'He looks like Mookie': Betts continues late-season resurgence as Dodgers pad NL West lead

Figuratively, that is. There were still eight weeks of games remaining on the regular-season schedule, in addition to the postseason looming beyond then. But at that point, Betts decided that there was nothing he could do to stop 2025 from being a down year on the back of his baseball card.

That proved to be a turning point.

Betts may consider himself to be near the end of a lost season, but he's much more closely resembled his normal self over the past month. He continued to roll with a two-hit night, including a two-run homer, in Tuesday's 7-2 win that sealed a series victory over the Rockies at Dodger Stadium.

Since the Padres lost, the Dodgers padded their NL West lead to two games and remain four back of the Phillies for the second seed in the NL and a first-round bye in the postseason.

Betts hit the first of four Dodgers home runs -- Teoscar Hernández knocked a pair and Freddie Freeman reached the 20-homer plateau -- to help back another strong effort on the mound from Emmet Sheehan, who was perfect through five and completed a career-high-tying seven innings with only one run allowed.

The complete team effort earned the Dodgers their third win in a row following a five-game losing streak. Just as Betts is trying not to get too high or too low about his own season, he was hesitant to say that his team has turned a corner.

"Can't get into those feelings. Got to stay out of the feelings. Just got to stay in the moment," Betts said. "We've had some good games, but just got to focus on tomorrow."

Over his past 31 games dating back to Aug. 5, Betts is hitting .333 with a .931 OPS -- rates that are more in line with his career numbers. Before that span, Betts slashed .231/.302/.355, an unprecedented slump for the Dodgers star.

It has been a trying year all around for Betts. As he concluded a month ago, he is on track for the worst offensive season of his big league career by several measures. What matters to him at this point is finding ways to help his team win on any given night, and with that mindset has come a resurgence.

"He looks like Mookie," manager Dave Roberts said. "He's just playing baseball. I don't think he's overthinking the mechanics. He's competing. He's trying to help us win baseball games. And you're seeing that kind of emotion, the confidence, the swagger, which we hadn't seen in a while. But it's been consistent over the last 30 days."

The Dodgers fielded one of their better lineups of late on Tuesday, with Will Smith returning after missing five games due to a bone bruise in his right hand. Max Muncy made his second appearance since returning from a strained right oblique on Monday.

The three MVPs atop the order are a gauntlet, but when the Dodgers are in a groove, it's a long lineup to navigate.

"I think it's the Teo, the Muncy, the middle, the Pages, those guys are really what make us go," Betts said. "We at the top can do our thing and whatnot, but it really takes those guys really just to cause more havoc and make it really tough on opposing pitchers. We do our thing up there, but it's really those guys that kind of carry us."

In that light, Hernández's 3-for-4 night -- with an opposite-field base hit in addition to the homers -- was especially encouraging for the Dodgers. Hernández's production has ticked down in his second season in L.A., dating back to when he went on the IL with a left groin strain in May.

Entering Tuesday, Hernández had posted a .623 OPS in 85 games since returning from the IL on May 19. If he can build off his big night, that would give the Dodgers an impact bat that they've been missing in the heart of the order.

"I think that the intent in the batter's box has been there," Roberts said. "The results haven't, and he's been trying to work through that. But I think tonight, overall, was just a really well played baseball game from Teo, and I do think that we can keep that going."

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