Copyright Newsweek
For the second night in a row, the Los Angeles Dodgers offense failed to produce in the World Series, as the Toronto Blue Jays took the series back to Canada with a 3-2 lead after taking two of three games at Dodger Stadium. The Blue Jays cruised past the Dodgers 6-1 in Game 5 Wednesday night to put the defending champions, who hope to become the first back-to-back World Series winners since the New York Yankees in 1999 and 2000, one loss away from ending their season. After being held to one run in seven innings by rookie Trey Yesavage, who became only the fourth pitcher in history to fan at least 12 in a World Series game, Dodgers hitters have now managed just four runs over their last 29 innings in the series. With only three Dodgers hitters registering an OPS of at least .800 over the first five games, there is plenty of blame to go around for the National League champions' offensive futility, but one superstar has been struggling perhaps more mightily than any other Los Angeles hitter. That eight-time All-Star got painfully honest about his performance, speaking to the media after the Game 5 defeat. "I don't want to speak on anybody else," said 12-year veteran shortstop and former right fielder Mookie Betts, in a video posted to X by FOX Sports. "But for me, personally, I've just been terrible. I've been terrible and there's no -- I wish it was from lack of effort. But it's not, so I don't have any answers." Betts' self-assessment was both brutally frank and fully accurate. With a .361 OPS in the series, Betts ranks next-to-last on the Dodgers among all hitters with at least seven at-bats. Only center fielder Andy Pages at .133 has been worse. Betts has notched only three base hits, none for extra bases, in 23 at-bats with five strikeouts. In his remarks to reporters, Betts also got very real about his team's chances of winning both games in Toronto, which it must now do to repeat as the World Series champion. More MLB: Umpire’s Second Game-Changing Call of Postseason Mars Game 3, Fans Claim "Everybody just can draw from their own experiences. I mean, there's nothing really to say, other than how to win," the former Boston Red Sox 2011 fifth-round draft pick said in the video. "There's no magic formula to it.” Betts went on to say the team felt "a lot of confidence," heading into Toronto, but added, "we got to hit. I mean, it's the name of the game. Got to hit." Betts' abysmal performance in the World Series, following a subpar season for the 2018 American League MVP in which he posted a career-low .732 OPS and a .258 batting average, can only have the Dodgers concerned about the considerable investment they have made in the Nashville, Tennessee, native. At age 33, Betts is only five years into the 12-year, $365 million contract the Dodgers awarded him following the pandemic-shortened 2020 season which was his first in Los Angeles after having been traded from the Red Sox on Feb. 4 of that year.
