The former Red Sox star tells WEEI's Rob Bradford that of his three World Series rings, the one he won in Boston in 2018 is the one he finds the most satisfying.
It’s become an annual tradition for Red Sox fans, as their beloved Mookie Betts plays for the Dodgers in yet another Fall Classic starting Friday night in Toronto.
Betts will be going for his third World Series ring as a member of Los Angeles, the team he was traded to ahead of the 2020 season in exchange for outfielder Alex Verdugo, infielder Jeter Downs, and catcher Connor Wong.
Only Wong remains on the roster in Boston, albeit in a back-up role behind Gold Glove nominee Carlos Narvaez. Meanwhile, Betts is carving out his place as one of the best winners in the modern history of the Dodgers franchise.
If Betts does successfully win his third Dodgers World Series ring this October, it will be his fourth overall. That first ring, of course, came in Boston, as Betts was the American League MVP on a record-setting Red Sox team who won 108 games on their way to the franchise’s fourth World Series win this millennium.
It was an epic season with a roster built on the perfect blend of veteran stars and homegrown talent. It was a truly magical run that had Red Sox fans thinking it was the beginning of a dynastic run in the post-David Ortiz Era.
Instead, the franchise opted to prioritize staying under the luxury tax moving forward, selling off all the best parts of that championship team while also letting some of them walk in free agency. Since that World Series win, the franchise has managed just two playoff appearances, and is just now starting to look like an organization that will be able to compete at a high level again for the next few years.
It’s been a disappointing half-decade for Boston, to say the least. Especially as Red Sox Nation has watched their guy thrive in Dodger Blue.
Even with all his success playing for the class of the National League, Betts still holds that 2018 season with Boston in a different place in his heart.
Here’s what he told my friend and colleague Rob Bradford at World Series media day on Thursday ahead of Game 1 against the Blue Jays:
Rob Bradford: Is this the most satisfying year for you, considering what you did - position change, and the evolution of you?
Mookie Betts: “No, no - absolutely not. No, there’s - I would say ’18 is probably the most satisfying year. Hopefully I can do that again. But now, I mean - just in this year, I probably learned the most about myself, I would say that. And learning and going through what I went through this year, as far as those lows, man, that was rough. But I learned just to stay in the moment. I think it's kind of helped me today.”
RB: When you say ’18, is that just because it's the first one? And when you do the first one, it's like, ‘Oh, this is cool. [I’ll] do that all the time,’ right?
MB: “Nah, I mean - I think just the whole year itself. You know, the way I played, and having a baby, it was a lot of things that kind of went positive that year. This year is a lot of trying times and whatnot, for myself personally, for the team, for a lot of things. So I wouldn't say it's the most satisfying, but definitely the most humbling and probably the one that I've learned the most from.”
Despite Betts having his worst season at the plate of his professional career, his postseason numbers have told a different story. Betts is batting .293 with a .370 on-base, .439 slug, 4 doubles, a triple and 6 RBI across 10 games of action.
Betts’ Dodgers enter their series with the Blue Jays as the betting favorites to win their third World Series in six seasons.
Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.