AP Photo/Nick Wass
Welcome to The Opener, where every weekday morning during the regular season you’ll get a fresh, topical story to start your day from one of SI.com’s MLB writers.
The last time we saw Mookie Betts during the 2021 season, he was striking out on three fastballs hurled right down Broadway by Braves reliever Tyler Matzek in the clinching game of the National League Championship Series. With the Dodgers trailing 4–2 in the seventh inning and runners on second and third, the former MVP who’d tortured the Braves in the 2020 NLCS was an ideal candidate to come through with a game-tying hit. Instead, he seemed utterly perplexed by three nearly identical offerings, and Los Angeles…
