{"id":252563,"date":"2026-07-12T05:51:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T05:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/12\/im-gonna-think-about-myself-and-my-family-mookie-betts-speaks-out-on-skipping-white-house-visit-with-dodgers\/"},"modified":"2026-07-12T05:51:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T05:51:24","slug":"im-gonna-think-about-myself-and-my-family-mookie-betts-speaks-out-on-skipping-white-house-visit-with-dodgers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/12\/im-gonna-think-about-myself-and-my-family-mookie-betts-speaks-out-on-skipping-white-house-visit-with-dodgers\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;I\u2019m gonna think about myself and my family&#8221; &#8211; Mookie Betts speaks out on skipping White House visit with Dodgers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5190653\" data-slug-id=\"2807155\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Mookie Betts is unlikely to travel with the team when the defending World Series winners visit President Donald Trump at the White House on July 23.<\/p>\n<p>The Dodgers didn&#8217;t visit the White House during their series against the Washington Nationals earlier this season. They plan to visit the White House during an off day between their road series against the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/team\/philadelphia-phillies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> and the New York Mets.<\/p>\n<p>However, Betts said to The California Post on Saturday that he plans to skip the visit and spend time with his family instead.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"bets-today-poll\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"preview-card-holder bets-today-poll\">\n<p><span class=\"date\"\/> \u2022 <span class=\"time\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"march-madness-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/march-madness-logo.png\" height=\"42\" width=\"99\" alt=\"march madness logo\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;If I do [go], people are gonna hate me. If I don&#8217;t, people are gonna hate me,&#8221; Betts said. &#8220;So instead of trying to make everyone else happy, I&#8217;m gonna think about myself and my family.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>Betts dismissed the notion that his decision was politically motivated.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;People are gonna try to drag me into politics, just because I am who I am.That&#8217;s just the cards I&#8217;m dealt,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So it is what it is.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The eight-time All-Star was among the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/team\/boston-red-sox\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Boston Red Sox<\/a> players to not visit the White House during President Trump\u2019s first term after their World Series win in 2019.<\/p>\n<h2>Dodgers utility star Kike Hernandez unlikely to make White House trip after Mookie Betts&#8217; decision<\/h2>\n<p>Mookie Betts, who returned to action after a lengthy injury layoff, explained that he is skipping the White House visit because he just welcomed a third child with his wife.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI\u2019m not trying to make this a whole big deal,\u201d Betts said. \u201cWe just had a baby. You don\u2019t get many days off. They\u2019re coming [on the road trip]. And just want to hang out with the fam. That\u2019s really kind of it. But people are gonna make it a whole bunch of other stuff.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Apart from Betts, Dodgers utility star Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez also plans to skip the White House visit as he will be on a rehab assignment amid his recovery from a left oblique strain.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nThank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Chaitanya Prakash<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/baseball\/news-i-m-gonna-think-family-mookie-betts-speaks-skipping-white-house-visit-dodgers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Mookie Betts is unlikely to travel with the team when the defending World Series winners visit President Donald Trump at the White House on July 23. The Dodgers didn&#8217;t visit the White House during their series against the Washington Nationals earlier this season. They plan to visit the White House during [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":252564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6806],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-252563","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gossip"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}