Dodgers expect former AL MVP back in lineup by next week, per insider

The Los Angeles Dodgers are expecting one of their franchise centerpieces to return to the diamond by next week.

Los Angeles entered Tuesday with a five game lead in the National League West over the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres. The Dodgers opened up their three-game series versus the Philadelphia Phillies with a win on Monday.

Los Angeles and Philadelphia are widely seen as the two powerhouses of the National League, but an upcoming roster addition for the Dodgers might result in them surging ahead of the Phillies in August for the NL’s No. 1 seed.

That addition is coming in the form of superstar Mookie Betts returning from injury. Back on July 31, Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts told MLB insider Juan Toribio that Betts was taking batting practice and that it was “very realistic” that Betts would return in two weeks.

Nothing has derailed Betts’s recovery since Roberts’s comments, meaning that Betts is likely still on schedule to return around August 14 (next Wednesday), or who knows, maybe sooner.

Whenever it happens, Betts’s return is sure to change the dynamic of the upper echelon of Major League Baseball. On Tuesday, the former American League MVP was ranked No. 1 overall by Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller on Miller’s list of injured players who will have the biggest impact on the 2024 playoff races.

“Betts' impending return … is as big as it gets,” Miller said.

“Betts was the betting favorite (to win MVP before getting injured). He hit the shelf with a .304 batting average, an OPS just shy of .900 and quite a bit of value added on defense with his switch to shortstop. With Betts leading the charge, the Dodgers were 15 games above .500 and running away with the NL West.”

“But getting him back is going to be such a big morale booster, on top of how much of an offensive improvement he will be over what they've been trotting out there at shortstop in his stead. If he's back in less than two weeks, LA hanging on to win the NL West is all but a foregone conclusion, and they may well be able to overtake the Phillies for the No. 1 seed.”

Betts has two World Series rings (2018 and 2020), and he’s looking to win a third this fall.

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