By Ty Anderson, 985TheSportsHub.com
With his team just one win away from a World Series championship, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is pretty comfortable saying that his team got the better end of the Mookie Betts trade.
“We got a steal,” Roberts said Monday. “I’m just so grateful that the deal was done because it’s not just going to help us this year, it’s going to impact players not even drafted by the Dodgers yet.”
In his first year with the Dodgers, and signing a 12-year extension worth $365 million earlier this year, Betts put up a .292 average with 16 homers (third-most in the National League), 39 RBIs (12th-most), and 47 runs (fourth-most) in 55 games.
Betts’ first postseason to date has come with a .284 average and 19 hit, and Betts was instrumental in the Dodgers’ championship series comeback against the Braves, going 5-for-12 over over the final three games and coming up with what can only be described as a straight-up robberies of home runs in Games 6 and 7.
And his 2020 World Series performance has featured one homer, five hits, and four stolen bases (the first of which earned America a free taco) through five games played.
The Red Sox, meanwhile, got outfielder Alex Verdugo, shortstop Jeter Downs, and catcher Connor Wong in exchange for the 28-year-old perennial MVP candidate. (Oh, and who can forget the beloved financial flexibility?)
Steal may be selling it short in 2020.
Betts, Roberts, and the rest of the Dodgers will look to end the franchise’s 32-year title drought in Tuesday’s Game 6.
