It is the belief of many sports fans that to be a professional athlete, one needs an, if not unwavering, certainly uncommon degree of self-confidence. On a very rudimentary level, the belief in your abilities trumps so many obstacles to even get to the point of playing at the highest level that it becomes a natural part of your process. When Mookie Betts came up to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning after an intentional walk to Shohei Ohtani with the Dodgers trailing 1-0 and the bases
loaded, one wouldn’t fault him for at the very least using that as a bit of extra fuel for the competitor in him. Overall, Betts has always said all the right things when asked about this recurrent situation, but for a future Hall of Famer, it’s got to feel a bit weird.
This obviously wasn’t the first time a team consciously made the choice not to pitch to Ohtani and instead faced their chances against Betts. Even dating back to last season, when Mookie put up far superior numbers, many teams were still very willing to do that. As recently as ahead of this series against the Phillies, Betts had the following to say on the matter of potential Ohtani intentional walks in certain situations: “I wouldn’t let Shohei swing either. I understand. I expect the Phillies to do it. I expect for the rest of the postseason for it to happen.”
What’s different about this specific moment in Game 4 is that the two-way star Ohtani hit like your usual starting pitcher in this series against the Phillies. Before receiving that intentional walk, Ohtani had been 1 for 17 in the NLDS, with eight strikeouts. Granted, it was a righty on the mound in Jhoan Duran, and one whom Ohtani had taken deep earlier in the year. The Phillies basically said it didn’t matter that Ohtani couldn’t hit water off a boat in this series; they’d rather put him on and get to Betts. And for Mookie, there was no memorable play; a walk isn’t as captivating as any ball put in play, but Betts did just enough by taking what was given to him and tying this game.
It’s not inconceivable for a pitcher to lose command for a bit, especially if he is put in a pressure spot like this, but that was far from the case, which only enhances Betts’ accomplishment. Duran gave Mookie all he could handle, and the Dodgers’ shortstop earned every bit of that free pass.
That first pitch splitter right below the zone at 98.8 MPH was a written invitation for a swing-and-a-miss and a 0-1 count. Betts refused to offer. Duran doubled down, and Betts laid off it again. Subsequently, Duran went all heaters trying to avoid the walk, and Mookie swung at the two in the zone with no success, but more importantly, he was able to spit on the two just off the plate.
Considering how the rest of that game went until the Dodgers walked it off on an error in the 11th inning, it’s reasonable to speculate they probably would have lost the game if not for this walk. Following it, the Phillies bullpen retired eleven in a row, including stranding the bases loaded in the seventh with a Teoscar Hernández strikeout, all before Los Angeles walked it off in the 11th.
This NLDS Game 4 clinching win has plenty of heroes, the majority of them on the mound. It was Betts, though, who was the biggest factor on the hitting side in helping Los Angeles avoid a do-or-die Game 5 in Philadelphia, doing just enough in an afternoon where most hitters did next to nothing.
