Mookie Betts

February 28, 2026

Nearing spring debut

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Thursday that Betts won't play in a spring game until at least Sunday, and maybe not until "early next week," Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register reports.

Analysis

Betts isn't dealing with an injury, but Roberts has intentionally held him out of Cactus League contests thus far. The veteran manager stated that the Dodgers "wanted to ramp [Betts] up differently," per Plunkett, and further explained, "I wanted Mookie to start a little bit later as far as not getting into spring training ready to go, and kind of use spring training to build up." Betts is looking to rebound from a subpar season offensively, as his .732 regular-season OPS last year was the lowest mark of his big-league career.