Hopefully this is just nothing serious, but the best hitter in all of baseball was scratched from Sunday’s lineup. Mookie Betts isn’t playing for the Boston Red Sox as they take on the Atlanta Braves due to “left side tightness,” per the team, and he is day to day going forward.
So far this season, Betts has a league-high 17 home runs, .361 batting average, 1.199 OPS and the third-most stolen bases (13) through 48 games. He’s doing things Boston has seen only twice before in its storied history.
Needless to say, an extended absence would be a frustrating development, both for Betts and the team.