Plan A, as always, is Shohei Ohtani.
But over the last couple nights, Plan B has looked pretty good too.
Whenever Ohtani returns from the injured list, the two-way star will likely reprise his customary role as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter –– one he has held since halfway through his debut 2024 season with the team.
Likely, however, was as far as manager Dave Roberts was willing to describe it on Saturday.
Because in Ohtani’s absence, Mookie Betts has made a case to spearhead the team’s order, too.
Over the last week, a red-hot Betts has served as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter three times. In each of those contests, he delivered a vintage performance.
There was a 2-for-4 display with an RBI and a double in Miami last week.
A 3-for-4 outburst with two home runs (including one to lead off the game) against the San Francisco Giants on Friday night.
Then, a 4-for-4, three-double, two-RBI, one-walk masterpiece in another 10-4 rout of the Giants on Saturday, a victory that lowered the Dodgers’ magic number to clinch a first-round playoff bye down to four with eight days remaining in the season.
“I just think he’s physically in a better spot than he has been,” Roberts said after Saturday’s outburst, which pushed Betts’ season average up to .261 and OPS to .785. “The ball’s coming off the right way.”
Of course, Betts has been crushing the ball regardless of where he’s been in the order lately. Since Aug. 5, he is batting .336 in 39 games with nine home runs, 12 doubles, 31 RBIs and a 1.008 OPS.
It has marked the former MVP’s best extended stretch since early in the 2024 season. It has been a reminder that there’s still plenty of life left in his previously slumping bat.
“I know I’m still capable of it,” the 33-year-old Betts said. “I know it was in there somewhere.”
Added Roberts: “It just doesn’t matter where you hit him, who he’s facing, [what’s] the situation –– he’s taking good at-bats.”
Betts’ impact at the top of the lineup specifically, however, has been impossible to ignore over the last week; especially when juxtaposed with the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Ohtani, who is expected back next week from right arm and left knee injuries but still doesn’t figure to be 100% physically.
That’s why, after writing Betts’ name in at the leadoff spot for a second-straight day Saturday, Roberts was asked if it’s still a certainty that Ohtani will remain in the leadoff spot upon his return.
“Yeah, I mean, I think that’s my first kind of thought,” Roberts said. “But until he gets back, or when he gets back, then I’ll kind of potentially read and react.”
Much will obviously depend on how Ohtani looks, which will be the biggest question after a 6-for-52 slump leading up to his IL stint.
Roberts also cited other factors like trying to match up against either right- or left-handed pitching, leaving the door open to some game-by-game tinkering in October.
“I haven’t really thought too much about it [yet],” he insisted.
The way Betts is going, though, it might soon become a critical lineup-construction decision.
Run the risk with a potentially diminished but ever-dangerous Ohtani? Or give the most at-bats as possible to the team’s hottest current hitter?
Granted, Betts hasn’t pushed to take over the leadoff spot, saying Friday that “I’ll hit wherever” and “there’s a guy that’s named Shohei that needs to be up there and to get us going.”
But if the Dodgers need to pivot among Ohtani’s ongoing ailments, he is quickly emerging as their best fallback option –– especially with their initial leadoff replacement, the switch-hitting Tommy Edman, mired in a brutal 2-for-39 slump.
“Going back up there, it is fun,” Betts acknowledged, having played almost 1,100 career games as a leadoff hitter over his 13-year career. “Kind of feels like home.”
“You do got to kind of prepare for whatever,” Roberts added, “and I just think that Mookie’s swinging the bat well, has hit there many times throughout his career, so it just kind of makes sense.”
For now, the Dodgers’ bigger priority will be making sure Betts keeps swinging the bat well, whether that’s in the No. 1 spot or somewhere else in the heart of the order.
His late-season surge has been one of the biggest reasons the team has survived Ohtani’s absence –– winning 13 of its last 16 despite the superstar slugger playing in just one of those contests.
“It’s good. It’s fun. But the main thing is doing it when it counts,” Betts said of his recent success. “Right now, just keep laying the foundation, and then when playoffs come, just need it to show up.”
Still, given how things are trending at the moment, it might not be a surprise if the Dodgers’ first at-bat of the playoffs belonged to their streaking shortstop.
“I couldn’t tell you that I saw this [coming],” Roberts conceded. “But he’s got stronger. He’s worked hard on that … And just for it to come together has been great.”
