Dodgers News: Could New Rules Help Kershaw Pitch In WBC?

The 2017 World Baseball Classic is right around the corner and because of that, the United States is hoping to entice some of the bigger named American talent to the tournament. On their radar? Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander, Clayton Kershaw. They’re hoping to get him on-board with the new WBC rules.

The rules have been altered going forward, and the hope is that it’ll persuade Kershaw into pitching for his country when the tournament kicks off for the United States. It takes place all throughout March. The 2017 version will be going on during the middle of spring training, that’s where the new rules come into play.

From Bill Shaikin, contact reporter for the Los Angeles Times:

In order to entice star pitchers such as Kershaw, Madison Bumgarner and David Price, major league officials are in the process of changing WBC rules so teams can add two players before the second round, and two more before the semifinals.

This would allow pitchers like Kershaw to only miss about two or three days of time. Kershaw could be added to the roster for the semifinals, pitch that game late in spring training, and then go right back to the Dodgers for the rest of spring. He’d pretty much lose no real time out of all this.

Does this mean he would do it? Well, let him explain it:

“It would be awesome to get to represent your country,” Kershaw said. “But the priority is always the season.”

Kershaw is, and always has been, about the Los Angeles Dodgers. While helping his country achieve international baseball greatness would surely be amazing for him, he wants to win something substantial with the Dodgers. It would be interesting, though, to see him pitch in the WBC setting pitching against the world.