It is the belief of many sports fans that to be a professional athlete, one needs an, if not unwavering, certainly uncommon degree of self-confidence. On a very rudimentary level, the belief in your abilities trumps so many obstacles to even get to the point of playing at the highest level that it becomes a natural part of your process. When Mookie Betts came up to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning after an intentional walk to Shohei Ohtani with the Dodgers trailing 1-0 and the bases loaded, one wouldn’t fault him for at the very least using that as a bit of extra fuel for the competitor in him. Overall, Betts has always said all the right things when asked about this recurrent situation, but for a future Hall of Famer, it’s got to feel a bit weird.

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