Many seats at Fenway Park remained empty when Mookie Betts exited the Dodgers' dugout for his first at-bat at Fenway Park since an infamous trade sent him from Boston to Los Angeles in 2020. Many Dodgers fans filled the rest of the grandstands, arriving early to tour the building many Red Sox fans vacated following the Betts trade and the last-place season without spectators that followed. Betts led LA to a championship that fall, creating the fervor hard to separate from any Sox fans invested in the story over three years later. Alex Cora acknowledged on Friday that Betts became one of the few people who consistently checked on him during his suspension that year.
Everyone cheered and chanted Moooookie as Betts tipped his cap and motioned a heart sign to the crowd. Cora clapped. Aside from that moment, indifference owned the night. Red Sox fans applauded Betts' successes, and why wouldn't they? The story barely mattered by Friday, not only due to the predictable 7-4 Dodgers win, Boston's dwindling postseason hopes and the frustrating Apple TV+ broadcast, but the Red Sox provided fans so little to debate and anticipate entering Friday. Despite the story of the trade changing this week on Betts' departure, the move looked as obviously correct for him as it does terrible for Boston. Betts cared little to elaborate on it, and Sox fans seemed pained by thinking about it, never mind discussing or attending his return.
"I'll let Chaim (Bloom) and those guys explain that, or John Henry, whoever, I'll let them explain that," Betts said pre-game. "If they ever want to explain it, I'll let them explain it. We're not even there, so it doesn't even really matter. We're in LA, so those things, they're in the past, and probably just need to go ahead and leave it alone. If someone was to explain it, I'd let him do it."
Betts admitted he worried Red Sox fans would view him negatively following the trade and said several times this week that he hoped to stay with Boston, a contrast against the prevailing notion that he didn't want to re-sign with the Red Sox once his contract ended following 2020. He also denied receiving a 10-year, $300-million offer from Boston, another change from previous reporting. That would've made for an interesting conversation if more fans cared or stakes between the two franchises stood higher. Betts didn't need to say any of that though, as the Red Sox' decline in payroll and performance in the years since the trade speaks for itself, as does LA's success among the league's highest spenders.
Rafael Devers also applauded as Betts stepped to the plate. Cora stopped short of addressing the merits of the trade in praising Betts pre-game, and despite intentions to carry momentum from two wins at Houston and sweeping the Yankees on the prior road trip, the game perfectly reflected the direction of the two teams since the deal. Alex Verdugo and Trevor Story, Betts and Xander Bogaerts' replacements, homered early to take a 3-0 lead and generate hope. Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and Max Muncy unloaded on stop gap Sox pitchers Kutter Crawford and Nick Pivetta to take a 6-3 lead midway through the game. Then, Betts fired a powerful and familiar throw from right field when Verdugo nearly loaded the bases and the Sox made another devastating mistake when Connor Wong turned around second and got caught by Freeman, who cut off Betts' throw, to end the inning.
"I was just trying to enjoy it," Betts said. "It’s kind of hard to explain. You have to be in it to understand what I’m saying, but I’m just glad we won."
Dodgers fans followed Betts' lead, celebrating through the concourses after the play sealed their win. The Red Sox face long odds turning around the direction the trade created for both teams, longer than simply winning this series or reaching the postseason. Bloom defended the move in front of boos at a team fan event earlier this year, saying Boston needed to replenish its farm system to justify signings like the Devers extension. Instead, the move reflected organizational inconsistency, the Sox extending themselves to pay Devers, but not Betts, in response to losing shortly after letting the latter go.
The team since cut ties with Jeter Downs, the key prospect in the Betts deal, while different lists paint various pictures of how strong the team's farm system stands four years into Bloom's tenure. Decisions like trading Hunter Renfroe and letting Kyle Schwarber walk after regaining some organizational momentum in 2021, when student tickets helped pack and energize Fenway during an ALCS run, further destabilized Boston before LA won 111 games last season and Friday's victory kept them on pace for over 100 this year. They've expanded their payroll since extending Betts, signing Freddie Freeman to a six-year, $162 million deal. He recorded four hits at Fenway yesterday. Meanwhile, Cora flinched at what might greet the Sox after generating some momentum on the road, defensive meltdowns derailing Sox winning streaks earlier in the season. This time -- a base-running miscue by a player who arrived in the Betts deal did so.
"We've been trying to talk about momentum the whole season and then something happens," Cora said pre-game. "We play good defense, we win games, but we don't, we struggle winning games. Hopefully the momentum we gain defensively in the last few days, we can continue, and if we do that, we're gonna be ok."
Each blunder risks Cora's ability to see this plan through as manager. Each losing season piling up past the Betts trade threatens Bloom's long-term vision. Friday reflected what the Sox lost already, a potentially iconic core and the same excitement that Dodgers fans provided to what should've been a marquee event for Boston fans that instead became easy to avoid on a rainy August night.
Even if the Sox won, gaining an inch back in the playoff race wouldn't have changed the minds of many who gave up in 2020. They still would've watched two teams not only thousands of miles apart in distance, but also in flashiness, payroll and productivity, Betts waving his arms in both directions celebrating the continuation of his 13-game streak while he stood on second. The Sox can now only imagine producing another player of that caliber.
"I’m super happy where I’m at,” Betts said. “I’m very happy. I’m at peace with my life now. It’s a little bit easier for me to look back and when I go up and down the streets and when I walk on the Fenway field, it’s a little bit easier to say, ‘wow, that was super cool.'”