When star shortstop Mookie Betts entered Game 5 of the World Series in a 3-for-19 slump, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts bit the bullet. He dropped Betts down into the batting order, from second to third.
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When Betts went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in the Dodgers’ Game 5 loss, Roberts acted again. He moved Betts down to the number-4 spot in Game 6.
Betts’ former manager, Alex Cora, disagreed with the decision in an interview with Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo on Thursday on MLB Network Radio on Sirius/XM.
The Dodgers shook up their lineup entering game 5, moving the struggling Mookie Betts from second to third.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was on with Mad Dog Russo Thursday, said he would’ve gone the other direction hitting Mookie first.
Cora and Betts won a World Series… pic.twitter.com/wf01QcUl2R
— HouseRules (@houserules789) October 31, 2025
“I know you don’t wanna make radical moves in your lineup, but that’s a radical move,” said Cora, who managed Betts in Boston from 2018-19. “If I was in his shoes, I would’ve gone the other way. I would lead him off. Go ahead, try to set the table for the next guys, don’t try to do too much. And hit Ohtani second. Smith, I’ll hit him third. And then, Freeman, I’ll hit him fourth.”
Hindsight, like the fateful year Betts was traded from Boston to Los Angeles, is 20-20.
Betts delivered a two-run single in the third inning of Game 6, the key at-bat of the Dodgers’ season-saving 3-1 victory.
Game 7 of the World Series between the Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays is Saturday.
As for Cora, he offered a blunt assessment of his own perspective — and how much it matters on the final day of the Major League Baseball season.
“I’m in the backyard of my house right now in Puerto Rico and (Roberts) is in the World Series,” he said. “So there’s a reason they’re in the World Series and Doc, he earned the right to make the moves.”
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