Star Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts' body is "just kind of eating itself," he said this week, as a mystery illness has cost him more than 20 pounds and kept him out of action this young 2025 season.
Betts didn't play in Los Angeles' two regular-season-opening wins in Tokyo last week, and he wasn't able to take the field for a pair of preseason games at home Sunday and Monday against the Los Angeles Angels.
Betts, the 2018 American League MVP, went into spring straining at 175 pounds and is now down to 150 as he has been unable to keep down any solid food.
"I'm scared to eat, so I really don't know what to do," he told reporters.
Blood tests and vital signs have "come back really, really clean," so doctors are at a loss to explain the health scare, Betts said.
"I'm practicing all day, and my body's just kind of eating itself, and so it's hard to not fuel it," said Betts, 32. "And so every time, literally, every time I fuel my body, I throw it up."
He said that he started feeling sick two days before his team jetted off to Japan and that the long plane ride only exacerbated the situation.
"So got on the plane, I thought I would at least give myself a couple days to kind of heal, and then the plane ride was brutal," he said. "That was one of the worst plane rides I ever had."
The Dodgers' North American opener is set for Thursday afternoon at home against the Detroit Tigers. At this point, it's unknown when Betts will be able to play again.
Despite the big weight loss, Betts said he wants to play as soon as he can keep food down.
"It's just hard to fathom not eating," he said. "So it looks like I'm just going to be light for a little bit. Maybe I have to play uphill a little bit for the beginning of the season. But you know, I just want to play, man. I'm tired of sitting, tired of just throwing up, tired of doing all of this."
