Week 8: Mookie Betts

We're only about a third of the way through the season, but it's kind of surprising Mookie Betts hasn't been my MLBoyfriend yet. He is arguably the best batter in baseball this year. He has the most runs scored (43), is tied for the most home runs (his teammate J.D. Martinez also has 15), an impressive .365 batting average (the highest for any player with more that 25 at bats in the season), an equally impressive 1.198 OPS (the highest of any player with more than 13 at bats), and 11 stolen bases.

Last week, Betts continued that pace with a .387 average, 1.134 OPS, six runs, two home runs, five RBIs, and four stolen bases. He definitely remains a top candidate for American League MVP.

The other thing that makes Betts such an obvious choice for MLBoyfriend is that there is no shortage of great pictures of him. My "photo research" (i.e., Google image search) turned up an embarassment of riches.

So why did I pick Betts this week passing him by for the last seven? It's because we found about his bromance with former MLBoyfriend J.D. Martinez.

Mookie was going through a "drought" in which he hadn't hit a home run in twelve games. I'll let J.D. tell you about their heart-to-heart:

"He was just all freaking out.... He's like, 'Dude, I've got no pop anymore.' I'm like, 'Bro, relax. All right? They come in bunches.' All of a sudden you won't hit one in two or three weeks and then you hit three or four in a week. Especially him. He'll come around and hit three in a game."

Sure enough, after that Betts hit home runs in back-to-back games last Friday and Saturday.

Congratulations, Mookie Betts! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week. I'm sure that doesn't mean as much to you as being J.D. Martinez's MLBoyfriend--but I'm okay with being your side piece.

UPDATE 3/26/19: I wrote this before J.D. Martinez posted something very problematic on social media that is in direct opposition to my values. He has a right to express political opinions, but words have consequences. In this case the consequence is that I no longer think he's hot--in fact, he's the opposite of hot. NRA propaganda is deal breaker for me.