We were spoiled by Game 7 of the World Series last decade, although we probably didn't fully appreciate it back then. There have been seven Fall Classics in 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019. We haven't been able to see one since then. That is, until Saturday night in Toronto. Dodgers won game six on Friday night3-1, with a big lead from the guy who lost the entire series.
This was the top of the third. The Dodgers have already scored once, but will that be enough against this feisty Blue Jays team? Earlier in the inning Shohei Ohtani was deliberately passed. After Will Smith doubled, leaving first base open. Jays starter Kevin Gausman clearly walked Freddie Freeman after he fouled out the first pitch, throwing four straight balls, but not close.
Mookie Betts came to the plate with the bases and two outs, an optimal situation for the former MVP, but he hasn't looked like it lately. Not even close. He's already been demoted from second in the lineup to third, and now, in Game 6, his scoring rate is his lowest since 2017.
“I was terrible,” Betts said after Game 5. “I wish it was due to lack of effort. I don't have the answers.”
His struggles actually went back to the NLCS. In the first two rounds of the playoffs, Betts made money. In the Dodgers' first six playoff games this year, he hit .385/.429/.577 with three doubles and a triple. But from Game 1 of the NLCS through Game 5 of the World Series, he went 5-for-38 (.132) with one extra-base hit (.158 slugging percentage).
Then Friday happened. Betts delivered the biggest hit of the game, a two-RBI single that gave the Dodgers all the breathing room they needed.
It was also a great sign to see how he was preparing for a direct trip. He made a lot of pitches, but in the last two series he had too much weak contact, whether it was loose balls or ground balls. This ball was square and was the third-hardest ball he hit in the series at 98 mph.
Manager Dave Roberts said he never considered giving up Betts, even when he was struggling.
“He's one of our guys,” Roberts said after Game 6. “I'll fight or die with him, as they say. So I felt like putting him in the four would slow things down and let the game come to him. But I'm not going to run away from Mookie Betts. He's too good of a player and that's why it wasn't a consideration.”
Betts has had many ups and downs in 2025. It wasn't just the playoffs. He experienced long recessions several times. In 44 games from June 9 to August 4, he hit .173/.234/.254. Around the same time, Betts found what he called “better headspace.”
“We're always making adjustments and you're always trying to find something that works, but I think the main thing that's changed is my headspace,” Betts. told CBS Sports in mid-September. “I'm not trying to save the season. I'm not trying to get my numbers back to where I wanted them to be. You know, because everyone sets goals for the year, and it doesn't matter whether you achieve them or not. You set a goal as something you can strive for. I think once I saw that it was out of reach, it kind of switched my headspace to just winning.”
Good Mookie is still lurking there, ready to burst out at any moment. After August 4, he finished the season hitting .317/.376/.516 with 34 RBIs and 32 runs in his final 47 games.
We saw this same guy have the biggest moment in Game 6, and the Dodgers are now one game away from becoming their first repeat champions since 2000. Does he have another big moment in Game 7? Don't be surprised.
