To play a playoff baseball game on your birthday, you have to have been born in a very specific window of time.
With a few exceptions, it’s pretty much October or bust for an MLB postseason game to celebrate a birthday.
Mookie Betts, it turns out, was born on a fortunate day.
He celebrates his birthday every year on October 7, which means he has a baseball game to play on his birthday on Wednesday as he turns 34 years old.
It’ll be Game 4 of the NLDS in Atlanta against the Braves, and if the Dodgers win, they advance to the NLCS. They’re in the process of trying to three-peat as World Series champs.
Betts will simply be hoping to have a happy birthday.
Mookie Betts Makes Birthday History
A cool aspect of what Betts is doing on Wednesday — no one has done it more.
Betts is setting the record for most playoff games played by a player on his birthday.
This is now four such occurrences for Betts, assuming he isn’t a surprise absence from the Dodgers lineup.
It was the wonderful MLB stats guru Sarah Langs who came with this stat on Wednesday:
Today is Mookie Betts’ birthday. Birthdays are important.
This will be the fourth time he plays a postseason game on his birthday, most in MLB history
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) October 7, 2026
As said above, there are a lot of players who would never be eligible for such an opportunity. A lot of birthdays don’t happen during the season at all, let alone the postseason.
But every year, Betts can set a goal to at least still be playing on his birthday, and that’s a solid thing to aim for.
Mookie Betts Stats on Birthday
Betts enters Wednesday night having played three prior times on his birthday.
The first of these came way back in 2016. It was ALDS Game 2 for the Red Sox in Cleveland, and they lost the game 6-0. Betts was a boring 1-for-3 with a walk.
The next such occurrence came in 2020. That year, it was NLDS Game 2 as the Dodgers took on the Padres. L.A. pulled out a 6-5 win. Betts went 2-for-4 with a steal and a run scored.
Betts then got to play on his birthday again in 2023. It was an ugly 11-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in NLDS Game 1 that year. Betts was 0-for-3 with a strikeout, a walk and a run scored.
Amazingly, there have been five separate seasons in which Betts played on both Oct. 6 and Oct. 8 but not on his Oct. 7 birthday. The schedule can be a funny thing.
But this isn’t one of those years.
On Wednesday, Betts is the birthday boy, and the Dodgers will be hoping that those positive vibes help lead them to a win.
Dodgers’ Mookie Betts Sets All-Time MLB Record on Birthday