Dodgers’ All-Star Mookie Betts Suffers Fractured Hand

Los Angeles Dodgers SS Mookie Betts crumpled to the dirt after being nailed with a 97 MPH fastball that smashed his left hand in the seventh inning of the series finale with the Kansas City Royals. Betts immediately left the game.

A day later, Dave Roberts announced that the Dodger lead-off hitter would miss six to eight weeks with a fractured hand suffered the day before. The manager announced that Shoei Ohtani would fill his role at the top of the order while Kike Hernandez and Miguel Rojas should take over the duties in short.

The most expensive team in the MLB has $600 million sitting on the injured list. Before the game on Sunday, Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto went on the IL for 15 days with a strained rotator cuff, and it remains to be seen if he needs more time to heal.

Betts had been playing at an MVP level before his injury. The former Boston Red sock left Sunday’s game with a .304 BA, .405 OBP and an OPS of .892 while walking more times than he struck out, with a ratio of 47 to 34. Cruely, the only time a pitch has hit him all season was the fastball that landed him on the injured list.

While the two stars in blue take time to heal, the Dodgers positioned themselves well to handle the blow. They are second in the National League with a 46-29 record, four games back of the Philadelphia Phillies. Roberts’ team leads the NL West by nine games, and no other team in their division is currently over .500.

Betts has been one of the best players in baseball since he joined the MLB and is in the third season of a 12-year $365 million deal. Betts has become a fixture in the Majors with an MVP and two World Series titles to his name before his age – 31– this season.