The Dodgers will kick off the 2025 campaign without their star shortstop ... Mookie Betts will miss the opening series with an illness -- which was so bad the former A.L. MVP dropped 15 lbs!
Manager Dave Roberts made the announcement Monday in Tokyo ... saying that while Betts has begun to feel better, he's still trying to get his strength back, and rehydrate from the couple of days he was ill.
"When you're dehydrated, that's what opens a person up to soft tissue injuries.