Clayton Kershaw is at the point in his career where, despite all the success attained on the mound, there is still a glaring question of when it may be the last time he takes the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ahead of his season debut on Saturday, Kershaw revealed that one of the major reasons that continues to drive this question is his recent injury history. He hadn’t pitched since Aug. 30 of last year before this past Saturday as he was recovering from offseason surgery for a ruptured plantar plate in his left big toe and a left knee meniscus surgery.
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Regardless of how many injuries or what the injuries are, one thing is certain for the future Hall of Famer: These ailments will not define him. He spoke to David Vassegh via AM570 Radio about why he chose to come back in 2025.
“I think not letting an injury be the reason I stop, I think that’s probably the main thing,” said Kershaw. “I don’t want (my decision to retire) to be because I didn’t rehab an injury well.”
Despite the illustrious career of the 37-year-old, his return to the team was far from a victory lap celebrating his 18th year in MLB. Kershaw joined a rotation that has seen three starters hit the injured list this season, an ailing bullpen, and a dugout that is littered with stars taking time off to deal with injuries.
Kershaw is no spring chicken, but the former MVP must produce for a rotation that desperately needs him.
“Look, if I get out there and get shelled and I’m not any good anymore and just the time is the time, then that’s one thing,” he admitted. “If another hitter gets the best of me, that’s one thing. But I’m not going to let myself do it to myself.”
Kershaw will one day be immortalized forever in Cooperstown, but that may be at the bottom of his priorities in this moment. His only focus is contributing to a team with aspirations of becoming MLB’s first repeat champion in 25 years.
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Photo Credit: Owen Ziliak/The Republic-USA TODAY NETWORK
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2 Responses
He’s probably hanging on because at the moment the pitching is very thin and inept. The current influx of Dreyer, Knack, and Sauer are not like the previous group of Stone, Sheehan, and R. Ryan.
Starting the game behind in the 1st, giving up home runs, no swing and misses, getting rocked by hard hits, and putting stress on the BP usage. There is a lot of concern on the pitching staff on what is happening and where to go. My only hope is Yamamoto can at least save the ship from a major downfall during this stretch of this tough section of the schedule.
It appears he and management are hanging on for 3k strikeouts. Period. Why else would they have taken steps over the last couple of seasons to sign 120 inning max per season Glasnow and the too often injured and now on 60 day IL Snell and let Buehler go? Buehler, you know one of the heroes of the 2024 World Series who was finally rounding in to form after second TJ surgery? You know, the same second TJ surgery that Ohtani (the same age) is recovering from but apparently everyone thinks he will be the answer for this pitching staff when he returns. Yes, I know Buehler is out now in Boston with shoulder soreness, but still not the point. Up to that point he had given Boston more and better quality starts than either Glasnow or Snell this year.
And as we saw last night, even Yamamoto’s best showing of the season isn’t enough as LAD provided little run support (too often the case when he pitches) and another blown save opportunity forces them to FINALLY break their ridiculous 4 game HOME losing streak in the 10th inning. And they even tried to blow that.