Dodgers: Four reasons Mookie Betts will re-sign with Los Angeles

As everyone wonders when baseball will return in 2020, the next big question is whether Mookie Betts will remain with the Dodgers long-term.

Two questions seem to define everything surrounding the Los Angeles Dodgers right now:

1. When will the 2020 season return?
2. Will Mookie Betts sign a long-term contract with the team?

Unfortunately, the answer to the first question also has impact on the second question. If the 2020 season is canceled, there’s a chance Mookie Betts never plays for the Dodgers, as he will be a free agent next offseason, whether he suits up this season, or not.

As the NBA has taught us, it is impossible to predict where players will ultimately sign in free agency. Remember when it was a foregone conclusion that Kevin Durant would sign with the Knicks? And then he ended up with the Nets, of all teams?!

Betts is currently in his final year of arbitration, signed to a record $27 million amount through the arbitration process for the 2020 season. Obviously, Betts risks losing a large percentage of that through a shortened schedule, which could motivate him to sign a long-term deal sooner rather than later. That said, the economics might suggest Betts would be better served to delay his decision to sign a long-term contract by agreeing to a bridge deal until 2022.

Without getting inside Mookie Betts’ head, there are several factors working in the Dodgers’ favor to lock him up to a long-term contract at the end of the season.

Let’s take a look at why Betts might make Southern California his permanent home.