The Los Angeles Dodgers were in a tough spot. On Monday, August 11, they faced their crosstown rivals, the Los Angeles Angels. The Halos made a big 7-0 lead. The Dodgers tried to come back in the late game as Shohei Ohtani hit his 42nd home run at the bottom of the eighth. Joining him, Max Muncy hit a three-run homer in the same inning. Still, it couldn’t be enough and the Dodgers had a settle for a 7-4 defeat, shrinking their NL West lead to just one game against their division rival Padres. Regardless, one of the most surprising events of the match was seeing Mookie Betts in right field.

Throughout the 2025 season, Mookie Betts played at shortstop, but offensively, he couldn’t put up shining numbers. In fact, he logged career-low numbers, hitting around .240 with a .680 OPS at the position. When he couldn’t break through his slump despite best efforts, he sought out the help of former teammate J.D. Martinez. And now, it appears he volunteered to move back to right field, where he won six Gold Glove awards. As in the postgame interview, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts revealed, “Mookie volunteered to kick out to right field which which was which is just being a good teammate.” 

Against the Angels, Betts made a straightforward play, catching a fly ball hit by Luis Rengifo to right field. It was an everyday baseball play. But then, MLB’s official social media posted about it, and it instantly caught everyone’s eye. Hyping the simple catch, MLB’s Instagram handle captioned, “Mookie Betts won 6 Gold Glove Awards as a right fielder. He was tested right away in his first time playing the position in 2025 😅.” Fans had seen enough, feeling that MLB was glazing over Betts and the Dodgers.

This isn’t the first incident which had fans thinking that the Dodgers are always given special treatment by the MLB. Many even think the league might be obsessed with them. Take Shohei Ohtani, for instance. After one Ohtani home run, MLB’s official account on X posted about it three times in 20 minutes. While there’s no denying that Ohtani came in as a prodigy, fans sometimes feel there should be a cap on MLB hyping him up.

And that’s not something only fans have noticed. Even Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet said, “I made two bad pitches. I’ve been watching them on repeat, too. FOX has played them 30 times. You’d think that the Dodgers won tonight,” during their recent series against the Dodgers. This constant spotlight on one team has created a deep sense of frustration among baseball fans. And it is easy to say fans weren’t happy.

Dissecting the fan backlash

One fan argues that given the full picture of Mookie Betts’s season and the circumstances of his return to right field, the celebratory post was completely unnecessary. “This post was NOT needed.”  This critique is rooted in the context of Betts’s 2025 season. And where the manager himself said it was out of “urgency,” his move back to right field was not something celebratory. Particularly at a time when everything appears to be going against them.

Another fan comments directly rejects the idea that the play was exceptionally special. “He literally just caught a fly ball.” Betts usually has to tackle more difficult plays in his everyday position at shortstop. So, simply posting a catch at routine flyball as “tested right away” by MLB sarcastically reduces his high-pressure and brilliant defensive plays at a position where he already has 6 golden gloves.

One fan comment points out the hypocrisy in MLB’s coverage: the actual result of the game against the Angels, which the Dodgers lost. “Can we get a score final post?” The MLB post celebrated a Betts highlight, intentionally tying it to his return to right field in the high-profile Freeway Series, where the Dodgers lost that game to the Angels 7-4. By ignoring the loss and instead posting a highlight, MLB appears to be avoiding the impact of the game.

Some of the comment suggests that pro-Dodgers “glazing” is a constant thing in the league. “MLB does not glaze the dodgers…. MLB.”  It was pure sarcasm. This sentiment is built upon numerous incidents where MLB posted like a pro Dodgers fan. So this Betts post is seen not as a one-off. But it is just another piece of evidence in a long-running case for MLB’s pro-Dodgers bias.

Finally, one fan combines the two primary critiques. The post ignores a loss, and it overhypes a seemingly routine play. “They lost the game and you’re posting a routine fly out.”  First, it highlights the result of the game against the Angels (a 7-4 loss) and its negative impact on the Dodgers’ standing in the NL West, where they have just a one-game lead over their rival Padres. Second, by labeling the play a “routine fly out,” it dismisses the play’s significance, much like the previous comment.

In one sentence, the fans were trying to say, MLB’s post was a desperate attempt to find something positive to say about their favored team on a day when the primary story was negative.