Giving up on his season might be exactly what Mookie Betts needed to spark turnaround

Mookie Betts' season-long slump has been completely baffling to everyone involved. Fans don't know what's wrong, Dave Roberts doesn't know what's wrong, and even Betts himself doesn't know what's wrong. As he said a few weeks ago, "I've done everything possible. It's just kind of the same result. I'm out of answers. I've done everything I can do. It's up to God at this point."

Like Betts said, it hasn't been for lack of trying. Roberts has shuffled him around in the lineup and sat him a few times; Betts was still working on his swing when he was away from the team and attending his stepfather's funeral in Nashville; and more recently, former Dodgers and Red Sox teammate JD Martinez even took a trip out to LA to advise.

Ahead of the Dodgers' series against the Blue Jays, Betts said he was changing tacks: "This season's over. My season's kind of over. We're going to have to chalk that up for not a great season."

Through Monday's game against the Angels, Betts has at least one hit in his last six games with an overall line of .423/.464/.615. He hit his first homer since July 5 in the Dodgers' opener against the Blue Jays.

Mookie Betts started to emerge from his season-long Dodgers slump after calling it quits on his season

It's a small sample size, sure, but it's already looked more sustainable than any flashes Michael Conforto has shown all season, which have inexplicably kept him on the Dodgers' roster despite the fact that they always peter out as quickly as they come.

There are a lot of underlying, emotional reasons that could factor into Betts' bad season. He lost nearly 20 pounds at the beginning of the year due to a virus, and he lost his stepfather. He was initially resistant to ascribing a mental component to the slump, but then things almost immediately got better when he decided to reject the pressure and just play the game.

If this is just the start of a complete turnaround, it's coming exactly when the Dodgers need it. With their loss to the Angels on Monday night, they're just one game ahead of the Padres in the NL West, and LA is set to face San Diego after their Angels season wraps up. Whatever Betts needs to do to get hot — even if it's ostensibly doing nothing — will be absolutely essential to securing LA's place at the top of the division.