Mookie Betts was back in the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup on Tuesday after being limited by a stomach virus for the last couple of weeks.
Betts described his condition as a “really aggravated” stomach and struggled to keep food down. He was unable to play in the Tokyo Series and had to leave Japan early.
But after some rest and new medication that proved to be effective, Betts is feeling better and expects to play on domestic Opening Day. “Oh yeah, I’m perfectly fine. Perfectly normal. That’s pretty much it,” he said.
Betts was down for a lengthy period and lost an estimated 20 pounds from the weight he reported to Spring Training at. Despite this, Betts believes he did not lose much in the way of strength.
“I’m actually stronger than I was before. My body has been perfectly fine,” he said. “It’s only been my stomach. Literally only my stomach. I’ve been working out, doing everything perfectly normal. It was just hard to hold down food.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts agreed with the notion that Betts is just as strong as he was before the illness.
“There’s some force plate testing that is actually kind of lined up with his strength testing and acceleration,” Roberts said.
“So in that sense, he’s the same. But I can’t really speak to the overall strength.”
What caused Mookie Betts to get sick?
Betts said he discovered the root of his stomach issues but declined to go into further detail.
“I just figured out what it was, figured out what I needed to stay away from, and turned the corner,” he said.
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