Mookie Betts Says That This Time Around, He's Going To The White House

The Los Angeles Dodgers are out on the East Coast for a weekend series with the Philadelphia Phillies, and then on Monday they'll head down I-95 to Washington for a three-game series against the Nationals.

So, a championship-winning team in Washington? That could only mean one thing: a White House visit!

And this time around, Mookie Betts will be there.

Of course, because many people can't just be adults, White House visits have been "controversial" for no other reason than people being unable to separate politics from sports at every turn.

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And it sure seems that Betts fell victim to this way of thinking way back in 2019 — during President Donald Trump's first term — when he was supposed to visit the White House with the Boston Red Sox. He skipped the visit, as did Red Sox manager Alex Cora.

Mookie Betts has revealed that he will be going to the White House when the Dodgers are honored next week.. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

However, when Betts won his second World Series in 2020 with the Dodgers, he chose to go to the White House, which was, of course, the Biden family residence at the time.

In 2025, Trump is back in office, and this time Betts has decided that he will be on hand next week at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

"No matter what I say or what I do, people are gonna take it as political," Betts said on Friday, according to The Los Angeles Times. "But that’s definitely not what it is. This is about what the Dodgers were able to accomplish last year."

Betts went on to say that skipping the White House visit when he was with the Red Sox was a regret of his.

"This is not about me; I don’t want anything to be about me," Betts said. "This is about the Dodgers. Because these boys were there for me."

Good for Mookie. 

People grow and change. He may not agree with the president's policies, but that's his prerogative. He's showing a mentality that I think we're seeing more and more and that's that these White House visits are an honor, no matter who is in office and that it's all about the team, not a time to take political stands.