The Los Angeles Dodgers were nowhere near their 104-win prediction when they ended their season with 93 wins. But in the postseason? After winning their back-to-back pennants with 9-1 records, they are once again in the Wild series in the most satisfying way possible. But for Mookie Betts, the feeling is… complicated.

After the Dodgers swept the Milwaukee Brewers 4-0 with Shohei Ohtani’s three home runs and six shutout innings in Game 4, a reporter asked Mookie if this 2025 season, with the position change, was your most satisfying ever?

Mookie Betts did not even pause before saying, “No, no, absolutely not. I would say ’18 is probably the most satisfying year.” It was the year when Betts was still a Red Sox and wasn’t on an absolute superteam with 1 billion dollars of deferred salary. So why that snub?

He then explained why that year was so special. “I think just the, the whole year itself, you know, the way I played, and having a baby, it was a lot of things that kind of, uh, went positive that year.”

So, what about this incredible 2025 Dodgers run?

Mookie called it something completely different. “It’s just the year I probably learned the most about myself,” he explained. “Learning and going through what I went through this year, as far as those lows, man, that was rough.” This season was a personal grind, and he finished by calling it “definitely the most humbling and… probably the one that I’ve learned the most from.”

Let’s rewind to that 2018 season with the Boston Red Sox. Mookie Betts was just 25 years old and was earning $10.5 million for the season. But he played baseball on another level that season.

In that season, he became the first player in MLB history to win the MVP, a Gold Glove, a Silver Slugger, a batting title, and the World Series all in the same season. But despite that, he eventually traded to the West Coast team just after another season with the Boston.

And the 2025 season, by contrast, tested Mookie Betts like never before

He entered the All-Star break with a .696 OPS. This was, by far, the worst slump of his entire career, where he even suffered through an 0-for-22 hitless streak. Things got so bad that manager Dave Roberts said Mookie looked “lost” at the plate and even benched him for a “mental reset” in July. Betts himself agreed. “I really don’t know what else to do,” Betts admitted during that slump. He also lost 20 pounds from a preseason illness.

Then, something clicked in early August. From August 8 onward, Betts, a career .290/.369/.512 slugger had a slashline of .309/.368/.506 with nine home runs and 34 RBI in the remaining 45 games of the regular season. Betts found that hot streak before the playoffs and carried that into October.

Through the team’s first 10 playoff games, he has a .293 batting average with .809 OPS. Though he has not hit a home run yet but he is getting key hits and sparking rallies with 12 hits, 4 doubles, 1 triple, and 6 RBIs. He is a huge reason, besides a core of Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, Kike Hernandez, that the Boys in Blue are in the World Series.

In the end, Mookie’s “snub” was not a snub at all. It was just a frank answer. The 2018 season was about perfection. It felt like a dream. On the other hand, the 2025 season was about growth when he had to fight through the darkest slump of his career and learned how to win when he was not at his best.

Mookie Betts’ 2025 season reaffirmed his place among baseball’s elite. Now a two-time MVP and one of the few to earn votes in both leagues, he’s evolved from Boston’s young phenom to Los Angeles’ veteran leader. With a career WAR nearing 75, Betts stands among the game’s top active players, defined not just by talent but by growth and resilience.

Inside the Dodgers’ clubhouse, his leadership shone. Dave Roberts praised how Betts’ late-season resurgence “set the tone for the clubhouse,” while Shohei Ohtani called him the team’s steadying presence. His professionalism in the face of adversity became a model for younger teammates and a quiet source of inspiration.

For the Dodgers, 2025 was about rediscovery, not dominance. Ohtani’s two-way brilliance, Freeman’s consistency, and Betts’ personal rebound shaped a team that learned to win through grit. Mookie’s evolution mirrored the Dodgers’ own — a powerhouse embracing struggle as part of its championship identity.