Sports
Plaschke: Hey Dodgers, stop messing with Mookie Betts
C’mon Dodgers, you must realize what you’re doing to your best player, continually drenching his season in uncertainty, battering his body, ruining his rituals, denting his spirit.
C’mon. Dodgers, after what happened again Friday, your mandate is clear.
Stop moving Mookie!
Stop bouncing him recklessly around the diamond and the batting order like he’s a centerpiece in a game of beer pong.
Stop treating him like he’s an aging journeyman with marginal talent, zero power and no voice.
Stop taking his unbelievable good nature and inimitable team spirit for granted, or risk him following the lead of other misused talents in this era of athlete empowerment.
Hint: You don’t need this guy asking for a trade.
You laugh, the Dodgers scoff, there’s few who believe this sweet and selfless star would ever create the commotion that any sort of whispered or shouted get-me-out-of-here demand would cause. Plus, he makes $30 million a year on a deal that extends through 2032, which sort of limits his attractiveness.
Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts fields the ball against the Rangers during the 2024 season.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
But he’s only human, and there’s surely only so much pride he can swallow and perceived lack of respect he can stomach. The Dodgers have seemingly reached this breaking point. They have to stop scheming and rearranging and pushing.
They need to back off and let Mookie be Mookie.
“I’ve been saying the whole time, it doesn’t matter where I play, as long as I’m playing and helping the team win,” Betts said Friday afternoon while sitting in the dugout surrounded by reporters.
Believe that. But you better believe the Dodgers need to stop testing the endurance of those words.
The latest remodel occurred Friday when, three days after announcing that Betts would play shortstop upon next week’s return from the injured list, the Dodgers stated he would instead be moving back to right field.
This, after they started the season moving him from second base to shortstop.
This, after they spent last season moving him from right field to second base.
And this, after they announced this week he was moving out of his cherished leadoff spot and batting second so Shohei Ohtani could keep batting first.
Next up, a spot in the bullpen and a job cutting the grass?
Betts has accepted it all with grace. His contagious attitude makes him the MVP of this season even if he never plays another game. But still, in flipping him around again so soon after the previous reversal, the Dodgers didn’t look professional, didn’t sound appropriate, and it didn’t feel right.
Make no mistake, Betts belongs in right field. He won six Gold Gloves there, remember? The Dodgers are their best team with slick Miguel Rojas at shortstop, resurgent Gavin Lux at second and Betts in right.
This is why they never should have moved Betts from right field in the first place. By making the first unusual switch last season, they sent Betts on an odyssey that is both unseemingly and unfair for a player of his stature.
What do you think LeBron James would do if the Lakers asked him to change his game? He would immediately tweet his dissatisfaction and they would relent, that’s what.
How would Kawhi Leonard act if the Clippers openly pressured him over the past several years to play more games? He’d shut it down, that’s what, and they’d have to coax him back.
While other superstars in this town call the shots, Betts simply absorbs. While other superstars in this town defer to no one, Betts seemingly defers to everyone.
Did you hear what he said this week when asked about giving up his beloved leadoff spot to Ohtani because Ohtani hit well when Betts was injured? A switch made even though Betts became an eight-time All Star by batting leadoff?
“There’s nothing really you can say,” Betts said. “Whatever Shohei says goes, and after that we kind of fall in line.”
That’s as close to bitterness as Betts will veer, but it speaks volumes about a potentially divisive clubhouse issue. If a two-time World Series champion and former MVP feels like a newcomer with no playoff experience runs things, how do the guys with lesser resumes feel?
I asked Betts why he doesn’t complain more about not being given the same latitude most other teams offer their stars. Why doesn’t he act more like the accomplished player he is?
“There’s only one Mookie,” he said. “I don’t care. I want to win. Keep that first and foremost, and the rest just is what it is.”
The Dodgers are incredibly lucky he’s their Mookie. Andrew Friedman did his homework when trading for Betts before the 2020 season. Despite recent postseason struggles, Betts has become a leader by example…and example…and example.
“He is a superstar that is a rarity,” said Dodger general manager Brandon Gomes. “He’s – and I think we have a lot of them on our team – ‘Hey, I will take on any challenges that help the team.’ He’s somebody who puts the team first….at the end of the day, he’s just ‘I’m good with whatever. Let’s go win a World Series.’”
During his meeting with the media Friday, Betts gave every public indication that he was good.
He said it was mostly his idea in the past few days to move away from shortstop after he realized that Rojas, also returning from injury, was a better option there.
“I mostly went to them,” he said. “I said, ‘Listen, I believe I can do it, but I want to win, man.’ I want to win. I don’t know if me right there is the best solution.’”
He’s right, Rojas is a better shortstop, but Betts wasn’t a terrible shortstop, and nobody worked harder at their position this season, Betts taking hours of pregame grounders in the previous few months to master the position.
“I think it’s the challenge that I really truly loved,” he said. “I don’t know if it was necessarily the shortstop thing, per se. I just haven’t been challenged in a long time. So that task, that challenge to accept and be able to play shortstop in the big leagues, and help the Dodgers? I was going to take it on and I’m happy I did. I’m definitely proud of myself for doing that.”
Lots of pride. Lots of work. All for nothing. No matter what Betts says, that has to hurt. He, of course, never should have been moved to shortstop in the first place. The Dodgers should have acquired a shortstop in the offseason and they would never have had this issue.
The saga of Betts is rooted in the reality that the Dodgers have been brushing him around the diamond as a sort of human concealer to mask past front-office failures.
The outcome reached Friday is partially good. Betts is back in right field where he belongs. It’s the circuitous route they traveled to reach that spot that is so troublesome.
Injured Dodgers player Mookie Betts fields balls and keeps his throwing arm in shape as he recovers from injury.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
And, by the way, is Betts really going to be batting second the rest of the season? I asked him, only half joking, why didn’t he negotiate a return to right field for a return to the top of the order? That feels like something LeBron would do, no?
“No, uh uh,” he said. “We got Shohei there. He’s pretty good, too.”
The next several weeks will reveal whether batting in his new spot will suit Betts. It will also show whether Lux can continue to hold down second base and Betts can – fingers crossed – stay in right field.
At this point, there are seemingly no lineup or fielding guarantees of anything regarding Mookie Betts other than he will play out the season in the worst possible position, that being limbo.
Friday’s eventual win over the Pittsburgh Pirates began with newest Dodger Legend Dusty Baker throwing out the first pitch to Betts, who looked rather nifty crouching behind home plate with a catcher’s mitt and…
No.
Sports
Mike Tomlin’s exit was unexpected as Steelers begin rare coaching search, team president says
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Mike Tomlin’s decision to step away after a blowout AFC wild-card loss pushed the Steelers into an uncharacteristic coaching search.
Tomlin did not specify a reason for stepping away in a statement released Tuesday, but he thanked owner Art Rooney II and the late Ambassador Dan Rooney for their trust over nearly two decades.
“While this chapter comes to a close, my respect and love for the Pittsburgh Steelers will never change. I am excited for what the future holds for this organization, and I will forever be grateful for my time coaching in Pittsburgh,” Tomlin said in the statement.
Rooney II and Omar Khan will oversee the coaching search. Rooney called Tomlin’s decision unexpected but not surprising.
Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II and head coach Mike Tomlin before a game against the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome Dec 23, 2018, in New Orleans. (Chuck Cook/USA Today Sports)
“It was his decision, and I will say that I wasn’t shocked, but I wasn’t expecting that conversation yesterday either,” Rooney said. “I was certainly willing to take another run at it next year with Mike, and that was what I was expecting to talk about yesterday, but it went in another direction.”
2026 NFL COACHING/GM TRACKER: STEELERS REQUEST FIRST HC INTERVIEWS AFTER TOMLIN DEPARTURE
Tomlin has two years left on his Steelers contract, and any team seeking to hire him before 2027 would need to compensate Pittsburgh. Rooney acknowledged the slim prospects of Tomlin coaching later this year and provided additional context on his departure, saying it was centered on his personal life.
Pittsburgh Steelers owner and team President Art Rooney II before a game against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium Sept. 22, 2022, in Cleveland,. (Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
“Mike indicated that he did not anticipate coaching in the near future,” Rooney said. “I think he wants to spend time with his family and do the things he hasn’t been able to do for the last many years. So, if something like that comes up, we’ll deal with it when it comes up, but it doesn’t seem like something on his radar.”
Rooney said he, Khan and other key decision-makers will take an open-minded approach to the rare coaching search.
“I’ve been involved in a number of searches going back to coach [Bill] Cowher and GM searches,” Rooney said as he recalled past coaching search experiences. “I think if I’ve learned anything about searches it’s to have an open mind. We had Mike in for his first interview, certainly wasn’t expecting him to be our head coach. I think you go through the process and be diligent and hopefully come out with the right guy.”
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, right, stands on the sideline during the first half of a wild-card playoff game against the Houston Texans in Pittsburgh Jan. 12, 2026. (Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo)
When asked about the qualities he will look for in candidates, Rooney said leadership is at the top of the list.
“I think there are a lot of things that go into being a successful head coach,” Rooney said. “No. 1 in my mind is leadership and trusting this person can step up in front of the team day in and day out and hold their attention and have them motivated to do what they do. That’s the most important.”
After defeating the Baltimore Ravens in Week 18 to clinch the AFC North and the final spot in the NFL playoffs, the Steelers scored just six points in Monday’s loss to the Houston Texans.
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“Extra pass.”
Cleveland High coach Dagem Asfaw was yelling to his players at the end of the first half during a timeout to stop playing selfish basketball and start making the “extra pass.”
They listened in the second half Wednesday, and the Cavaliers took off, blowing out Granada Hills 72-47. The first three baskets in the third quarter were threes off passes. It’s clear that Cleveland (11-6, 1-0) has the most talented team in the West Valley League and the only question is will the players decide to find the open man. When they do, it’s doubtful any team will beat them.
Sophomore Sho Evans finished with 17 points and made four threes. Serigne Deme had 11 of his 13 points in the first quarter and finished with four dunks. TJ Wansa scored 13 points, all in the second half. Cleveland led by nine points at halftime.
Birmingham 75, Taft 57: Tekeio Phillips had 19 points and Charles Eleri 16 for the Patriots (10-4, 1-0) in their West Valley opener.
El Camino Real 55, Chatsworth 53: The Royals pulled out the win. Aarsh Singh, Aaron Krueger and Chris Rutherford each scored 11 points for Chatsworth.
Fairfax 66, Westchester 64: The Western League rivalry game goes to the Lions. Domonick Bowie Jr. had 16 points and Chris Stokes 15.
Palisades 87, Hamilton 48: The Dolphins had four players reach double figures. Jack Levey and EJ Popoola each had 22 points, Phillip Reed 19 and OJ Popoola 16.
San Pedro 74, Carson 50: Elias Redlew finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the 16-4 Pirates. AJ Bobich added 16 points.
Los Alamitos 57, Newport Harbor 40: Isaiah Williamson contributed 15 points for the Griffins.
Calabasas 64, Oaks Christian 62: The Coyotes handed Oaks Christian its first Marmonte League defeat in double overtime. Noah Simon made a three-point shot at the buzzer of the second overtime, his only points of the night. Tristan Cardoso and Johnny Thyfault each scored 16 points.
Verbum Dei 80, Bosco Tech 64: Sophomore Chase Coleman scored 20 points for Verbum Dei.
Girls basketball
Harvard-Westlake 42, Louisville 23: Valentina Guerrero, back from injury, scored 13 points for the Wolverines.
Sierra Canyon 79, Marlborough 31: Jerzy Robinson contributed 29 points and 10 rebounds for Sierra Canyon.
Birmingham 65, Taft 28: Kayla Tanijiri led the way for the Patriots with 15 points and Laecy Wilkins had 14 points.
Sports
Jason Kelce says Eagles players share blame with fired coordinator Kevin Patullo for offensive struggles
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The Philadelphia Eagles fired offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo after a disappointing 23-19 loss in the Wild Card round against the San Francisco 49ers.
However, former Eagles star center Jason Kelce said that while Patullo bears responsibility for the offensive struggles, he thought the players could have performed better.
“The bottom line is this offense didn’t live up to what it should have, right? And Patullo, as the offensive coordinator, bears responsibility and so do the players. That’s my thing. I don’t think the players played as good as they could have,” Kelce said during a recent episode of the “New Heights” podcast.
Jason Kelce looks on before the game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Arizona Cardinals at AT&T Stadium. The game took place in Arlington, Texas, on Nov. 3, 2025. (Kevin Jairaj/Imagn Images)
“I love all those guys and that’s just the way it is sometimes. I had my seasons. I damn sure did. And you know, how do they rebound from this? Where do they go from here? There’ll be new faces in. There’ll be faces that are familiar that are out.”
The 38-year-old said he doesn’t think it’s fair for all the blame to be placed on Patullo. Kelce referenced the offensive line’s inability to stay healthy and a running game that regressed as causes for the downturn.
“The main reason (for the regression) and I’ve been saying this from the beginning was the run game. The offensive line’s inability to stay healthy altogether to open up holes. Saquon Barkley almost set the NFL record for rushing last year. They were incredible in the run game,” Kelce said.
The seven-time Pro Bowler pointed out that while the Eagles won the Super Bowl last season, the passing game struggled. With the running game not nearly as dynamic as it was last season, the issues with the passing game became more prominent.
EAGLES MOVE ON FROM OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR KEVIN PATULLO AFTER UNEVEN SEASON, COACH NICK SIRIANNI SAYS
Jason Kelce waves to fans during the Super Bowl LIX championship parade and rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Feb. 14, 2025. (Kyle Ross/Imagn Images)
“The passing game, they struggled last year. I mean, there were all sorts of things happening last season that we like to forget because we won the Super Bowl, but the passing game has been an issue for multiple seasons now. Now, the running game isn’t there. Why isn’t it there? The offensive line is in and out. They’re hurt. Guys are overcoming injuries. They’re not playing the same way they’ve played in the past,” Kelce said.
“You have a quarterback that’s not running as much. Jalen Hurts, the threat of him running the ball, opens up so much for the running back when they have to truly respect it, and it also opens up things downfield.”
Kelce did lament the lack of creativity within the Eagles offense and said it would “behoove” them to bring in someone from outside the building as their new offensive coordinator.
“I would love to see more motions. I would love to see all that stuff,” Kelce said. “It would probably behoove the Eagles to bring in somebody with a fresh perspective on where it’s at currently, because when you’re in it, you’re thinking about what you’ve done well in the past. You’re thinking about how you’ve had success.”
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Former player Jason Kelce reacts prior to the game between the Washington Commanders and the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. The game took place in Kansas City, Missouri, on Oct. 27, 2025. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
“It’s like, man, I know this guy can do this. I know this can happen here. Yeah. When you bring in somebody else, it’s like, man, this is where we’re at now. And now we can bring in some fresh ideas. we can figure out a way to maximize things while keeping that nucleus together.”
Last season, during the team’s Super Bowl-winning season, they were tied for fourth in the NFL, averaging 29 points per game. This season, they scored a touchdown fewer, averaging 22.1 points per game, which ranked 19th in the NFL.
The Eagles hope their next offensive coordinator can turn things around quickly.
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