Dodgers' Dave Roberts Reveals Why He Benched Mookie Betts

The Los Angeles Dodgers have benched superstar Mookie Betts ahead of Saturday's matchup with the Milwaukee Brewers.

After dropping the first game of the three-game set to open up the second half of the regular season, manager Dave Roberts spoke to the media about the conversation that ensued before the decision to ultimately give his shortstop the night off.

“Talking to him, seeing where his head is at, seeing where he’s at mechanically, I just thought tonight was a night where I felt he needed to be down,” Roberts said.

Betts is in the midst of arguably the worst slump of his career, and his frustrations are obvious, but the skipper spoke on how Betts' professionalism and work ethic haven't wavered during his lack of production at the plate.

“He was more than willing and wanted to be out there," Roberts said. "But for me, I wanted to take it out of his hands [so he could] have a day. I’ve talked about this before, just having players watch a baseball game. And I understand we just had four days off at the break. But still showing up at the ballpark, and not participating, watching, that’s a different mindset, psyche than being at home. So for him to come here, show up, not play, know he’s not going to play, I feel good about the work he’s going to put in today. Also, I think, for the mind it will be beneficial.”

Betts opened up the season with a brutal stomach bug that caused him to miss the final two spring training contests in Arizona, the Dodgers' first two regular season games in Tokyo, and even resulted in him flying back home early and losing about 15 pounds in the process.

His response was batting .316 in his first 10 games with the team. He added three home runs, eight RBIs, and a .974 OPS. Things started to turn for the worst as his offensive production slowly dwindled, culminating with a dreary .178 average in his last 30 games.

Perhaps things will turn around with the extra day off and time to clear his head, but fans will be patiently waiting for the return of the superstar they are so accustomed to seeing.