Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Clayton Kershaw will not be on the Wild Card roster, according to manager Dave Roberts. The future Hall of Famer is set to make his final regular season start of his career Sunday against the Seattle Mariners.
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With the Wild Card round starting on Tuesday, the move to keep him off the roster makes sense, especially if he is set to make a normal start Sunday.
There had been speculation that Kershaw may come out of the bullpen for the postseason, and especially with the recent relief pitching struggles, that would be a more than welcomed option.
Kershaw made a relief appearance on Wednesday, just the fourth regular season bullpen outing of his illustrious career, tossing a scoreless ninth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks en route to the Dodgers holding on to win it in the 11th inning. Kershaw spoke on what the idea of him pitching in October might look like at this point in time.
“We’ll see,” Kershaw said. “We’ll see what happens. My job is just to pitch well. Whatever decision they make, or if I get to make a start or do whatever — they’re going to make the best decision for the team. I’ll understand either way. Obviously making it hard for them is what I want to do.”
Kershaw has been doing his job lately, to say the least, but everything changes once the regular season commences. Manager Dave Roberts knows better than anyone what this shift is like, and briefly spoke on what this could mean for the three-time Cy Young award winner.
“The bottom line is I trust him,” Roberts said. “And for me, the postseason is about players you trust.”
The Dodgers kick things off on Tuesday either facing the Cincinnati Reds or the New York Mets in the Wild Card series to start the journey of becoming baseball’s first back-to-back champions in a quarter century.
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Photo Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
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3 Responses
Thank you Clayton Kershaw. Great career! I was fortunate enough to watch the career’s of both Sandy Koufax and Clayton Kershaw (I know…I’m old). What a great ride it’s been.
I don’t like Kershaw being left off the WC roster, but I understand it. He pitched today, they’ve got good pitchers more rested than he would be. It looks like an insult, but I also just see it as strategy for the next round.
Truth be known, I happen to think that Kershaw is pitching better than Tyler Glasnow and except for the differing velocities available by each oitcher, I’d take Kershaw’s control, guile and experience over Glasnow’s recent control issues at this stage of the year. Plus. Kersh has earned it… If Glasnow is on then that is great, But lately he has been more off than on and that is a big deal in a short series with everything in the line. The Dodgers are probably hoping that Yamamoto and Blake Snell will take care of the Reds, and if so then great… but down the road, Kersh definitely needs to be an option… IMO