Mookie Betts Down 15 Pounds After Illness Set to Miss Opening Series
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The Dodgers will kick off the 2025 campaign without their star shortstop … Mookie Betts will miss the opening series with an illness — which was so bad the former A.L. MVP dropped 15 lbs!
Manager Dave Roberts made the announcement Monday in Tokyo … saying that while Betts has begun to feel better, he’s still trying to get his strength back, and rehydrate from the couple of days he was ill.
“When you’re dehydrated, that’s what opens a person up to soft tissue injuries. We’re very mindful of that,” the skipper said, making it clear he didn’t want to risk injury with Mookie.
The 32-year-old started developing flu-like systems just before the team made the long, 12+ hour journey to Japan late last week. MB worked out on Sunday, but seemed worse for wear as he walked off the field.
Mookie Betts gingerly walking off the field after working out pregame. He is sick and will sit out his second straight game before being reevaluated tomorrow to see if he can play Opening Day against the Cubs. pic.twitter.com/H2cSqIKWWv
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) March 16, 2025 @ArashMarkazi
Roberts said the team has considered sending Betts back home to Los Angeles where he could continue to recover. He also admitted if the organization knew how long the illness would linger, they would’ve kept Mookie back in the City of Angels, rather than bringing him across the world.
Despite the bad news, the vibes are impeccable ahead of L.A.-Chicago … going down in Tokyo. Just the workout alone drew about 10,000 fans to the Tokyo Dome.
The first of two games goes down tomorrow at 3 A.M. PST … when Yoshinobu Yamamoto toes the rubber for L.A. — while Shota Imanaga takes the ball for the Cubs!
