BOSTON (AP) — Los Angeles Dodgers star Mookie Betts is expected to return to the team sometime Saturday night after missing a game due to a death in the family, manager Dave Roberts said.
The 32-year-old Betts traveled to his home in Nashville for the day off Thursday and missed Los Angeles’ 5-2 victory over his former team, the Boston Red Sox, on Friday night at Fenway Park.
“Mookie is: ‘Wheels up,’ Roberts said, sitting in the Dodgers’ dugout about two hours before the scheduled first pitch. “He’s
on his way here and I expect him to be at the stadium sometime around, shortly after the first pitch.”
Roberts was asked if he could say why Betts, mired in one of the worst seasons of his career, left the team.
“I think its more for him to talk about. It was something with his family and a situation where he had to be home taking care of it,” Roberts said. “A death in the family. … For him to be with his family and to come back and be with his teammates is high priority.”
The 2018 AL MVP with Boston, Betts is batting just .238 with 11 homers and 45 RBIs this season. Last Saturday night, he was benched for a game against Milwaukee because of his struggles at the plate.
After not playing for that game, he’s gone just 3 for 17 with no homers or RBIs.
Roberts said he’d talk to Betts to see how he felt when asked if he was available to come off the bench and play Saturday.
A World Series champion with the Red Sox in 2018, Betts was traded after six seasons in Boston to the Dodgers before the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season, where he won his first of two Series titles with Los Angeles (in 2020 and last season).
Shortly after going to the Dodgers, Betts signed a $365-million, 12-year deal.
Some Red Sox fans were eagerly awaiting another return to Fenway by Betts, with a handful of both his Boston and LA jerseys sprinkled in the stands.
A local bar outside the Green Monster had a sign telling fans to try and not to shed a tear for Mookie.
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