Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday morning during the regular season you’ll get a fresh, topical column to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.
Mookie Betts is a man on a mission as he continues his ninth MLB season.
The 2018 AL MVP and two-time World Series champion didn’t mince words in a recent conversation with Sports Illustrated, highlighting his ultimate individual goal for his career: “I want to one day have a Hall of Fame speech,” Betts says. “Pretty simple for me.”
Betts is on track to achieve his lofty aspirations. Now 29, the Dodgers outfielder is among the most accomplished players of the last decade, adding a batting title, five All-Star appearances and four Silver Sluggers to the aforementioned accolades. His statistical case matches the hardware. Betts made his MLB debut on June 29, 2014, and since then, he ranks first among all players with 758 runs and 269 doubles, seventh in hits (1,159) and eighth in total bases (2,022). Since ’14, only Mike Trout has more WAR (56.2) than Betts (50.0), and Betts and José Ramírez are the only players with at least 160 home runs and 140 stolen bases. He also is second among all outfielders in fielding runs, behind only Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier.
All of this is to say that few players this century have provided excellence in all aspects of the sport quite like Betts. A ceremony in Cooperstown is likely if the next decade is anything like the last. Perhaps, he’s already done enough to get there.
SI spoke to Betts about his Hall of Fame dreams, a potential superteam in Los Angeles and the changing nature of baseball.
Sports Illustrated: How are you feeling about your game early in the season? Did the abbreviated spring training impact you at all?
Mookie Betts: I feel O.K. We started off kind of rough in our first series but we’ve been alright since. The shortened spring is impacting everyone, so for me specifically it doesn’t really…