LOS ANGELES, CA: The experienced southpaw Clayton Kershaw is one of the pitchers noticeably missing from the Dodgers' roster for the series as they finished game one against the Padres in the National League Division Series last night.
Although it shouldn't come as a shock considering that Kershaw was originally said to be aiming for a comeback by mid-October, manager Dave Roberts announced today that the Dodgers will be without Kershaw for the entire postseason, according to Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register among other media.
Plunkett continues, quoting Roberts as saying that since Kershaw went on the IL back in August, the bone spurs in his big toe have not gotten better and may have even gotten worse.
With 30 innings pitched over seven starts, a 3.87 FIP, and a 4.50 ERA (87 ERA+), Kershaw finishes the 2024 campaign having struck out just 18% of opponents. This news officially ends his injury-plagued season.
That is by far the lowest strikeout percentage of his career, and it is the first time since his rookie season in 2008—when his 98 ERA+ was just barely below average—that his ERA+ has been below average. Even though 2024 will go down as the poorest season of Kershaw's career to date, low walk and home run rates assist to preserve some of his peripheral metrics.
Kershaw has a $10MM player option for the 2025 season, but it's unclear at this point if he will activate it or postpone making a decision until later in the winter after he's been thinking about retiring a few times in the offseason.
If he chooses to play on into 2025, the only team he has ever known will undoubtedly welcome him back. In the offseason, the team will undoubtedly look to add players to the rotation, with Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Gavin Stone locked into the starting lineup along with Shohei Ohtani, whose return to the mound will probably require switching to a six-man staff.
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