SAN DIEGO -- All of a sudden, Mookie Betts is back to looking like a real threat in the heart of the Dodgers' order.
The star shortstop continued his recent surge by driving in a pair of runs in a three-run fifth inning that keyed a 4-2 Dodgers win -- and sealed a series victory -- over the Padres on Sunday afternoon at Petco Park. Betts has hit safely in a season-high five straight games after his 2-for-4 showing.
Betts would like to sustain his recent success a little while longer before declaring that he's back to normal. But he enjoys being able to contribute the way he has throughout his career, and he feels like he's in a good spot.
"It feels normal. Like I can go be a ballplayer again, my abilities show, I can change my approach during at-bats," Betts said. "I’m not so upset about outs because I feel like I'm going about it the right way."
Betts came through once the Dodgers had taken a 2-1 lead on a nine-pitch bases-loaded walk from Freddie Freeman in the fifth inning. Betts got ahead 2-1 against Padres starter Michael King before getting a sinker over the heart of the plate, which he knocked into left-center to drive in a pair of runs that ended up being the game-winners.
To cap the series finale in San Diego, Betts left his mark on the contest by turning the game-ending double play, hustling to step on the second-base bag for one out before throwing to first for the other. It was reminiscent of the play Betts turned to end last year's World Series in Game 7.
"We've seen that before," Freeman said. "But yeah, he's been playing great defense since he took over shortstop. Starting to hit now. So things are looking good for us.”
Coming off a down offensive season that he hopes will one day be viewed as an outlier in his playing career, Betts got off to an even slower start at the plate to open the 2026 campaign. His season was disrupted from the beginning, when he sustained a right oblique strain after he had played only a handful of games.
The month-long stint on the IL made it difficult for Betts to build off the progress he had made with his swing during the offseason and Spring Training. He scuffled through early June, posting a .591 OPS that was the worst mark through his first 35 games of a season in his career.
That's when Betts turned a corner. He broke out for a three-hit game on June 13. The next day, he raised his average above .200 for the first time since March 27. And then he just kept hitting, slashing .368/.410/.684 in 14 games since.
For a larger, if less gaudy, sample of games, Betts has shown upward momentum since he dropped from hitting second to cleanup on May 26. Betts has a .284/.341/.509 slash line in that span.
Betts showed similar improvement last year, but not until August, when he declared it too late to fully turn his season around. Similar to back then, he has found a way to not allow his early struggles to weigh on him, but his mentality has evolved further from there.
"There’s a lot more season left than where he was last year, where he kind of wrote it off to play for the team," manager Dave Roberts said. "And I think right now, he’s in a much better place than he was even last year -- mentally, with the swing, all of it. So he’s in a good spot. I see no reason why we can’t keep this going."
For Betts, the beauty of his recent surge is that he can't quite put a finger on what has clicked for him. Since last year, he has poured himself into getting back to basics with his swing, and he's beginning to see the benefits of that work.
It has been more about changing the process behind his swing, rather than changing the swing that has allowed him to play 13 big league seasons.
"I really had to focus on who I am today, and trying to fix that person instead of trying to use the 27-year-old guy to apply to the 33-year-old guy. Just doesn't work," Betts said. "The game’s not the same, and I'm not the same. So I really had to learn who I was and be the best version of who I am today."