Mookie Betts getting hot at just the right time for playoff-bound Dodgers after he 'switched my headspace'

Mookie Betts and the Dodgers are in the playoffs every single season. It's a given. This season will make the sixth time in Betts' six seasons with the Dodgers that they made the postseason, following three trips in six seasons with the Red Sox.

This one, though, hasn't come as easy for Betts as they usually do.

Heading into 2025, the 32-year-old star was a career .294/.373/.524 hitter in his 11 seasons. Through Aug. 4 of this season, Betts was only slashing .231/.302/.355 after an extended slump.  

In potentially very bad news for the rest of baseball, the Betts of old has returned. In his last 37 games, Betts is hitting .352/.407/.574 with seven doubles, a triple, eight homers, 30 RBI and 29 runs. 

What changed? For Betts, it wasn't about physical tweaks, but rather accepting that the numbers just weren't going to live up to his standards overall this season. 

"We're always making adjustments and you're always trying to find something that works, but I think the main thing that changed is my headspace," Betts told CBS Sports. "I'm not trying to salvage the season. I'm not trying to get my numbers back to where I wanted them to be. You know, because everyone sets goals before the year and whether you reach them or not is not the point. You set a goal as something that you can work towards. I think once I saw that it's not attainable, it kind of switched my headspace into just winning.

"I know I want to create a legacy and always be remembered and I think the No. 1 way to always be remembered is winning. There's a lot of good players that have really good numbers. A lot of guys have really good numbers, but you can't argue with a winner. That's kind of where my head's been." 

He's done plenty of winning. The former MVP is an eight-time All-Star with seven Silver Sluggers and six Gold Gloves. He's also a three-time World Series champion who has appeared in 74 playoff games.

Between their run of success and their massive payroll, the Dodgers have raised the bar to an almost unreasonable position: if they don't win the World Series, they're a disappointment. Fair or not, that's just how it goes when you get to the playoffs every single year.

"The easy answer is to say it sucks," Betts, who has teamed up with Corona to launch a playoff soundtrack called Playa Sounds, said with a smile. "But honestly it's a blessing. There are 750 ballplayers and I'm pretty sure all 750 would want to be in the same shoes, knowing that you're the favorites to win the World Series pretty much every year. Hardly anybody can say that. So it's a blessing that we lean into. Yeah, it does suck to know that if we don't win, everybody considers us a failure and obviously that's not fair because there's no possible way we could win the World Series every year. That doesn't even logically make sense, so it kind of is what it is and it's outside perception -- outside pressure put on us." 

There's an argument that the Dodgers have underachieved this regular season. The gambling win total heading into the season was 103.5, 10 wins more than anyone else. Instead, they aren't all that close to the best record in baseball, sitting eight games behind the Brewers. They have just a two-game lead over the Padres in the NL West and are currently positioned to face the Mets in the Wild Card Series. They are on pace to win 90 games, which would be their lowest full-season total since 2012, which was also the last time the Dodgers missed the playoffs. 

It's worth wondering, are they just going through the motions in the regular season until they get to October? Does complacency set in? 

"I wouldn't say complacency," Betts said. "I would say that playing 162 games is hard. It's hard because you cannot play every game like it's a postseason game. You have to play for tomorrow, to make sure the bullpen's ready for tomorrow. You may not run every ball out the same way because we've gotta play tomorrow as well, we've got a five-hour flight after the game and X-Y-Z. Or you just got in at 3 o'clock in the morning and you've got a game that night so you're tired.

"It's really tough to play 162 like that, but when you get into the postseason, it's just a different mindset. It's a different game. The game slows down, you can collect yourself. There's an art to playing there. We kind of know what it is, but you still have to go do it." 

The Dodgers navigated the postseason in 2024 and ended up hoisting the World Series trophy. Now they're looking to become the first repeat champion since the 2000 Yankees. If they do so, Betts will likely have a big hand in it. And he's heating up at the right time.