TOKYO — The tone of his answer made it clear that there were times in the past week when Mookie Betts had his doubts.
“I’m alive,” Betts said when he was asked how he was feeling as he left the Tokyo Dome on Saturday.
A lingering virus has taken Betts out of action for a week and could threaten his availability for the Dodgers’ regular-season games against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo.
Betts has been ill since the team’s final weekend in Arizona and did not work out Thursday or Friday at the Tokyo Dome. He did come to the stadium Saturday and took ground balls briefly before the Dodgers’ 5-1 exhibition victory against the Yomiuri Giants.
“He’s been really sick, lost some weight, so we were trying to get him hydrated,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, describing Betts’ illness as similar to the flu with vomiting that has recently subsided.
Betts did not play against the Giants and won’t be in the lineup Sunday against the Hanshin Tigers. Roberts said Betts will go through a full workout before Sunday’s game, hitting and taking ground balls. The Dodgers are scheduled to work out Monday and Roberts said the Dodgers will then evaluate Betts again.
The Dodgers open the season with games against the Cubs on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“We’ll see how these days go before we even think about making a decision for opening day,” Roberts said.
Roberts acknowledged that the travel to Japan wasn’t easy for Betts but said “the doctors felt it was safe enough for him to make the trip.”
If Betts is not available for the games against the Cubs, the Dodgers have multiple options to fill in for him at shortstop. Miguel Rojas, Tommy Edman, Kiké Hernandez and Chris Taylor have ample experience at the position. Rojas, Taylor and Hernandez are right-handed hitters – the Cubs will be starting left-hander Shota Imanaga. Edman is a switch-hitter and will be in the lineup against the Cubs, most likely at second base or center field.
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Left-hander Blake Snell will start the exhibition game against the Tigers on Sunday afternoon in Tokyo. He said he is looking forward to facing a lineup with which he has no familiarity.
“So in the big leagues, you learn patterns and you see what they’ve done to find success,” Snell said. “Everyone tends to follow that. They’re all unique but they’re all chasing the same swing. I don’t know anything about the teams here so I’m excited to see what their swings are like – if they’re contact hitters, power hitters, if they’re different. I’m excited by the challenges of that.”