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Program a reminder into his phone. Tie a string around his finger. Chant his name like a mantra: Moo-kie! Moo-kie! Moo-kie!

Whatever it takes to jog Mookie Betts’ memory, to remind him he’s Mookie freakin’ Betts.

Because this Dodgers’ three-peat campaign won’t succeed without his contributions at the plate.

The Dodgers lose the plot without the swagger they’re used to from the four-time champion in their midst.

They need Betts to be that right-handed hitter who will keep opposing pitchers honest in a lineup of lefty stars. To help them compensate without Will Smith’s dependable bat and without being able to depend on $240-million-man Kyle Tucker in games at home.

They need Betts to keep feeding his “hope meter.”

Read more:Edwin Díaz feels he's 'going in a good direction' after escaping jam in Dodgers' win

“I’m always trying to remind him who he is,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Wednesday before the Dodgers began a four-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers. “The guy standing 60 feet, 6 inches from him understands the baseball card, knows who’s in the box. And it’s important that [Betts] can’t forget that, regardless of what the scoreboard might say.”

That scoreboard has really not been helping.

All it’s been doing is serving an oppressive, jumbo-sized reminder every time Betts goes to bat of how un-Mookie-Betts-like he’s been for much of this season. Going into Saturday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers, he has career lows in batting average (.239), on-base percentage (.295) and on-base-plus-slugging percentage (.709).

Unless, of course, this is Betts, now at 33, in his — unlucky? — 13th major league season and seventh as a Dodger? Father Time is inevitable.

But let’s remind ourselves: It’s better to be lucky than good, and that Betts has been unlucky, which is bad.

There was the oblique strain in early April that sidelined him for more than a month. Misfortune that brought back bad memories of last season’s mystery illness that caused Betts to lose nearly 20 pounds.

And there’s the data since his return this season, Baseball Savant’s evidence of Betts’ bad rolls: His .278 expected batting average — the Statcast metric measuring the likelihood that a batted ball will become a hit — is .039 points higher than his actual batting average. That’s the third-largest discrepancy in the big leagues.

Also, Betts’ HardHit% this season — measuring the rate of hard-hit balls — of 38.8%, nearly a 3% increase from last season. His exit velocity (90.5 mph) is a mile and a half more than last season.

The game honors you, and the game tests you.

Early this month, a dejected Betts had as tough a time explaining to reporters why, despite hitting the ball hard and stacking disciplined at-bats, he’d had little to show for it. He hit only .205 in July, with a slugging percentage of .313.

“I’m gonna have to help the team at some point,” Betts said on Aug. 4. “It’s really hard, I’ve just never done this so I don’t really know how to get through it. Everyday I show up and try to restore that hope meter.

“But this is very hard.”

That’s why Roberts has stayed on him, he said, reminding him who he is. And who Betts is, of course, is a former MVP and eight-time All-Star, a seven-time Silver Slugger and former batting champion. He’s a scratch-level bowler who made a virtually unprecedented shift from right field to shortstop in Year 11. There’s not a lot Betts hasn’t been able to do.

We got a glimpse of that guy in this recent nine-game stretch, when Betts hit .387 (12 for 31) with a .645 slugging percentage.

“For me,” Roberts said, “it’s just kind of how he’s carrying himself, really. … He’s always been good with not swinging at balls, swinging at strikes. So those components have been consistent. But, yeah, for me, it’s just I like the swagger, the demeanor.”

More like Mookie.

“He’s crucial,” Roberts said. “He’s got the experience, the talent, and he’s an emotional guy. I say that in the sense that when he’s going well, guys feed off that energy. And, when he’s not, you’re sort of trying to find it in him and get it in him.

“So when he’s going well like he has been this past series, guys feel good about it. So, it’s important … that he’s kind of found something to kind of hang his hat on.”

Put a sticky note in Betts’ locker. Better yet, stick his baseball card in there. Because the guy in the box should understand who the guy in the box is — regardless of what the scoreboard might say.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

New York Post | Greg Joyce: On a day where once again the offense looked lifeless, the New York Yankees finally got some good Aaron Judge news. This past Friday, the Yankees right fielder, out since the end of May with a rib fracture, was cleared to throw the baseball, nine days after imaging revealed that the injury had healed enough for him to start baseball activities. While Judge still has a ways to go before he can return to the diamond, at this point, any little bit of reassurance that he actually can make it back this season is welcome.

The Athletic | Tyler Kepner: (subscription required) Yankees starter Gerrit Cole sits at 159 career wins, just three short of a season’s worth of victories. While that is not exactly a famous milestone — 200, 250, and 300 wins are the real milestones we like to talk about — that would tie him for 226th all-time, and rather surprisingly, set the record for most wins by a first overall pick.

NJ.com | Randy Miller: Between a couple of trades and some promotions, the Yankees minor league teams have seen their rosters shuffled quite a bit over the last two weeks. In light of that, Mike Fransoso, the hitting coach of the Somerset Patriots, the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate, spoke with Miller about several of the hitters on his team. Most notably, this included Roderick Arias, the former top prospect who signed for $4 million in 2022 but who had struggled to find his footing in professional baseball.

The mystery around Paul Skenes' 2026 struggles just keeps growing. The reigning National League Cy Young winner will not start Sunday as scheduled. Pittsburgh Pirates manager Don Kelly said that his ace will get three extra days of rest and will start Wednesday instead.

Skenes told reporters he did not disagree with the decision to push him back.

Pittsburgh is not calling it an injury, but there is no denying that something is clearly off with Skenes this year.

He threw just 65 pitches over five innings Tuesday in Miami and came out anyway, having allowed two runs, one of them earned, on five hits with a walk and four strikeouts. His four-seam fastball averaged 95.7 miles per hour that night, the lowest single-game mark of his career and more than a full tick under his season average. Hitters put eight balls in play at 95 mph or harder and he got just four swings-and-misses.

The velocity has been a red flag. He is at 96.8 mph on the four-seamer, down from 98.2 last year and 98.8 as a rookie. Kelly said the bigger issue is command. The league is adjusting back, he said this week, and Skenes has to adjust with it.

More: Are Pirates signaling a Paul Skenes shutdown? Or a more actively managed workload?

Skenes had a 1.98 ERA in early May after back-to-back eight-inning shutout starts. In 16 starts since May 17 it is 5.00, with 10 home runs allowed in 84⅔ innings. (He gave up 11 home runs all of last season in 187⅔ innings.)

Pittsburgh is 3-13 in that stretch. His walk rate has climbed up to 6.8%.

Skenes, 24, has discounted the velocity questions all summer, and he did not argue with the early hook Tuesday. If he were the manager, he said, he would probably have made the same call.

The Pirates are 60-65, 6.5 games out of the last National League wild card and in last place in the National league Central. They were tied for a playoff spot four weeks ago. They don't get there without Skenes.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: When does Paul Skenes pitch next? Pirates push back ace's next start

The Texas Rangers scored five runs while the Sacramento Athletics scored three runs.

After the Rangers missed out on delivering on an early RISP opportunity in the top of the first, an inning later someone named Henry Bolte, a person I’m not sure family could pick out of a lineup, hit a ball with two on that just barely glanced off the base of the left field foul pole at the A’s temporary minor league home.

Suddenly down 3-0, it would have been easy to think, “Here we go again.”

That feeling permeated as the lineup didn’t really get anything else going through the first handful of innings and, just when it seemed like the Rangers were headed for a fifth straight loss to the two worst teams in baseball, Nicky Lopez followed a Jake Burger double with an RBI single in the top of the fifth.

The Rangers have been desperate for anything from the bottom of the order and Lopez provided a run out of the nine spot. Maybe that helped lift the spell a little from this freefall that Texas has found itself in on the West Coast, or maybe pride finally gurgled up to put a purposeful taste in the mouths of the Rangers batters.

An inning later, down 3-1, the middle of the order was due and Brandon Nimmo, Corey Seager, and Wyatt Langford went double, RBI single, two-run home run to ambush the A’s and take a 4-3 lead in a matter of moments.

MacKenzie Gore allowed the three-run home run that put Texas in that early hole, so count that as his weekly Gore Inning. After that seemingly ruinous second inning, Gore eventually managed to make it through 5 2/3 innings with just the three runs allowed, just barely missing a quality start.

Thankfully, Chase Silseth cleaned up for Gore in the sixth and then Jakob Junis made his first appearance in over two weeks, a scoreless seventh inning. It was curious to see Junis come in in the seventh but that ultimately meant Jacob Latz was called upon for one of his patented two-inning saves.

The Rangers decided to wait all the way until the top of the ninth to score again and give Latz a little breathing room. Following an Evan Carter double, Jarred Kelenic came off the bench and provided the insurance with an pinch-hit RBI single.

Latz, who was pitching in just his fourth game all month, worked around a leadoff walk in the eighth but never allowed another baserunner. With his lead doubled by his second frame, Latz was able to comfortably claim his 24th save of the year to snap the losing skid.

Further good news, since Houston was walloped by Seattle earlier in the day, the Rangers gained a game in the standings where they now sit just two back of first place. Despite being two games below .500, the Rangers are also ahead of three other teams by a half game for the final American League Wild Card spot.

Weird year.

Player of the Game: The Rangers have really, really, really needed Langford to break out of his lengthy August slump and that finally came about tonight as he collected three hits including the big eventual game-winning two-run dong.

Up Next: The Rangers and A’s conclude this series in the road trip finale with LHP Cody Bradford next up for Texas opposite LHP Jacob Lopez for the Northern California squad.

First pitch Sunday’s finale is set for a more reasonable 3:05 pm CDT and you can watch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

Michael Massey and Jac Caglianone powered the lineup last night. They did it again tonight, with the only two hits KC had – both singles – in a 1-0 loss to the Angels.

When your team falls by a score of 1-0, it would be easy to place the blame on the offense. But this was really Reid Detmers flashing some of that brilliance I wrote about before the game. When he’s on, there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do, and baby, he was on tonight. Detmers struck out 11 over 8 scoreless innings and required only 92 pitches to do it. He didn’t walk anyone, and he allowed those two singles mentioned at the top. That’s it. The Angels asked closer Ben Joyce to finish it off and, wielding a fastball that easily tops 104 MPH, he did just that with a pair of strikeouts.

Randy Dobnak, known more for his sweeper, threw the Angels a healthy dose of changeups in his 5.2 innings tonight. He figured out early that the sweeper wasn’t working and the Angels could do nothing to the changeup, so he threw it more than any of his other pitches. Ultimately, he struck out six while allowing 4 hits and 2 walks in 5.2 scoreless innings. He had some good defense behind him, but Dobnak Time continues unabated as we inch ever closer to the end of the season.

Craig Kimbrel was tasked with escaping the sixth inning with two runners on and managed to do so when a deep flyball from Josh Lowe died just in front of the track, landing in Starling Marte’s glove. Kimbrel relied again on the marine layer as well as a fantastic play from Tyler Tolbert in the seventh.

Nate Pearson got the eighth and, unfortunately, his control issues from most of his career popped up again when he allowed a leadoff walk to Wade Meckler. Jose Siri pinch-ran for him and promptly stole second. Pearson got Mike Trout to pop out, but a groundball at 102.6 off the bat of Nolan Schanuel managed to deflect off of Caglianone’s glove into right, and that was all she wrote. Pearson recovered to get a strikeout and a groundout, but the winning run was already in.

Cags just missed a home run to center field in the first inning. According to Baseball Savant, it was barreled, the third-hardest hit ball in the game, and would have been a home run in 6/30 parks, including UNIQLO in Los Angeles. Jac’s single in the fourth was hit at 105.5, the hardest-hit ball for either team all night. When he stole second (his sixth of the season!) a few moments later, it was the first and only time a Royal made it past first all night. He did look pretty silly striking out in the seventh, but you can only do what you can do. The lack of offense meant he did not get a fourth at-bat.

That was the first time in five contests the Angels managed to beat the Royals. KC can’t have a .500 road trip anymore, but they could at least escape Anaheim of Los Angeles with a series victory if they can win tomorrow. Noah Cameron (4.45 ERA, 4.13 SIERA) will try to rebound from the off-kilter start in LA. The Angels will counter with a right-hander, thankfully, rookie Ryan Johnson (6.71 ERA, 5.17 SIERA). The game is the Royals’ last one on the West Coast this year and will start at 3:07 PM Central time.

Danny Young this season has an ERA over 8, a FIP over 7, and an xFIP over 6. He has at times in his 5 season, 73.0 inning major league career been an acceptable major league reliever and even has acceptable career numbers over that time, but he has simply not given the Braves a compelling reason to keep him on their roster this year. Meanwhile, the Braves are reportedly contemplating how to bring AJ Smith-Shawver onto the roster. My proposal is to simply get rid of Danny Young, perhaps bring up a stopgap arm for a few days and then have AJ replace Grant Holmes in the rotation. Holmes can be a good arm out of the bullpen and while he has done admirably to perform the job of a back end rotation starter, he can impact the Braves the best for the remainder of this season out of the bullpen.

Braves News

The Braves got absolutely pounded on a night when they really had nothing going against the Diamondbacks.

MLB News

The Cardinals promoted top prospect Joshua Baez and he hit a homer in each of his first THREE MLB plate appearances Saturday.

Red Sox’ Aroldis Chapman passed the threshold for his $13 million vesting option, pending post-season physical.

The Blue Jays put Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on the concussion IL after taking a knee to the head.