat (after which he eventually hit another home run off the Series MVP, first baseman Freddie Freeman) and after battling for the first out of the game with Not just one, but two fans (a strange mix of a Jeffrey Maier and Steve Bartman situation rolled into one) one thing is abundantly clear: comparing anyone to Betts is a pointless exercise that will bring you no joy.

Just ask the Boston Red Sox.

While Freeman is the one going home with extra gear, and the eyes of the world are on Dodgers star pitcher Shohei Ohtani's non-throwing shoulder after an awkward gaffe in Game 2 left his shoulder hanging out of the socket, Betts was quietly the one who stabilized the lineup. Entering Game 3, the 2018 American League MVP was the only Dodger with an OPS over 1.000. He's also made a few good-to-great catches that can be taken for granted since he's a two-time Wilson Defensive Player of the Year, to go along with his half-dozen Gold Gloves.

It doesn't matter that he's played three different positions and struggled in two different spots in the lineup this season. For weaker players you could call it a Swiss army knife. For him, it's a generational talent.

Everything was on display in the last game of the season. He hit a ground ball right to first baseman Anthony Rizzo when pitcher Gerrit Cole had one of many New York Yankees brain farts that night and simply didn't cover the base. In the end, Betts scored, leading to a five-run inning that allowed the Dodgers to get back into the game. He then hit the sacrifice fly deep down the middle that gave them the go-ahead and pumped his fist all the way to the first point before returning to his dugout with plenty of support.

As a reminder, Betts is now a three-time World Series champion.

“He is one of the best players in the world. “I’m really looking forward to the postseason he’s had on both sides of baseball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after a Game 4 win in the Bronx. “One of his punches that set the tone. Tommy (Edman) did a great job of reading the ball off the bat, getting it into contact and scoring right there. But that at-bat competition of winning pitches, coming through with two strikes and continuing to fight to score another run, that's what we did all night. I thought we made really good at-bats. So Mookie kind of sets the tone.”

The play he's referring to doesn't look like much in the highlights, a ball bounced from Betts' hands into the opponent's field. But unlike, say, the Yankees, who rely on slugging and walks to score runs, Edman was the kind of play that guys make for each other when their star does it all the time, too. In the previous inning, Betts robbed Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm of a liner that would have definitely given the Yankees a run. Chisholm was so upset that in response to the hook, he jumped high enough to dunk a basketball.

“This guy just wants to win. He will do anything. He's being used as a shortstop in spring training and isn't complaining about it. He's out there working hard early every day to get better,” Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux said before Game 4. “I just watch him go about his job every day. He is in the cage for hours before the game. He's out there every day doing his first tasks on defense. The biggest thing I've observed and learned from him is that his work ethic is just relentless. He is one of the best baseball players and never takes a day off. I think that’s why he’s so great and that’s what sets him apart from everyone else.”

Imagine you are the Red Sox now. You've decided that as an organization you're too good for a guy who, even in his free time, just shows up, does his job and presents the game. You won't convince me that letting Betts leave their organization – let alone the history of this franchise – wasn't the most idiotic decision in the history of baseball's front office since Babe Ruth's contract was sold to the Yankees in 1919.

Imagine you were Chaim Bloom, former Red Sox chief baseball officer — who thought that the player who was part of a revival of a city and a roster that had waited so long for a return to glory wasn't that important like payroll flexibility – and you just let it happen A generational person walks out the door because of money. A colossally disastrous move that, for all we know, could end up being just as bad as The Babe. God knows when Boston will be able to compete again. Let's hope for their sake that it doesn't take another hundred years.

Betts joined the Dodgers and almost immediately won a World Series in 2020. He was there before Freeman and before Ohtani. People wanted to criticize the guy for his season-long podcast, as if he didn't routinely lead the team in runs scored – the easiest indicator of the best player on the team.

There are probably thousands of young fans in the Boston area by now, probably even wearing their Betts jerseys and watching one of the best five-tool players of our generation defeat THE YANKEES – their blood-sworn rival that we've all had to hear about for decades – in a gentleman's cruise in the World Series. And for what? Because you wanted to be cheap?

It's almost ridiculous how incredibly stupid this looks now. It's like tricking the best partner you ever had because your mother told you you could do better. More importantly, Betts is the hard-working superstar that people almost futilely try to invent or look for in sports, let alone baseball.

“He was great. He was very selfless. We asked a lot of him and he didn’t complain about it,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said Tuesday. “We’re talking about one of the best right fielders in the game on defense. There was some talk about him wanting to return to the infield, and he did so thinking it would help the team. Then he had to move to shortstop to help the team. He never once complained about it.

“He went out there and I think he really enjoyed having to put in so much hard work to get better at it. When one of your superstars is willing to do this, it sends a big message to your team that everyone is in this together, and no matter who you are, you better be ready to do something to help this team. It doesn't matter where you have to hit, what position you have to play, what you have to do, whether you have to pinch hit, it doesn't matter. As long as you help this team win. When your superstar does that, it sends a big message.”

Betts has left his mark on pop culture, but he really doesn't plan on becoming the next superstar or, as he said, “saving baseball.” The Washington Post. In 2018, I asked Betts what grade he would give himself for that year. “I would give myself an A,” he said. He eventually won the MVP award and the Red Sox won the World Series by defeating…the Dodgers.

Since then, the Dodgers have won two world championships and four pennants with Betts. Compared to the Red Sox? One playoff appearance, zero division titles. This thief of joy runs around New England like Paul Revere, telling people that the Redcoats are on the move.

“He's one of the guys that I'm really excited about because at the start of the postseason, he's one of the guys that we talked about that didn't perform,” Roberts said after Game 5. “To block out all that noise to be able to and still.” Focus on helping us win baseball games. There is no one who cares more. He is a very talented player. Hopefully we can keep this narrative quiet for a while because he did it all and played both sides of baseball. He made some big plays on defense and came up big on offense.

“Certainly he’s been thinking about it all year once we get into the postseason. “It doesn’t matter until I perform in the postseason,” all he said. I just felt like he was in a good position mechanically, but I liked the fight. There was just a lot of arguing.”

Is Betts a “savage in the box”? Not quite, to quote Yankees manager Aaron Boone's famous line. But similarly, the quote that opens this column is attributed to President Theodore Roosevelt, a native New Yorker. He also famously said: Speak softly and carry a big stick.

I think Mookie knows what philosophy works best.