Los Angeles Dodgers most important player in a 60-game season

The Dodgers still chase that World Series win. Who’s the team’s most important player this season?

Baseball appears to be on its way back this summer. The season will be just 60-games, which also comes with some other caveats such as the universal designated hitter (DH), extra-inning rules, and some different schedule structures.

Yes, this MLB season will be unlike any other before, and hopefully none after. Reports indicate teams will show up for another Spring Training on July 1, with the season beginning later that month. With the schedule much shorter, each game matters more than they usually would if it was a full 162-game campaign.

For the Los Angeles Dodgers, the shortened season does not hinder their plans of competing for a championship. In fact, it strengthens those aspirations. Why is that? Because it means we will see Mookie Betts in a Dodgers uniform this summer after all.

Betts joins an already packed team with Cody Bellinger, Justin Turner, Clayton Kershaw, and company. However, the newcomer is the team’s most important player in 2020.

Why is Mookie Betts the Los Angeles Dodgers most important player in 2020?

Even with Bellinger coming off his MVP season, Betts is so important for two reasons: 1. He himself is a former MVP winner, and he has the experience of winning a World Series. 2. The Dodgers traded a package featuring Alex Verdugo. Meaning, it would have been hard to stomach had Betts never actually played for the team if the season did not occur.

Putting it simply, the front office viewed a trade for Betts as a solidifying move for a championship. He is a top of the order bat who plays stout defensively and can make things happen on the base paths. A five-tool player.

Betts checks off the remaining boxes for the team. He can impact the game every single day, or night, in the field defensively, or in the box. In a shortened season, that is so valuable.

Bellinger, Kershaw, and Turner are extremely important players for the Dodgers. No doubt about it. But Betts has averaged 29 home runs and 94 RBI the last four years. In that time, he has finished top-10 in the MVP voting every year, has won four Gold Gloves and three Silver Sluggers, and he made the All-Star team each year.

Even without stepping foot into the batter’s box for the team, Betts is the most important player for the Dodgers when baseball returns this summer.