{"id":790637,"date":"2026-05-12T08:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T08:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/790637\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T08:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T08:04:13","slug":"mookie-betts-rejoins-dodgers-after-five-weeks-on-il","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/790637\/","title":{"rendered":"Mookie Betts rejoins Dodgers after five weeks on IL"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts<\/a> was activated off the injured list Monday, ending a five-week absence predicated by an oblique strain.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> slotted Betts into his customary No. 2 spot, sandwiched between Shohei Ohtani<\/a> and Freddie Freeman<\/a>, with the hope he could help jump-start a sluggish offense. Betts is staying realistic.<\/p>\n

“I’m not the hero,” he said prior to the start of a four-game series against the division-rival San Francisco Giants<\/a>. “It’s going to take us all.”<\/p>\n

Betts managed a hit in five at bats Monday night, and the Dodgers were quieted again, falling 9-3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers now sit at 24-17, a half-game behind the first-placeSan Diego Padres<\/a>in the National League West. They are 4-6 when scoring three runs or less in seven of 10 games in May. Will Smith<\/a>, Teoscar Hernandez<\/a> and, most notably, Ohtani have all struggled this month.<\/p>\n

Betts, 33, began the season just 5-for-28, then came back after playing in just two rehab games. The Dodgers aren’t quite sure what to expect.<\/p>\n

“I think with Mookie, you just don’t know,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before Monday’s game. “So, the hope is that he can kind of hit the ground running.”<\/p>\n

Betts’ activation prompted the Dodgers to send down infield prospect Alex Freeland<\/a>, who slashed just .235\/.309\/.337. Roberts called the move “a tough one” but noted that Hyeseong Kim<\/a> outplayed him, slashing .289\/.353\/.395. As a left-handed hitter, Kim can platoon with the right-handed-hitting Miguel Rojas<\/a> at second base. Veteran Santiago Espinal<\/a>, who is out of options, will continue to serve as a backup, allowing Freeland to get more development time in Triple-A.<\/p>\n

Betts will ease into regular playing time, getting a day off on Wednesday and then perhaps another on Saturday, but the expectation is that he will play shortstop on an everyday basis thereafter.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers initially hoped Betts would be back a couple of weeks sooner. Betts said the delay was not caused by a setback.<\/p>\n

“I just didn’t really realize how long it takes for it to really heal,” he added. “I felt pretty good pretty fast, actually, but just some of the movements that I couldn’t do, they kind of just lingered for a long time. I was trying to hurry, but obviously doctors are like, ‘It just takes this long for it to heal.'”br\/]<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts was activated off the injured list Monday, ending a five-week absence predicated by…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":790638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[322866,35270,5723,2502,1266,50,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-790637","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-322866","9":"tag-betts-mookie","10":"tag-espn","11":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116560571638684983","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}