If there was a 10-run rule on an MLB offseason, it would’ve been enforced on the Los Angeles Dodgers this winter. The Dodgers signed Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and traded for right-handed pitcher Tyler Glasnow while the other 29 MLB teams appeared to just watch from the dugout. So, what is Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts’s message to those 29 other fan bases? “I don’t know what you want us to do,” Betts said Friday on AM 570 L.A. Sports. “When you’re blessed with an ability, why would you not use that?”
The Dodgers signed Ohtani to a record 10-year, $700 million contract, a deal that includes deferred money but also would be a higher annual salary than several MLB teams’ payrolls. Los Angeles has spent over $1 billion in free agency this winter, which at one point was more than the rest of the other 29 MLB teams combined. “Y’all tell us what you want us to do,” Betts said. “You want us to not try to win? Well, that’s the whole point of the game, right? “[If we said], ‘Sorry for trying guys. We won’t do that again.’ That doesn’t make sense,” Betts said.