by Cary Osborne
The topper to Mookie Betts’ emotional and successful return to Boston is this: He is the National League Player of the Week.
Betts batted .615/.655/.885/1.540, going 16-for-29 at the plate with one home run, four doubles, seven RBI, nine runs scored and three walks, striking out just twice in 29 plate appearances.
Betts went 5-for-5 in Cleveland in the suspended-and-continued game on Wednesday/Thursday — the second five-hit game of his career.
The National League Most Valuable Player candidate went 7-for-15 with two doubles, a home run, four RBI and five runs scored in three weekend games against the Red Sox — his first games in Boston since playing for the Red Sox in 2019.
The right fielder/infielder is batting .464/.514/.814/1.328 with eight home runs, 10 doubles and 25 RBI in August. Betts is the Major League leader this month in Fangraphs’ version of WAR (2.5), hits (45), runs (29) and the slash-number categories.
Betts hit his team-leading and career-high tying 35th home runs of the season on Sunday in Boston. It’s the fifth time in Dodger history that a player has reached the 35 home runs and 35 doubles marks in the same season — the last being Betts in 2022.
Dodger Insider on Twitter: “Dodgers all time with at least 35 home runs and 35 doubles in the same season:Mookie Betts (2022, 2023)Duke Snider (1953, 1954) Babe Herman (1930) / Twitter”
Dodgers all time with at least 35 home runs and 35 doubles in the same season:Mookie Betts (2022, 2023)Duke Snider (1953, 1954) Babe Herman (1930)
Betts leads all Major League hitters this season in fWAR (7.3), Baseball Reference’s version of WAR (7.4), and he leads the National League in OPS (1.018), slugging (.611), weighted runs created plus (173) and OPS+ (171, while ranking third in on-base percentage (.417) and fifth in batting average (.315).
Week complete: Mookie Betts receives NL Player of the Week honor was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.