Mookie Betts' playoff slump has become lingering disaster for Dodgers

Max Muncy pretty much summed it up perfectly when he spoke to the media after the Dodgers' NLDS Game 2 loss against the Padres: "We were s—t."

It's impossible to sugarcoat or find a silver lining for that game. From the actual quality of play to the truly embarrassing behavior from the crowd at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers just looked really bad on all fronts on Sunday, and there's no way to get around it.

The only two runs LA managed to score in what ended up being a 10-2 game were on a sac fly from Gavin Lux in the second and what looked like a completely joyless homer from Muncy in the bottom of the ninth.

Other than that, the Dodgers' big bats completely disappeared. Shohei Ohtani went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, Freddie Freeman was pulled after two hitless at-bats with lingering pain in his rolled ankle, and Mookie Betts also went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. Other than Muncy, Teoscar Hernández probably had the best night of anyone; he managed to get a hit and scored on the Lux sac fly and walked once.

Ohtani already proved he can shake the Dodgers' postseason hitting curse during Game 1, and Freeman gets a pass because of his injury. Betts, though, is a different story. He's hitless so far this series and has been hitless in the postseason since Game 3 of the 2022 NLDS.

Mookie Betts brings his postseason hitless streak two games into the 2024 playoffs and disappears when Dodgers need him most

Betts did get close once, when he hit a Yu Darvish sweeper 354 feet into left field during Game 2 with the opportunity to tie the game. It could've changed everything, game-wise and narrative-wise, but Jurickson Profar reached over the heads of fans in the lower outfield seats and snagged it to rob the homer. And you know what happened after that.

Through the rest of the game, he struck out in the third, popped out in the sixth, and then grounded out in the eighth when the Dodgers were already down by six runs.

Betts' problem here seems to be a problem with the entire team. There's just no fire here, and even if there was, it'd pale in comparison to what the Padres are doing. Their rivals in San Diego are classless and obnoxious, but during this time of the year, it's a lot better than limp and lifeless, which is all we saw from the Dodgers on Sunday.

What exactly is up with Betts — has been up with him since 2021 ended — is a mystery. Right now, the only thing that's clear is that the Dodgers have a $365 million dollar gaping hole in the postseason lineup.