Mookie Betts is enjoying at a traditionally good tempo to start out the 2024 marketing campaign, to place it merely.
Final season Betts completed runner-up to Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Atlanta Braves for the NL MVP award, however began out hitting simply .235 with 4 house runs, 11 RBI, and a .781 OPS in his first 27 video games performed. In simply eight video games into the 2024 season, Betts has a ridiculous .500 batting common with 5 house runs, 11 RBI, and a jaw-dropping 1.772 OPS and 322 wRC+.
Betts is now in some elite firm, as FOX Sports activities' Ben Verlander and Alex Curry talk about Betts' historic begin to the season, with Curry stating that Betts is his favourite to win NL MVP this 12 months 12 months in the latest episode of Bats' Flippin' Podcast.
“The final participant to have an OPS over 2.000 with 10 RBIs within the first 5 video games of the common season, you need to guess who? Barry Bonds. Barry Bonds was the final participant to have the type of numbers that Mookie Betts put up in these first 5 video games.”
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Shohei Ohtani has now appeared in seven common season video games as a Dodger, and the outcomes have been underwhelming by his requirements. In 37 plate appearances, Ohtani carries a .242/.297/.333 line with three doubles, three RBIs, and a wRC+ of simply 72.
Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Instances writes about Ohtani's efficiency on the plate to this point this season, noting that his swing timing is off.
“I really feel like I'm seeing the ball effectively,” Ohtani mentioned this weekend. “However I really feel that there’s a little one thing in my timing and with the ability to really feel the gap between the ball and myself.”
Former Rays, Cubs and Angels supervisor Joe Maddon shares his ideas on the connection between Shohei Ohtani and his former participant Ippei Mizuhara, noting that the pair have been seemingly “inseparable,” per Jayson Stark of The Athletic.
Maddon mentioned that Mizuhara “was my hyperlink, my reference to Shohei. So I had a fantastic relationship with the man.” Maddon described Ohtani and Mizuhara as “finest mates” and “inseparable…”
With the historic spending that the Dodgers have had this offseason, the group has its eyes on securing one other World Collection championship, and the stress is definitely prevalent for a group that has been eradicated within the NLDS within the final two postseasons.
Mike Axisa of CBS Sports activities lists all thirty groups with essentially the most stress to win the 2024 World Collection, placing the Dodgers at no. 1 place.
They invested closely in Ohtani and Yamamoto to win all of it in 2024, not at some undetermined level sooner or later. Something in need of a World Collection championship this season will likely be seen as a failure. I don't suppose it's unfair to say that.
