Our last MLB Monday piece for October 2025 involves a player still performing in the postseason right now: Mookie Betts. Regardless of how the World Series turns out for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team still owes him $232.9M guaranteed, through the 2032 season. With Betts posting a career-low .732 OPS this season at age 32, we only can imagine how much of an albatross that contract will be for the franchise now.

We are sure the Dodgers will come up with creative financing to alleviate the pain when the time comes, and L.A. certainly also can absorb such a contract mess without it impacting the team’s bottom line. That’s just the way it goes for most of the teams in the Top 10 TV markets these days: they always are eating bad contracts, whether ones they signed a player to and ones they inherited when they traded for a player, too.

But let it be no secret: Betts’ contract is a bad one.

First, let’s all remember, too, that Betts is a sign-stealing cheater, based on his participation with the 2018 Fenway Frauds—one of the most-notorious cheating scandals in MLB history. What punishment did he receive? None. While members of the 2017 Houston Astros continue to receive derision from fans everywhere in MLB, somehow the 2018 Red Sox have escaped the same criticism—and we don’t know why.

That being said, Betts’ best season? Was 2018, when he compiled 10.7 WAR, itself a historic number that clearly was not earned fairly or honestly. He has parlayed that success into almost $200M career earnings already on the field—not including playoff bonuses, etc. His first full season in Los Angeles (2021) generated just 4.1 WAR, and his last two seasons have produced identical 4.8 WAR marks now (2024-2025).

He’s still a good player, obviously, but it’s fueled now by defense: his 2.6 dWAR at shortstop this year was the top overall defensive value in the National League. However, it’s hard to expect him to be able to keep that up as he grows older, unless he takes the route traveled by other cheaters. We do not know what to expect from Betts going forward, and if it wasn’t for his 2018 Boston Red Sox affiliation, we would like him a lot.

With 75.1 WAR already, he’s headed for Cooperstown, in all likelihood. Interestingly, he’s only put up a .740 OPS in all his playoff appearances, a fine drop from the .881 regular-season effort. If he wins a fourth World Series ring this week, well … it’s because he’s been a consistently awesome October producer. His defensive versatility honestly might be his best calling card, as he should win a Gold Glove this year at shortstop.

He already won six GG votes playing in the outfield (2016-2020, 2022), all deserved, so it would be impressive to do the reverse of what someone like Robin Yount did in the field. But in the end, it comes down to whether or not he has it in him to keep playing at a decent level through 2032—when he would be 39 years old—to justify the insane amount of money he is owed still on his current contract … not likely.

This brings us back to the start: Betts was a cheater in his best MLB season, and he’s earned a lot of money based off that insane production from the 2018 season. He’s been good-to-great in his L.A. residency, without cheating, but he is on the sharp decline offensively, and his defensive skills will erode soon, too. How long will the Dodgers continue to stomach his huge contract? Only time will tell; we have no idea.