The Los Angeles Dodgers will not be competing for a World Series with one of their most important pitchers on the mound this fall.
Dodgers shut down star lefty Clayton Kershaw for the rest of 2024
The Dodgers announced that they’ve shut down their injured lefty Clayton Kershaw ahead of Game 1 of their National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres on Saturday. Per USA Today’s Jordan Mendoza, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had this to say about what went into the decision:
“Clayton has done everything he can to keep this thing moving forward and giving himself a chance to participate in the postseason,” Roberts said. “But where he’s at right now, physically, the foot, the toe, just is not cooperating. It’s actually getting worse. Yeah, this is it for Clayton for 2024.”
Dodgers: Kershaw admitted that he made his injury worse before being ruled out
Kershaw went down with a bone spur in his left big toe on Aug. 30 and has not pitched since. He was seen throwing a bullpen session as recently as Thursday before he ultimately could not continue with his pursuit to return to action. Per Matthew Moreno of Dodger Blue, the former 2020 World Series champion also spoke before Game 1 of the NLDS and revealed how he made his ailment worse by pushing for a return:
“It was just getting pretty mentally exhausting to continue to pitch, try to pitch. It just kept hurting, so I got another MRI and I made it worse,” Kershaw said.
“So there was not point at this point to keep going. It’s unfortunate and I’m obviously super frustrated. It did not get better, so I couldn’t pitch.”
The banged-up Dodgers needed Kershaw on the mound despite 1-0 lead in NLDS
Los Angeles was able to come away with a narrow 7-5 victory over San Diego in Game 1 despite a poor postseason debut from rookie star Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Outside of him and stand-in ace Jack Flaherty, the Dodgers’ starting rotation has run rather thin. The team announced that Landon Knack and Walker Buehler will occupy the No. 3 and No. 4 spots in the rotation against the Padres, which will likely be the case for their entire postseason run.
Kershaw would have been an experienced talent that could have given the Dodgers great support for Flaherty and Yamamoto as their No. 3 or No. 4 guy throughout the postseason. Though he is no longer the former 2014 NL MVP and three-time NL Cy Young award winner that he once was, the Texas native did go 2-2 in seven starts and posted a 4.50 ERA in the regular season.
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This was a down year for Kershaw by his standards and that of the MLB’s better pitchers league wide. His 24 strikeouts looked nothing like himself and paled in comparison to the 137 he tossed across 24 starts a year prior. His career-worst 1.500 WHIP was also a cause for concern.
Nevertheless, the 10-time All-Star will have all offseason to rehab and attempt to return at full strength for the 2025 MLB campaign. L.A. has real championship expectations this time around, having finished with the best record in the entire Majors (98-64) in 2024 while having the 2024 NL MVP frontrunner Shohei Ohtani leading their charge.
It would have been a great help for the Dodgers to have Kershaw return, even despite likely needing to get warm on the mound and find his stuff. Nevertheless, he’ll help Roberts’ squad try to win a World Series next season, whether that’s back-to-back crowns or not.
