TORONTO — As soon as Blake Treinen entered for the ninth inning of Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday night, Clayton Kershaw dropped his guard and began to look around.
For the previous three hours, the future Hall of Fame pitcher had been locked in on the game, mentally preparing for a potential relief appearance from out in the bullpen.
But when that didn’t come, the 37-year-old Kershaw then let himself relax, took in the scene of an October night at Chavez Ravine, and soaked up the final moments of what was his final game ever at Dodger Stadium.
“It’s a weird thought, of like, ‘This is your last game ever there,’” said Kershaw, who announced last month he will retire at the end of this season. “And not a sad thought. Honestly, just a grateful thought. Just like, ‘Man, we spent a lot of great times here.’”
Win or lose in Games 6 and 7 of this World Series, Kershaw’s overall career will end this weekend at Rogers Centre in Toronto. But on Wednesday night, he closed the book on the ballpark he has called home for all 18 seasons of his illustrious MLB career.
Dodger Stadium is where Kershaw first made his big-league debut back in May 2008, as a highly anticipated left-handed prospect with a big curveball and quiet demeanor. It was the stage for his rise to stardom over the nearly two decades that followed, as he went on to capture three Cy Young Awards, 2014 National League MVP honors and a career 2.53 ERA that ranks as the best among pitchers with 1,000 innings in the live ball era.
It is where he experienced some of the most defining moments of his career, including a no-hitter in 2014 and his 3,000th strikeout earlier this year. It’s also where he suffered repeated October disappointments, none bigger than the back-to-back home runs he gave up in Game 5 of the 2019 National League Division Series.
In other words, it was always home for Kershaw, the place he would return to day after day, year after year, season after season — no matter the highs or lows, aches and pains, successes or failures.
“I just started thinking about it when the game ended,” said Kershaw, who elected to traverse the field to get back to the clubhouse after Wednesday’s game instead of the connected bullpen tunnel. “I was like, ‘Man, I might as well walk across this thing one more time.’”
About an hour later, Kershaw would linger on the field a little longer, joined for an impromptu gathering by his wife, Ellen; their four children; and other family and friends in attendance for his last home game.
“Ellen just texted after and was like, ‘Hey, we got a big crew,’” Kershaw said. “So I was, ‘Well, just go to the field. I’ll try to shower fast so we can hang out.’”
Television cameras caught Kershaw laughing as his kids ran the bases, tried to throw baseballs at a hovering drone and enjoyed a diamond that had become their own personal childhood playground over the years.
At one point, Kershaw posed with the Dodger Stadium grounds crew for a picture — standing on a mound they had manicured for all of his 228 career starts in the stadium.
“Honestly, it was awesome,” Kershaw said. “It was the perfect way to do it. Just have everybody out there, running around … It was unplanned, unprompted, but a great memory.”
Kershaw, of course, is hoping to add one more Dodger Stadium memory next week. If the team can reverse its three-games-to-two deficit in the World Series this weekend in Toronto, it would return to Chavez Ravine for a championship celebration.
If not, though, he’ll have a couple parting moments to cherish, from Wednesday’s postgame scene down on the field, to his final career Dodger Stadium outing back in Game 4 in which he stranded the bases loaded in the 12th for one of the biggest outs in his entire career.
“I’m super grateful with how that went, as opposed to the last time before that,” he quipped, having given up five runs in his only other Dodger Stadium appearance this postseason. “You can’t plan any of that stuff. Who knows if it ever works out. But yeah, to get that one last out was pretty cool.”
If Wednesday’s game proves to be the last one in a Dodgers uniform for Clayton Kershaw, it will do little to tarnish his legacy, said teammate Mookie Betts.
“He’s gonna have a statue, so we have to kind of keep that in mind,” Betts said. “In the grand scheme of things, Kershaw is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, one of the best pitchers to ever do it.
“So if you let two innings kind of ruin that, then you don’t know baseball.”
But, Betts confessed, Kershaw’s relief appearance in Game 3 of the National League Division Series was hard to watch. In those two innings he gave up six hits, five runs, walked three and did not strike out a hitter, turning a tight game into an 8-2 rout for the Philadelphia Phillies, who staved off elimination and extended the best-of-five series to a fourth game Thursday.
“He just didn’t have a great slider tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Clayton pitches off his slider. He was working behind, too. The command wasn’t there tonight.”
Clayton Kershaw bends over during a tough eighth inning.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Kershaw, who went 11-2 as a starter during the regular season, was left off the roster for the wild-card series and hadn’t pitched in nine days when he started warming up in the sixth inning Wednesday. He hadn’t gone that long between appearances all year.
“I did everything I could in between,” he said. “It’s been a while but, you know, I threw [off] flat ground as best I could. It wasn’t there tonight.”
That was obvious from the first batter he faced. Kershaw, who walked a batter every 3.2 innings during the regular season, threw three straight balls to Trea Turner before giving up a single. He would give up two more walks, one intentional, in the inning but escaped harm thanks to a poor baserunning decision by the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber and a nice catch by right fielder Teoscar Hernández.
But with Tanner Scott unavailable for personal reasons and Alex Vesia having already pitched twice in the series, Roberts had few other good options against the left-handed-heavy Phillies. So he sent Kershaw out for the eighth and that’s when things really got out of hand.
J.T. Realmuto led off the inning and drove Kershaw’s second pitch — a slider — over the wall in left-center. The Phillies would send eight more men to the plate in the inning, scoring four more times, with two of those runs coming on Schwarber’s second homer of the night.
Kershaw threw first-pitch strikes to just four of the 14 batters he faced and missed the zone with 26 of the 48 pitches he threw overall. That won’t stop the Dodgers from building a statue of him when he retires this fall but it didn’t move him any closer to a second straight World Series ring either.
“I wasn’t throwing strikes, and it’s hard to pitch behind in the count,” he said.
Kershaw said he felt fine physically but added, “I just wasn’t finding it.”
That wasn’t a problem for the top of the Philadelphia lineup, which found little success in the first two games of the series. The Phillies’ first four hitters — Turner, Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Alex Bohm combined for just three hits, all singles — in 27 at-bats, striking out 12 times. They matched that hit total against Dodger starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the span of 11 fourth-inning pitches Wednesday, with Schwarber homering off the roof of the right-field pavilion and Harper and Bohm following with singles.
They finished the night nine for 16 with five runs scored and five RBIs, with Schwarber’s two homers traveling a combined 863 feet.
“We just had a little quick meeting. Nothing crazy, but just focus on the game, win today,” Turner said. “We all know we were kind of pressing as a group in the first two games and wanting to win so bad.”
If Turner and the Phillies win again Thursday, the series returns to Philadelphia and raucous Citizens Bank Park — where the Phillies had the best home record in baseball — for a decisive Game 5 on Saturday. If the Dodgers win, they move on to the NL Championship Series, where Kershaw could get a chance to end his career on a more sonorous note than the clunker he played Wednesday.
“That’s the great thing about baseball,” he said. “You get a new game every day.”
PHILADELPHIA — When Clayton Kershaw was left off the Dodgers’ roster for the best-of-three wild card round against the Cincinnati Reds, it marked the first time since his 2008 rookie season that he pitch didn’t in one of the team’s playoff series when healthy.
But on Saturday, ahead of Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Dodgers decided to add Kershaw back in the mix, ensuring he will likely get the chance to take the mound at least one more time before entering retirement this offseason.
Kershaw and fellow left-handed pitcher Anthony Banda were the only two changes the Dodgers made to their NLDS roster Saturday, swapping them in on an 11-man pitching staff in place of multi-inning left-hander Justin Wrobleski (who didn’t pitch in the wild card series) and rookie right-hander Edgardo Henriquez (who walked two batters and gave up a hit while recording no outs in Game 1 against the Reds).
The Dodgers made no changes to their 15-man position player group from the wild card round, once again keeping three catchers on the roster (as Will Smith continues to recover from a fractured hand) as well as speedy defensive specialists Justin Deal and Hyeseong Kim.
Kershaw’s return was had been expected, even before manager Dave Roberts officially confirmed on Friday that the future Hall of Famer would be on the roster for the NLDS.
First and foremost, the Dodgers will need added left-handed pitching depth to combat a Phillies lineup that includes left-handed threats like Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott. That’s why Banda was included as well.
But Kershaw, who went 11-2 this season with a 3.36 ERA, also gives the Dodgers a steady veteran presence out of the bullpen (where he is expected to pitch).
They missed that in the wild-card round, when a string of younger pitchers struggled to consistently find the strike zone while pitching in relief.
Thus, they will be hoping their 18-year veteran can provide it, in what would be his final career postseason series if the Dodgers don’t advance.
The only other major roster question facing the Dodgers entering this series is at catcher. Roberts said Friday that Smith “will be available to catch” in this NLDS, but was unsure if he’d be able to start right away in Game 1. Smith, who has taken only live at-bats in the last week while nursing his injury, did not appear in the wild-card series despite being on the roster. He took more live at-bats during the team’s Friday night workout at Citizens Bank Park.
SEATTLE — It was one last batter. One last strikeout. One last ovation for a future Hall of Famer.
And it ended, fittingly, on a helplessly empty swing.
In the top of the sixth inning on Sunday afternoon, in the final regular-season outing of his illustrious 18-year career, Clayton Kershaw snapped off a trademark slider that ducked below the zone. Eugenio Suárez waved at it for a strikeout like so many countless others before him.
With that, Kershaw had his seventh strikeout of the day and the 3,052nd of his career. He had completed 5 ⅓ scoreless innings, lowering his career ERA to 2.53 — the best among any starting pitcher with 1,000 career innings in the live ball era (since 1920).
In the dugout, manager Dave Roberts motioned to fellow veteran Freddie Freeman, sending the first baseman out to the mound to remove Kershaw from his last career start.
When he got there, the two exchanged an embrace, Kershaw hugged the rest of his infield teammates, and then he acknowledged a cheering T-Mobile Park crowd as he walked back to the dugout.
He donned his cap, waved his arm and disappeared down the stairs — for perhaps the very last time.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw embraces his teammates as he gets lifted from Sunday’s game against the Seattle Mariners.
(John Froschauer / Associated Press)
If Kershaw is to take the mound again before retirement this winter, the Dodgers will have to advance through the first round of the playoffs.
Ahead of his scoreless 5 ⅓ inning start in the Dodgers’ 6-1 win against the Seattle Mariners in Sunday’s regular-season finale, Roberts said Kershaw would not be on the team’s roster for next week’s best-of-three wild card series against the Cincinnati Reds.
The decision isn’t shocking. Kershaw was not going to feature in the starting rotation for the series. And though he could have been an option in the bullpen, the Dodgers already have an abundance of left-handed relievers.
Thus, the Dodgers (who finished the season 93-69) will have to reach at least the National League Division Series for Kershaw to pitch in a major league game again. Roberts noted that, if the team does advance, Kershaw could be an option in any capacity.
“You just don’t know how things are gonna play out,” Roberts said. “I can see him starting a game. I can see him coming in for a short burst. I can see him in long relief. I can see him in a lot of ways. I don’t think anyone can predict how that’s gonna play out. We gotta get through the wild card series, and see who’s standing after that.”
If this is the end of the line for Kershaw, he is going out on his own terms.
After being limited by injuries for much of the past three seasons — including missing all of last year’s World Series run with toe and knee injuries that ultimately required offseason surgery — the 37-year-old decided to return to the Dodgers this season for one last crack at a championship chase.
He wound up turning in one of his most impactful performances.
Though Kershaw’s 11-2 record and 3.36 ERA are no career highs, his ability to consistently produce over 23 outings this season (including a ninth-inning appearance as a reliever last week) proved to be invaluable for the Dodgers. He was a steady veteran presence early in the year, when the team was battling a wave of rotation injuries. He was a losing-skid stopper on multiple occasions over the second half, when the team nearly squandered a division lead that once was nine games.
“I don’t think we’d have won the division,” Roberts said, when asked where the team would have been without Kershaw this season.
“He delivered 10 times over for us.”
Roberts acknowledged that Kershaw exceeded all of his expectations for the aging pitcher this season. He relished watching the all-time Dodgers icon write one last memorable chapter to his legendary, record-setting MLB career.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw and catcher Ben Rortvedt, center left, walk to the dugout after working the fifth inning against the Seattle Mariners.
(John Froschauer / Associated Press)
“He doesn’t want handouts, he doesn’t want freebies, he doesn’t want to be a token,” Roberts said. “He was a big part of what we accomplished this year.”
And, if the Dodgers can get through this week’s wild-card series, he still might be at some point in the playoffs as well.
Ohtani sets career, club HR mark
A year after breaking the Dodgers’ single-season home run record with a career-high 54 long balls last season, Shohei Ohtani reset the high mark once again Sunday.
After two-run home runs from Hyeseong Kim and Freeman early in the game, Ohtani extended the Dodgers’ lead with a solo blast to center field in the seventh. It was his 55th homer of the year, leaving him one shy of Kyle Schwarber for most in the NL.
PHOENIX — The Dodgers might’ve finally found an answer to their long-maddening bullpen problems.
Just use some starters.
In a 5-4 extra-innings win over the Arizona Diamondbacks that lowered their magic number to clinch the National League West to one, the Dodgers again squandered a late-game lead when their traditional relievers faltered. They still didn’t make winning look as simple as it should have.
But win, they did on this night — thanks in large part to two scoreless innings of relief from Roki Sasaki and Clayton Kershaw.
The game wasn’t decided until the 11th inning, when Tommy Edman gave the Dodgers a lead they finally wouldn’t relinquish.
It never would’ve gotten there, however, without the contributions of Sasaki and Kershaw out of the bullpen.
Activated from the injured list shortly before the game, and making his first appearance in the majors since suffering a shoulder injury in early May, Sasaki flashed promising signs with a scoreless frame in the bottom of the seventh, protecting a 3-1 lead the team had been staked to by Blake Snell’s six-inning, one-run start, and an early offensive outburst that included a two-run homer from Andy Pages.
Sasaki’s fastball averaged 98-99 mph, was located with precision on the corners of the strike zone, and even induced a couple of swing-and-misses, things he never did consistently while posting a 4.72 ERA in eight starts at the beginning of the season.
He paired it with a trademark splitter that was also commanded with more precision than at any point in his initial MLB stint.
Sasaki needed only 13 pitches to retire the side in order, punctuating his outing with a pair of strikeouts on 99-mph four-seamers. As he walked back to the dugout, he glanced toward his teammates with a stoic glare. Just about all of them, including Shohei Ohtani, applauded in approval.
Disaster did strike in the eighth, after the Dodgers extended their lead to 4-1 on Teoscar Hernández’s RBI double in the top half of the inning.
The bullpen’s one season-long stalwart, Alex Vesia, ran into trouble by giving up a single to Ketel Marte, a walk to Geraldo Perdomo, and an RBI double to Corbin Carroll — all with one out.
Hard-throwing rookie righty Edgardo Henriquez couldn’t put out the fire from there, giving up one run on a swinging bunt from Gabriel Moreno in front of the plate that spun away from catcher Ben Rortvedt, then another when pinch-hitter Adrian Del Castillo stayed alive on a generous two-strike call (which was no doubt impacted by Rortvedt dropping the pitch behind the plate) before lifting a sacrifice fly to center.
For the second straight night, a late-game three-run lead had evaporated into thin air.
This time, however, manager Dave Roberts had a new card to play. A night after Kershaw volunteered to pitch in relief, the future Hall of Fame left-hander was summoned for the ninth inning.
In what was his first relief appearance since the infamous fifth game of the 2019 NL Division Series, Kershaw was effective. He retired the side in order with the help of a diving catch from Tommy Edman in center. He looked comfortable in the kind of high-leverage relief role the Dodgers might need him to fill come October.
In extras, the rest of the bullpen finally held up. Blake Treinen inherited a bases-loaded jam with two out in the 10th, but got James McCann to fly out to shallow right field. Justin Wrobleski (another pitcher who began this season as a starter) was handed a save situation in the 11th, after Edman singled home a run with his third hit of the night, and retired all three batters he faced.
Readers of the Los Angeles Times Sports section give their thoughts and opinions on Clayton Kershaw retiring, Dodgers pitching woes, the Chargers and more.
Clayton Kershaw blew a kiss to his family, pounded a fist in his glove, then made the familiar trot from the Dodgers’ dugout to the Chavez Ravine mound.
This time, however, he did it alone.
In what was his final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium, coming one day after he announced that he would retire at the end of this year, Kershaw took the field while the rest of his teammates stayed back and applauded.
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On a night of appreciation for his 18-year career, the moment belonged to him — and an adoring fan base that has watched his every step.
The first time Kershaw ever pitched at Dodger Stadium, he was a much-hyped and highly anticipated 20-year-old prospect. His talent immense. His Hall of Fame future in front of him.
When he did it for potentially the last time on Friday night, he was a much-beloved and long-admired 37-year-old veteran. Hardened by the failures that once defined his baseball mortality. Celebrated for the way he had learned to overcome them.
Few athletes in modern sport play for one team, for so long. Fewer still experience the emotional extremes Kershaw was put through, or manage still to weather the storm.
“It hasn’t been a smooth ride,” he said. “We’ve had our ups and downs for sure.”
Between boundless cheers and intermittent boos, historic milestones and horrifying heartbreaks, triumphant summers and torturous falls.
In regular-season play, baseball has maybe never seen a more accomplished pitcher. Kershaw’s 2.54 ERA is the lowest in the live-ball era among those with 100 starts. He is one of the 20 members of MLB’s 3,000 strikeout club. He is one of four pitchers to win three Cy Youngs and an MVP award.
In October, however, no one’s history has been more checkered. There were implosions against the St. Louis Cardinals in 2013 and 2014. The infamous fifth game of the 2017 World Series against the sign-stealing Houston Astros. The nightmare relief appearance in 2019 against the Washington Nationals. Nine trips to the playoffs in his first 11 seasons, without winning a championship once.
In those days, it made Kershaw’s relationship complicated with Dodger Nation. He was heroic until he wasn’t. Clutch until the autumn. It didn’t matter that he was often pitching on short rest, or through injuries and strenuous workloads, or in situations no other pitcher would have ever been tasked. He was the embodiment of the Dodgers’ repeated postseason failings. The face of a franchise that could never clear the final hurdle.
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1.Clayton Kershaw reacts after getting San Francisco’s Jerar Encarnacion to hit into a double play in the third inning Friday night at Dodger Stadium.2.Kershaw acknowledges the cheers from the Dodger Stadium crowd after exiting the game in the fifth inning.3.Kershaw acknowledges the crowd after leaving the game in the fifth inning.4.Kershaw is congratulated by his teammates as he exits the game.5.Kershaw is embraced by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts as he leaves the game in the fifth inning.(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“It’s almost like a relationship, right?” Kershaw said. “You’ve been in it 18 years with them. There’s some great times, and then there’s some times where you probably want to break up for a minute.”
In his case, though, that’s how such an enduring bond was built.
He persevered through such struggles. He kept coming back every season. He finally got over the hump with World Series titles in 2020 and 2024. He never shied away from even his darkest moments.
“With that responsibility as the ace, you’ve got to take on a lot of scrutiny or potential failures,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Everything wasn’t optimal for him. But he never complained about it. Never made an excuse for it.
“I think the fans, certainly at his highest moments, have shown their love for him and support. In those other times, I think it’s just, the fans have been hurting along with him. Wanting so much for a guy that’s been such a stalwart and a great citizen and person for this city and organization.”
“I think the respect, the universal respect, is certainly warranted 10 times over.”
The left-hander threw 4⅓ innings of two-run ball, striking out six batters on four hits and four walks, but it wasn’t his stats that mattered. He struggled with his command, averaged only 89 mph with his fastball, and left the mound with the Dodgers trailing, but the memories from this night will go far beyond that.
From the moment Kershaw emerged on the field at 6:23 p.m., fans rose to their feet. They cheered and chanted his pregame routine in the outfield and bullpen. They roared when his name was introduced shortly before first pitch.
They knew this could be his Dodger Stadium send-off, a sentimental opportunity to say thank you for all he accomplished and all he endured.
Kershaw felt a swirl of emotions, as well, sitting teary-eyed in the outfield while taking in the scene before the game began.
“You’re trying to focus on the night and getting outs, but it’s a special day,” Kershaw said. “It’s the last time here, potentially, and this place has meant so much to me for so long. I didn’t want to not think about it.”
At the start of the first inning, his teammates made sure he wouldn’t. As Kershaw headed to the mound, the Dodgers’ fielders made an impromptu decision to stay back and let him be serenaded with an extended ovation.
“I didn’t love it,” Kershaw joked. “But it was a great gesture.”
And as he stood on the mound alone, he smiled and waved at a moment 18 years in the making.
“This is one of those moments where Dodger fans, you all have seen him for 18 years and watched his career grow and everything that he’s gone through,” Roberts said. “People are going to back and go, ‘I was there for the last time he started a home game at Dodger Stadium.’”
From there, the night was surprisingly tense.
Kershaw gave up a home run on the third pitch of the game to Heliot Ramos. He spent the next four innings battling traffic, stranding two runners later in the first, another two in the second, and two more in the third after a Wilmer Flores RBI single.
By the fourth, it was clear Kershaw was not long for the evening. His pitch count was rising. The bullpen was active. And with two outs in the inning, Willy Adames was extending a two-strike at-bat.
On the ninth pitch of that battle, however, Kershaw finally got a whiff on a slider. For the first time since the first inning, Dodger Stadium erupted once again.
Watch Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw’s full start against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.
Kershaw returned to the mound in the fifth, and struck out Rafael Devers with a fastball at the knees.
With that, his night was over, along with maybe his Dodger Stadium career.
“I feel like the moments that we have right there in front of us, it’s history,” second baseman Miguel Rojas said.
“You had to just kind of be there to really feel the emotions,” shortstop Mookie Betts added.
In the stands, applause echoed through a sell-out crowd of 53,037 — which included former teammates Austin Barnes, Andre Ethier, Russell Martin, Trayce Thompson and AJ Pollock; as well as other Los Angeles sports icons from Magic Johnson to Matthew Stafford (a childhood friend of Kershaw’s from Texas).
After receiving hugs from his infield, and embracing Roberts with an apology (“I’m sorry I pitched so poorly tonight”) and a request (“Not trying to be disrespectful, but I’m keeping this ball”), the pitcher then made the slow walk back from the rubber.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw makes a hugging gesture as he walks off the mound to a standing ovation at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
He took a deep breath. He gave a hugging motion to his family sitting in the loge level. He donned his cap, and repeatedly said thank you to a crowd that never ceased to cheer.
“It hasn’t always been a smooth ride, but you guys have stuck with me,” Kershaw, who also re-emerged from the dugout for a raucous curtain call, reiterated in a postgame on-field interview.
“Dodger Stadium is a super special place, and the fans are the main reason why,” he added in his postgame news conference with reporters. “They continue to come out and support us. Every night, it’s 50,000 people. I wish I had better words other than I’m just so honored and thankful to hear those ovations. I’ll never take that for granted.”
Now, one more October awaits — with the Dodgers (87-67) officially clinching a postseason berth Friday after roaring to the lead on back-to-back home runs from Shohei Ohtani and Betts in the bottom half of the fifth.
Kershaw’s role in this last title chase is uncertain. With a loaded rotation, but shaky relief corps, the Dodgers’ best use for him could come out of the bullpen. Roberts said he envisions Kershaw fitting somewhere on the playoff roster. Kershaw said he can “do the math” and is prepared “to do whatever I can to help.”
Either way, his legacy with the Dodgers, and its forever indebted fan base, had already long before been graciously cemented.
“I’m kind of mentally exhausted today, honestly, but it’s the best feeling in the world now,” Kershaw said. “We got a win, we clinched a playoff berth, and I got to stand on that mound one last time. I just can’t be more grateful.”
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. This is a special bonus edition of the newsletter, because it is the one-year anniversary of something that should be remembered. Special note: I wrote most of the below newsletter Wednesday. On Thursday, Clayton Kershaw announced he is retiring at the end of the season.
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Kershaw is one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, not just Dodger history. He is a first ballot Hall of Famer. We have had a tendency to focus on his shortcomings the last couple of seasons and sometimes let it overshadow the fact he is one of the greatest Dodgers ever. It’s unlikely we will ever see such a great player spend 18 seasons in a Dodger uniform again.
I have other duties here at The Times that make it difficult to write the kind of newsletter tribute Kershaw deserves and have it ready for you to read early Friday morning. So I’m not going to try and I ask for you grace and patience on that. We will have coverage throughout the weekend from our great Dodgers beat writer Jack Harris, and from our columnists such as Bill Plaschke. So I invite you to visit latimes.com/sports this weekend to read what they have to say. We will have a full newsletter devoted to Kershaw next week.
In the meantime…. Kershaw is scheduled to start tonight against the Giants. It will be his final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium. Depending on how the postseason goes, it could be his final Dodger Stadium start ever. He deserves a lengthy standing ovation when he takes the mound. And, hopefully all goes well and he can be removed during the game after a nice start, and get a lengthy standing ovation as he walks off the mound. Dodgers fans won’t see a pitcher like him again.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled bonus newsletter.
Ohtani or Schwarber?
One year ago today, Shohei Ohtani created the 50-50 club. While having perhaps the greatest day on offense (Ohtani was six for six with two doubles, three homers, four runs, two stolen bases and 10 RBIs) in major league history, Ohtani stole his 50th base in the first inning (after doubling to lead off the game). Then after singling, doubling again and homering, he came up in the seventh inning against Miami’s Mike Baumann and hit his 50th home run of the season. You can watch each of his at-bats from that game by clicking here.
It was the first time in the majors anyone had hit 50 homers and stolen 50 bases in the same season. Ohtani had never hit 50 homers (his high was 46 with the Angels in 2021) or stolen 50 bases (26 in 2021). It was part of a magical season that ended with a World Series title.
This season hasn’t been as magical, but Ohtani is having another outstanding season. As good as last season? On offense, no. But any team in the majors would take Ohtani’s offense this season. Ohtani leads the league in runs scored, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, OPS+, plate appearances, total bases and intentional walks. Let’s compare the two years:
Plate appearances 2024: 731 2025: 691
Batting average 2024: .310 2025: .283
On-base % 2024: .390 2025: .395
Slugging % 2024: .646 2025: .617
Runs scored 2024: 134 2025: 138
Doubles 2024: 38 2025: 24
Triples 2024: 7 2025: 8
Home runs 2024: 54 2025: 51
RBIs 2024: 130 2025: 95
Walks 2024: 81 2025: 105
Strikeouts 2024: 162 2025: 175
Stolen bases 2024: 59 2025: 19
OPS+ 2024: 187 2025: 179
WAR 2024: 9.2 2025: 6.7
Stolen bases are down, because pitchers have to protect their legs. But it’s another great season from Ohtani.
And the above doesn’t include the fact that on the mound he is 1-1 with a 3.29 ERA, giving up 35 hits and walking nine in 41 innings while striking out 54. By the way, no one has struck out 50 batters and hit 50 homers in a season until Ohtani this year. Another 50-50 club he has created.
The question is not “Is Shohei Ohtani having a disappointing season?” It’s “Should Ohtani win his third consecutive MVP award? His main competition is Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber. Let’s compare the two:
Plate appearances Ohtani: 691 Schwarber: 684
Batting average Ohtani: .283 Schwarber: .243
On-base % Ohtani: .395 Schwarber: .370
Slugging % Ohtani: .617 Schwarber: .567
Runs scored Ohtani: 138 Schwarber: 106
Doubles Ohtani: 24 Schwarber: 21
Triples Ohtani: 8 Schwarber: 2
Home runs Schwarber: 53 Ohtani: 51
RBIs Schwarber: 128 Ohtani: 95
Walks Ohtani: 105 Schwarber: 104
Strikeouts Schwarber: 181 Ohtani: 175
Stolen bases Ohtani: 19 Schwarber: 10
OPS+ Ohtani: 179 Schwarber: 152
WAR Ohtani: 6.7 Schwarber: 4.8
On the mound, Schwarber has … not pitched. Schwarber is a DH, so he doesn’t get bonus points for his defense.
The four favorites according to Vegas are Ohtani, Schwarber, New York’s Juan Soto and Chicago’s Pete Crow-Armstrong. I would include Arizona’s Geraldo Perdomo in that list, since he leads the NL in WAR and is having a very good season.
The only way Ohtani doesn’t win is if voters decide not to give it to the best player on a disappointing team and instead give it to Schwarber, who is having his best season on a strong Phillies team. Stats don’t always decide it. In 1988, a handful of players had better stats than Kirk Gibson, but Gibson was the most valuable player.
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From Jack Harris: Clayton Kershaw took a deep breath, grasped the microphone with his left hand, then chuckled as he scanned the room around him.
“This,” he said, “is weird.”
Over his 18 seasons with the Dodgers, Kershaw was always wary of putting the spotlight on himself. Now, dozens of teammates, coaches, executives, staffers and media members, as well as his wife, Ellen, and their four kids, all sat before him — witness to his official announcement that he was ending his illustrious playing career.
“I’m going to call it,” Kershaw said. “I’m going to retire.”
After years of grappling with the decision, and ultimately returning to play for the Dodgers into his age-37 season, the future Hall of Fame left-hander made his decision to finally walk away sound simple.
“Going into the season, we kind of knew that this was going to be it, so didn’t want to say anything in case I changed my mind,” he said. “But over the course of the season, just how grateful I am to have been healthy and be out on the mound and be able to pitch, I think it just made it obvious that this was a good sending-off point. And it is. I’ve had the best time this year. It’s been a blast.”
From Jack Harris: Yoshinobu Yamamoto was not at his most efficient Thursday night.
Which meant, even though he pitched 5⅓ scoreless innings against the San Francisco Giants, he left the fate of the game to the Dodgers’ shaky bullpen.
So often on nights like these recently, such a scenario would be a recipe for disaster. Given the way things have been going for the Dodgers’ unreliable relief corps — which entered the night with a 5.65 ERA in September — anything more than a few innings has felt like a big ask.
This time, however, the Dodgers’ relievers found a way to grind things out.
No, Michael Kopech still didn’t have his command. And no, Blake Treinen still didn’t look like himself.
But when they needed to most, the Dodgers’ relievers executed pitches. In a 2-1 win at Dodger Stadium, they did enough to stretch the team’s National League West division lead to three games.
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ANGELS
Christian Yelich went two for four and reached 100 RBIs for the season as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Angels 5-2 on Thursday night.
Yelich doubled home Brice Turang as part of the Brewers’ three-run outburst in the seventh inning that broke a 2-2 tie. This marks Yelich’s first 100-RBI season since 2018, when he had 110 and was named the NL MVP.
The Brewers completed a three-game sweep and reduced their magic number for clinching the NL Central to four. The Angels have lost seven straight.
From Austin Knoblauch: Anze Kopitar, widely considered the greatest player in Kings franchise history and poised to become the team’s all-time leading scorer, announced Thursday he will retire at the end of the 2025-26 season.
“I just felt this is the time, but saying that, I’m looking extremely forward to this next season,” said Kopitar, who added the decision was rooted in spending more time with his family. “I still have a lot of motivation. I’ve got a lot of energy, a lot of desire to compete at the highest level.”
Kopitar said he was confident his decision would hold — even if the Kings made it all the way to Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final.
“My mind is made up. It was a hard decision,” Kopitar said. “I want to get this out of the way now, to where I’m not a distraction for the team. … I just felt that this is the best time.”
Croix Bethune scored on a header in the 71st minute to pull the Washington Spirit into a 2-2 draw with Angel City on Thursday night in the National Women’s Soccer League.
The Spirit (10-4-7) remained in second place in the league standings behind the Kansas City Current with a nine-game unbeaten run.
The draw stopped a two-game losing streak for Angel City (6-9-6), which was below the playoff line but still within reach of a berth.
1925 — Bill Tilden wins his sixth straight U.S. Open tennis championship with a five-set victory over Bill Johnston. Tilden wins 4-6, 11-9, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. It’s the fourth consecutive year that Tilden beats Johnston in the final.
1942 — Alsab, runner-up in the 1942 Kentucky Derby, beats 3-10 favorite Whirlaway, the 1941 Triple Crown champion, by a nose in a $25,000 match race at Narragansett Park. Alsab and Whirlaway meet twice more in 1942, with Whirlaway winning the Jockey Club Gold Cup on Oct.3, and Alsab taking the New York Handicap on Oct. 10.
1948 — Pancho Gonzales, 20, wins the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association title with a 6-2, 6-3, 14-12 victory over Eric Sturgess.
1985 — Minnesota’s Tommy Kramer passes for 436 yards and three touchdowns in the Vikings’ 33-24 loss to the Chicago Bears.
1988 — U.S. Olympic diver Greg Louganis hits his head on diving board at the Seoul Olympics. Louganis hits the board on his ninth dive. He has four temporary stitches put in the top of his head so that he could come back and perform his last two dives. Less than 30 minutes later, he completes a reverse 1 1/2 somersault with 3 1/2 twists and, in the final round, a reverse 3 1/2 somersault in tuck position to secure his place in the medal round.
1992 — Sergei Bubka raises the world record in the pole vault, his 32nd world record, clearing 20 feet, 1½ inches in the Toto International at Tokyo.
1993 — Nigel Mansell overpowers the field in the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix to become the first rookie to win the Indy car PPG Cup championship.
2000 — In the Sydney Olympics, the U.S. softball team strands a staggering 20 baserunners in an 11-inning, 2-1 loss to Japan, which ends a 112-game winning streak. It’s the first loss for the Americans since the 1998 world championships.
2004 — Jerry Rice’s run of 274 straight games with a catch is ended in the Oakland Raiders’ 13-10 victory over the Buffalo Bills. The last time Rice didn’t catch a pass was Dec. 1, 1985, at Washington.
2009 — Texas College of the NAIA is trounced 75-6 by Texas Southern, a week after losing 92-0 to Stephen F. Austin. The Steers fall to 0-4 and have been outscored 300-12.
2010 — Matt Schaub is 38 of 52 for a franchise-record 497 yards with three touchdowns in Houston’s 30-27 overtime win over Washington. Donovan McNabb of the Redskins is 28 of 38 for 426 yards. It’s the first time two quarterbacks throw for 400 yards in an NFL game since 1994.
2015 — Greyson Lambert of Georgia throws for 330 yards, three touchdowns and sets an NCAA record by completing all but one of his 25 passes to lead the to a 52-20 victory over South Carolina. Lambert posts the highest percentage (96.0) in FBS history for a minimum of 20 completions, breaking the mark of 95.8 (23 of 24) shared by Tennessee’s Tee Martin and West Virginia’s Geno Smith.
2015 — Baker Mayfield of Oklahoma, sets a school record with 572 total yards, throws four TD passes and runs for two more scores in the Sooners’ 52-38 victory over Tulsa.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1925 — Ted Lyons lost his bid for a no-hitter when Bobby Veach singled with two outs in the ninth inning. The Chicago White Sox routed the Washington Senators 17-0.
1926 — The St. Louis Cardinals pounded the Philadelphia Phillies 23-3 in the first game of a doubleheader and beat them again in the nightcap, 10-2.
1949 — Ralph Kiner of the Pittsburgh Pirates became the first NL player to hit 50 home runs in two different seasons.
1955 — Ernie Banks of the Chicago Cubs set a major league record with his fifth grand slam of the season in a 12-inning, 6-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
1968 — Denny McLain won his 31st game, the most in the AL since Lefty Grove’s 31 in 1931. The Detroit Tigers beat the New York Yankees 6-2 while Mickey Mantle hit his 535th and next-to-last career homer.
1972 — Minnesota’s Cesar Tovar completed the cycle with a game-winning two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Twins a 5-3 victory over the Texas Rangers.
1973 — Frank Robinson hits his first home run in Arlington Stadium. It was the 32nd major league ballpark in which he had homered.
1984 — Pete Rose reached the 100-hit plateau for the 22nd consecutive year, an all-time record. He also tied the NL record for doubles with 725 as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves 4-2.
1986 — Chicago’s Joe Crowley pitch a no-hitter to lead the White Sox to a 7-1 win over the Angels.
1995 — San Diego’s Ken Caminiti became the first player in major league history to homer from both sides of the plate three times in a season as he went 4-for-4 with a career-high eight RBIs in a 15-4 win over Colorado.
1998 — Seattle’s Alex Rodriguez hit his 40th homer to become the third player in baseball history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season.
2001 — Roger Clemens became the first pitcher in major league history to go 20-1, pitching the New York Yankees to a 6-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
2001 — Albert Pujols set a National League rookie RBI record as St. Louis beat Milwaukee 8-2. Pujols drove in three runs to give him 120 RBIs, breaking the mark of 119 set by Wally Berger in 1930 for the Boston Braves.
2008 — Baseball’s instant replay system produced its first reversal when Tampa Bay’s Carlos Pena had a two-run double changed to a three-run homer during the fourth inning against Minnesota.
2008 — Greg Maddux pitches his 5,000th inning against the San Francisco Giants.
2011 — Mariano Rivera set the major league record with his 602nd save, closing out the New York Yankees’ 6-4 win over the Minnesota Twins.
2017 — A new MLB record for the most home runs in a season, 5,694, is set when Alex Gordon of the Kansas City Royals homers.
2024 — Shohei Ohtani kicks down the door of a brand new club of which he is the only member: the 50-50 club. Today, he gets his first six-hit game, and three of his hits are homers, giving him 51 on the season. He also steals two bases, also reaching (and going past) the 50 mark, all the while driving in ten runs in a 20-4 demolition of the Marlins by the Dodgers. Less than a month ago he became only the sixth member of the 40-40 club, but he now stands all alone in this new level of otherworldly excellence, and incidentally has set a new Dodgers single-season record for home runs (breaking Shawn Green’s mark).
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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Last year, in the middle of a World Series celebration he had spent two decades dreaming about, Clayton Kershaw took the mic at Dodger Stadium and made a declaration.
“I love you guys, thank you!” he shouted to an adoring Chavez Ravine crowd.
Kershaw’s announcement, which came in a press release from the team, preceded what could now be his final Dodger Stadium start scheduled for Friday night.
That game will mark his 246th time taking the bump at the only ballpark he has ever called home. Depending on what happens in October, when Kershaw will make one more run at one more championship, it could be his last.
After 222 wins, more than 2,800 innings, and a career 2.54 ERA, his countdown to Cooperstown will begin this winter.
After serving as the face of the franchise during one of the most successful runs in club history, the book will finally be closing on his illustrious Dodgers career.
Kershaw’s retirement had been a long time coming. Over each of the past four offseasons, he contemplated whether or not to walk away from the game. An 11-time All-Star and five-time ERA champion, he long ago ensured his spot as a future Hall of Fame pitcher. As the franchise’s all-time strikeout leader, his place in club lore had already been enshrined.
Yet, the 37-year-old Kershaw never lost his desire to play.
Despite an elbow injury at the end of the 2021 season, a shoulder surgery after the 2023 campaign, and foot and knee procedures this past offseason, he came back to continue his Dodgers career — never ready to give up another title chase.
This year, he has authored the kind of renaissance season that once felt beyond him. He is 10-2 in 20 starts with a 3.53 ERA, succeeding despite diminished fastball velocity and a decline in overall stuff. He has been an integral member of a first-place Dodgers team. And though one more postseason run lies ahead, with the Dodgers trying to defend last year’s World Series title, he decided his time in baseball was finally up.
“On behalf of the Dodgers, I congratulate Clayton on a fabulous career and thank him for the many moments he gave to Dodger fans and baseball fans everywhere, as well as for all of his profound charitable endeavors,” Dodgers owner Mark Walter said in the team’s release. “His is a truly legendary career, one that we know will lead to his induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Originally drafted seventh overall by the Dodgers out of Highland Park High School in Texas in 2006, Kershaw has spent the entirety of his professional life in the organization, going from top prospect to young sensation to Cy Young winner to pitcher of his generation.
He made his MLB debut in 2008, and broke out as a star the following year. By 2011, he had earned his first All-Star selection, his first ERA title and his first Cy Young Award. The accolades would keep coming after that — with Kershaw leading the majors in ERA each season from 2011-2014, winning two more Cy Youngs in 2013 and 2014, and becoming only only the 22nd pitcher to ever win MVP honors with his 21-3, 1.77-ERA season in that historic 2014 campaign.
The back half of Kershaw’s career was plagued by injuries, starting with a bad back that sidelined him for part of 2016.
Still, he earned another ERA in 2017, while helping the Dodgers win their first pennant in 29 years. He had a resurgent performance in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, going 6-2 in the regular season with a 2.16 ERA before finally experiencing a World Series title.
Up to that point, the postseason was the only area were Kershaw struggled. In 32 playoff outings from 2008-2019, he was 9-11 with a 4.43 ERA — mediocre numbers underscored by excruciating collapses against the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros and Washington Nationals along the way.
But in 2020, Kershaw vanquished such demons, making five starts and going 4-1 with a 2.93 ERA in the Dodgers’ first victorious World Series run since 1998. The title, Kershaw has said since, meant more than even he could have ever imagined.
“I think having that [World Series] definitely started letting me relax a little bit more,” Kershaw said in 2023. “I didn’t realize I had been carrying that weight that much.”
And once he won it once, the notoriously competitive left-hander craved to do it again.
That’s why, even as his body has continued to break down in recent years, Kershaw kept coming back every spring. He believed, when healthy, he could still contribute to a World Series roster. And despite numerous free-agent flirtations with his hometown Texas Rangers, he always saw the Dodgers as the best way to get there.
It made last year’s World Series title a sentimental one for the iconic left-hander. Kershaw was a limited participant, making only seven starts in the regular season before missing the playoffs with his foot and knee problems. But he relished in the celebration, especially the title-winning parade that the 2020 team had been denied by the pandemic.
BALTIMORE — The day started with a couple of Shohei Ohtani home runs. It continued with a strong 5 ⅔ inning start from Clayton Kershaw. And it ended with the Dodgers in a celebratory postgame line, trading victorious high-fives near the mound.
After five straight losses, several weeks of mounting frustration, and the most painful collapse imaginable the night before, the Dodgers took a crucial first step toward righting their sinking ship on Sunday.
They beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-2, finally finding a way to hold a late-game lead.
They ended an otherwise disastrous road trip on a sorely needed high note.
It was the kind of day the Dodgers were desperately searching for amid their recent struggles, which reached a new low when their no-hitter turned walk-off nightmare on Saturday trimmed their division lead down to just one game.
That game was the kind of loss that threatened to throw the Dodgers into an all-out nose-dive; an unthinkable defeat that, on top of their previously mounting frustrations, turned Sunday into yet another gut check for the long-slumping club (which entered Sunday 10 games under .500 since July 4).
“We’ve got to keep going,” manager Dave Roberts said pregame. “It’s hard. It’s not fun going through it. These guys feel it. But I just refuse to relent and not be optimistic and positive. Just keep going. That’s all we can do.”
Ohtani helped the Dodgers (79-64) turn the page quickly Sunday. Facing a fellow Japanese native in Tomoyuki Sugano, Ohtani launched the second pitch he saw to center for a leadoff home run. It was his 12th leadoff blast of the year, tying Mookie Betts’ franchise record for a single season.
On Ohtani’s next trip to the plate, the two-way star went deep again, blasting his 48th home run of the year on a 2-and-0 fastball. And in the next at-bat, Mookie Betts made it back-to-back deep flies with a drive to left.
Just like that, the Dodgers had a 3-0 lead — which was later extended to 4-0 after Miguel Rojas scored from third on an errant pickoff throw from Baltimore catcher Alex Jackson in the fourth.
And unlike Saturday, they managed to hold onto it, finally matching a productive day at the plate with a stout (if not entirely stress-free) performance from the pitching staff.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw delivers in the third inning against the Orioles on Sunday.
(Terrance Williams / Associated Press)
As he has repeatedly this year, Kershaw served as a stopper to another Dodgers slider, setting a new season high with eight strikeouts while giving up just two hits through his first five innings.
Kershaw got knocked out of the game in the sixth, following a Gunnar Henderson single and RBI double from Emmanuel Rivera. Edgardo Henriquez flirted with disaster after that, giving up another RBI double to Jackson and a loud fly ball to Dylan Carlson that died at the warning track.
But from there, the Dodgers settled back down. Justin Wrobleski provided two key innings of scoreless relief, stranding the final five batters he faced after putting two aboard in the seventh. The Dodgers tacked on an insurance run in the ninth, when Betts hit an RBI single off the wall (he was held to just the one base after not hustling out of the box) following a leadoff single from Ben Rortvedt and a walk from Ohtani (his third of the day, reaching base in all five trips to the plate).
And after being walked off by the Orioles (66-77) each of the first two nights at Camden Yards this weekend, the Dodgers avoided more fireworks in the ninth, when rookie left-hander Jack Dreyer came on for his third save of the season.
Granted, one win will put only the slightest dent in the damage the past week has done.
Instead of extending their National League West lead and making a run for a top-two seed in the NL, the Dodgers let the San Diego Padres (who have also been slumping) hang around in the division and the Philadelphia Phillies (who currently hold the No. 2 seed, which comes with a first-round bye in the playoffs) pull away in the standings.
Instead of capitalizing on a weak spot in the schedule, they will return home with a 1-5 record against two last-place teams.
However, given the way Saturday ended, the season was starting to feel dangerously close to the brink. Sunday’s win, for at least one day, helped calm the waters. At a point they could have completely imploded, they managed to rebound with a long-awaited win.
The Dodgers might be sprinting toward the finish line this year, trying to edge out the San Diego Padres in a tight National League West race.
But on Tuesday night, they made a 6-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds feel more like a nice, leisurely stroll.
Clayton Kershaw continued his renaissance season, pitching five innings of one-run ball to earn a fifth-consecutive victory (his longest such streak since the end of the 2022 season). The offense steadily wore the Reds’ pitching staff down, answering a first-inning Cincinnati run with one of their own before taking the lead for good in the fourth.
And it all added up to a third-straight win for the Dodgers (76-57), keeping them alone in first place atop the division.
Kershaw provided the bedrock for Tuesday’s victory.
The left-hander was pitching on four days’ rest for the third time this season (more than anyone else on the team), so that Shohei Ohtani could be lined up to start ahead of an off day on Wednesday. And early on, the Reds (68-65) tagged him with a quick run, after Spencer Steer led off with a double and later scored on Miguel Andújar’s groundout.
Starting with that grounder, however, Kershaw proceeded to retire the last 14 batters he faced. Six came via strikeout, marking his second-highest strikeout total this season. And of balls put in play, only four were “hard hit” (with an exit velocity greater than 95 mph). Not one left the bat at more than 100 mph.
It was the latest example of the 37-year-old left-hander’s newfound recipe for success: Once again hitting his spots with an 88-mph fastball, leaning heavily on a slider that generated five whiffs and four outs, and mixing in his trademark curveball and newfangled splitter to keep an entirely right-handed Reds lineup off-balance in a 72-pitch outing.
Given the low pitch count, Kershaw might have been able to go past the fifth. He and manager Dave Roberts appeared to have a brief conversation in the dugout before shaking hands, a sign his night was over. But between his quick (by modern-day standards, at least) four-day turnaround, and the team’s careful management of his workload overall this season, Kershaw’s five innings were plenty.
On the season, Kershaw is 9-2 with a 3.06 ERA, third-best among Dodgers starters this year. He also finishes August with a 1.88 ERA in five starts, third-best among National League starters for the month.
While Kershaw cruised, the Dodgers’ offense also found a groove.
They erased the early 1-0 deficit in the bottom of the first, when Mookie Betts walked, Freddie Freeman doubled and Betts scored on a throwing error by Reds left fielder Austin Hays.
They took a 2-1 lead in the fourth, after a leadoff double from Teoscar Hernández, an infield single from Michael Conforto on a scorching comebacker that ripped the glove right off the hand of Reds pitcher Nick Martinez, and a sacrifice fly from Kiké Hernández (who returned to the lineup for the first time since early July after being out with an elbow injury).
Then, in the sixth, they broke the game open with a four-run rally.
Will Smith turned around a center-cut fastball for an opposite-field, leadoff home run, a positive sign for the slumping catcher who entered the night with a .150 batting average in August and only one long ball in his previous 25 games.
Miguel Rojas came off the bench for a two-run double later in the inning, smoking a flyball to deep center that got Noelvi Marte (who was making his first career MLB start in the middle of the outfield) turned around at the warning track.
Ohtani followed that with an RBI single to right, helping him break a one-for-16 skid.
The only bad news for the Dodgers on Tuesday came pregame, when left-handed reliever Alex Vesia was placed on the injured list with a right oblique strain. The severity of his injury was not immediately known.
But even without him, the Dodgers’ bullpen largely coasted in relief of Kershaw. Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott, both having recently returned from the IL, pitched scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth (giving Scott his first save since returning). And though Hays hit a two-run home run in the seventh off Ben Casparius, it did little to make Tuesday feel like anything more than a late-season cakewalk — even amid a mad dash down the season’s closing stretch.
Sasaki’s latest rehab start
In triple-A Oklahoma City, rookie pitcher Roki Sasaki made the third start of his minor-league rehab stint, giving up three runs in 3 ⅔ innings on five hits, two walks and four strikeouts. The most encouraging takeaway from the outing was Sasaki’s fastball velocity, which averaged 96 mph for a second-straight outing and topped out at 98.8 mph — the hardest he has thrown in his recovery from a shoulder injury. Sasaki is expected to make at least one more rehab start before being ready to be activated.
DENVER — When the Dodgers arrived in Colorado on Sunday night they had a golden opportunity to pad their narrow division lead against with the worst team in the majors. The best they could do was hold serve, needing Thursday’s 9-5 win over the Rockies to earn a split of the four-game series.
Now they head to San Diego for a crucial three-game series against the Padres with the division lead once again up for grabs.
“I wish we had won all four, but it just didn’t happen,” Dodger manager Dave Roberts said. “That’s just the way baseball is. So we’ve got to go out there and regardless of the standings, we’ve got to beat those guys.”
The standings, however, loom large. On July 7, the Dodgers led the division by six games. The margin is now just a game.
The Padres, who have won 12 of 19 games in August, are the third-hottest team in the National League this month. The Dodgers are a game over .500.
“It is what it is,” Roberts said. “It’s where we’re at right now and I can’t change it. I feel good about our club going into San Diego.”
His club will have a bit of momentum on its side after scoring 20 runs on 30 hits in the two wins at Coors Field. Thursday’s matinee saw four players finish with multiple hits, including third baseman Alex Freeland, who was a career-best three for five with a run scored and another driven in. Freeland had six hits in the final three games in Denver.
“It’s just like I’m building confidence now,” said Freeland, who entered Thursday hitting .180 since his call-up from Triple A Oklahoma City three weeks ago. “I’ve kind of spent a little time here now and I’m getting comfortable.”
The Dodgers also got a fourth straight strong effort from starter Clayton Kershaw (8-2), who gave up three runs in 5 2/3 innings. Kershaw has allowed just five runs over 23 2/3 innings this month, dropping his season ERA nearly 50 points to 3.13.
That was also good enough to keep his team in first, something he noted afterward.
Fans applaud as Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw heads to the dugout after being pulled from the mound in the sixth inning Thursday.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
“You can’t take anything for granted in Colorado, obviously,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we’re [one] up going in [to San Diego]. So we feel good about it.”
Freeland agreed.
“We definitely could have produced more. But you know what? We’re going to take this one today and take this momentum and bring it into San Diego,” he said.
After Kershaw won the opener of a three-game series with the Padres at Dodger Stadium a week ago, the teams were even atop the N.L. The Dodgers wound up sweeping that series and have won eight of 10 with the Padres overall this year.
“We’ve played well against those guys this year,” Roberts said. “They’re going to give us everything they have this weekend.”
The Dodgers got started early Thursday with Mookie Betts, who reached base four times, opening the game by walking on five pitches. Freddie Freeman followed with a two-run home run, his 16th of the season, to center field.
The Rockies cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning on a popup that got lost in the sun, a sacrifice bunt, a balk and an RBI groundout. But they would get no closer, with the Dodgers scoring in each of the first five innings to take an 8-2 lead.
Freeland had his first career triple along with a double and single, falling a homer shy of the cycle. He had six hits in the final three games in Denver. Betts finished two for three with two walks and two runs scoring while Freeman, who was two for five, raised his season average to .304 and is hitting .328 for August.
Notes: Roberts said pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani is fine after taking a line drive off his right thigh in Wednesday’s game. Ohtani was scheduled to have Thursday off and Roberts said he’ll be back in the lineup Friday. … The Dodgers will activate reliever Tanner Scott before Friday’s game in San Diego and reliever Kirby Yates on Saturday. Scott has been out a month with inflammation in his left elbow while Yates has missed three weeks with lower back pain. … Right-hander Roki Sasaki made progress in his second rehab start Wednesday, going 3 1/3 innings and giving up two runs (one earned) on three hits. He walked three and struck out two before leaving after 60 pitches. He will make another rehab start next week before the Dodgers make any decision on his role in September. The team had talked about using Sasaki in a relief role.
When the Dodgers are reeling and roiling and losing their grip on a long hot summer, who is the one player who can stop the fall and calm the nerves and, oh yeah, kick some San Diego Padre butt?
Still, still, still, Clayton Kershaw.
He’s 37 with a battered 18-season body and a fastball the speed of a Zamboni and yet there he was Friday night, carrying an entire worried Dodger nation on his weary shoulders into the opener of a three-game series against the cocky rivals who had just stolen first place.
“We had the right guy on the mound tonight, I think we all know that,” said manager Dave Roberts, smiling for what seemed like the first time in a week. “What he did for us tonight, not only just the compete, but the stuff … getting us through six innings was huge, setting us up for the rest of the series … Clayton set the tone … big, big outing by him.”
It was a blast from the past, only it’s been happening in the present, Kershaw behaving like the staff’s second-best starter, improving his record to 7-2 while lowering his ERA to 3.01 and, as crazy as this once sounded, making an early case for inclusion in the postseason rotation.
“It was a good night,” Kershaw said.
Understated as usual. For all this game meant, it was a great night.
Since July 4 the Dodgers had been worse than even the Colorado Rockies, with a 12-21 record while losing 10 games in the standings to the Padres in a span of 40 days, surrendering first place just two days ago, and set to play the Padres six times in the next two weeks.
They desperately needed somebody to stop the bleeding. And before the game, Roberts claimed that Kershaw was “the perfect guy” to do it.
Perfect prediction. Almost perfect performance.
There was Kershaw, spinning and steering and surfing the ball past the Padre bats with apparent ease, his only mistake a hanging curve that Ramón Laureano hit 400 feet.
There was Kershaw, deftly making plays from the mound, demonstrably pleading for every close strike call, proudly stalking from the mound into a dugout filled with hugs and high-fives.
And there was Kershaw, after his maligned bullpen danced through danger and barely survived, admitting that maybe this game meant a little more.
“When you play everyday, things can spiral pretty quick,” he said. “So maybe just coming home, having an off day to reset, and playing good games … it just takes one to get going. Hopefully this was it tonight for us.”
Before the game, Roberts acknowledged that the Dodgers just play harder, and with more urgency, when Kershaw is pitching.
“He had a way of elevating people’s focus and play,” Roberts said.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw turns to walk back to the dugout after the Dodgers completed a double play against the Padres in the sixth inning Friday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Sure enough, a team that had seemingly forgotten to do the little things did every little thing, from great defensive plays at the corners from Alex Freeland and Freddie Freeman to the eighth-inning sweeper from Blake Treinen that fooled Manny Machado into stranding two runners with a popout.
This is a team that devoutly follows Kershaw … when they’re not sitting back and admiring him.
“He’s built for these big moments,” said Teoscar Hernández, whose seventh inning homer eventually proved to be the difference. “He is a legend.”
Kershaw was at his best when the Dodgers’ best was needed, and in doing so he brought sanity back to the National League West and old-fashioned hardball back to a series that had become cheap and unseemly.
In these two teams’ seven previous meetings this season, the Padres Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit three times, Shohei Ohtani was hit twice, and Roberts and Padres manager Mike Shildt engaged in a brief shoving and shouting match.
The stage was set for more bad blood, but Kershaw, who entered with a career 23-11 record and 2.19 ERA against the Padres, quickly put an end to that. He retired the Padres on a three-up-three-down first inning and efficiently dominated them from there.
“It’s a game in August, obviously, it’s not that huge a deal,” Kershaw said. “But the way we were going, it felt like a big game for us and, thankful that we got a win.”
The only possible controversy emerged when Kershaw was removed from the game after just 76 pitches, surprising fans who didn’t have time to give him the proper standing ovation while leaving the game in the shaky hands of the bullpen.
Get used to it. The Dodgers are smartly going to protect the midseason Kershaw in hopes of maximizing the October Kershaw.
“I just think we’ve got to take care of him,” Roberts said. “For Clayton to give us six strong innings of one-run baseball, he did his job, there was no reason to push him more.”
Before the game, Roberts was asked if his struggling team held a players-only meeting. He said that, no, the transparent results of the next week would be the equivalent of any meeting.
“I don’t like to be embarrassed, I don’t think our players do, so this series I’m expecting high intensity and high performance,” Roberts said. “I think in itself, the schedule over the next week, will suffice in lieu of a meeting.”
In an opener that pulled the two teams into a first-place tie, the early results were clear.
On a night the Dodgers had a stadium-wide giveaway promotion for the anime show “Demon Slayer,” the club slayed a few recently troublesome demons of its own.
In the opening game of this season’s biggest series to date, they finally found a way not to trip over themselves.
By beating the San Diego Padres 3-2 at Dodger Stadium, the club moved back into a tie with the Padres for first place in the National League West.
They got six strong innings from Clayton Kershaw; plus, in a refreshing change of pace, plenty of crisp, clean defense behind him.
And though a lineup that lost Max Muncy to the injured list with an oblique strain before the game was largely contained by the Padres (who had to go with a bullpen game after scheduled starter Michael King was shelved with a shoulder injury), the Dodgers still managed to break their four-game losing streak thanks to their biggest weakness of late.
For the first time in what felt like several weeks, a scuffling bullpen finally didn’t cough up a late, narrow lead.
The Dodgers (69-53) came into this weekend’s rivalry series reeling in a way that once seemed impossible for this year’s $400-million team.
Since July 4, they were just 12-21. What had been a nine-game division lead then was transformed into a one-game deficit to the Padres, who came to Los Angeles riding high thanks to a monster trade deadline and a recent 14-3 streak.
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More dark clouds formed a few hours before first pitch when Muncy (who missed Wednesday’s game with side soreness) was placed on the injured list with a Grade 1 oblique strain, sidelining him for at least the next several weeks.
And though the Dodgers had taken five of seven games from the Padres (69-53) earlier this season, they suddenly felt more like an underdog now, searching for answers to their recently inconsistent offense, unsound fundamentals and untrustworthy bullpen (which had squandered five games in the past two weeks).
“I don’t like to be embarrassed. I don’t think our players do [either],” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “So this series, I’m expecting high intensity and high performance.”
The Dodgers delivered on both.
Kershaw set the tone, displaying a vintage demeanor even with his ever-diminished stuff. Before the game, he marched through the clubhouse and hunched over his locker, leafing through a scouting report while teammates carefully tip-toed around him. Between innings, he quietly paced in the dugout while avoiding almost any human contact. And when he was atop the mound, he pounded the strike zone and executed pitch after pitch, yielding his only run in the second inning when Ramón Laureano (one of several sizzling San Diego deadline acquisitions) clipped the outside of the left-field foul pole to open the scoring.
“There’s just no one more intense or focused than Clayton,” Roberts said. “He has a way of elevating people’s focus and play.”
It certainly appeared that way. Defensively, the Dodgers helped Kershaw out by turning several tough plays around the infield — from Freddie Freeman picking a ball in the dirt the second inning, to Alex Freeland and then Kershaw himself making tough plays in the third and fifth, respectively.
At the plate, the Dodgers also managed to capitalize on a bases-loaded, no-out opportunity in the third, after singles from Michael Conforto and Freeland were followed by a popped-up Miguel Rojas bunt that Padres third baseman Manny Machado couldn’t catch with a dive.
The Dodgers didn’t get another hit in the inning, but Shohei Ohtani drove in one run by beating out a potential double-play ball. Mookie Betts then added a go-ahead sacrifice fly.
The score remained 2-1 until Teoscar Hernández belted an opposite-field homer in the seventh, producing a massively important insurance run.
Then, it was up to the bullpen, which was asked to protect the kind of slim late-game lead they’ve squandered all too often during the team’s recent skid.
Dodgers relief pitcher Jack Dreyer celebrates after the final out of a 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Ben Casparius pitched a scoreless seventh inning, stranding a two-out double from Jackson Merrill.
Alex Vesia created a jam in the eighth by hitting two batters and loading the bases on a walk. But the Padres only managed one run, with Vesia getting Luis Arraez to hit a sacrifice fly before Blake Treinen came on and retired Manny Machado on a first-pitch pop-up.
In the ninth inning, surprisingly, Roberts didn’t stick with Treinen — who they’ve been wary of using for multiple innings as he continues to work his way back from an early-season elbow injury.
The move might’ve been questionable. But, at long last, the result didn’t backfire.
Alexis Díaz and Jack Dreyer pitched around a single from Merrill in the ninth.
The Dodgers finally held on to a late lead. And after spending the last 48 hours in second place, the team climbed back to the top of the division standings, exorcising the close-game demons that had so dauntingly haunted them over the last several weeks.
But, in what became a frustrating 4-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, Crochet bobbed and weaved around every knockout blow the Dodgers tried to land.
“I thought we played hard. I thought we competed,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He made pitches when he needed to.”
Indeed, in a game that was decided on the margins — through high-leverage at-bats and two-strike battles and risky decisions that backfired on the basepaths — Crochet was just a little bit better than Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw, using his heavy fastball and premium all-around stuff to wiggle out of trouble in a way his aging 37-year-old counterpart couldn’t.
While Crochet limited damage over the rest of his six-inning start, striking out 10 batters to prevent each of the eight other Dodgers who reached base from scoring, Kershaw faltered when his back was up against the wall, yielding the lead in a three-run second inning before exiting after another run in the fifth.
“Obviously, when you’re facing a guy like Crochet, there’s not gonna be a ton of runs,” said Kershaw, who once invoked such fear from opponents but now has to grind with gradually diminished stuff. “Our guys did a good job getting a lead there early and really having good at-bats. Just frustrating not to be able to hold it.”
Making his first career regular-season start at Fenway Park (he had only previously pitched here in the 2018 World Series), Kershaw appeared to be battling his mechanics from the start. He delivered a first-pitch strike to only five of the first 14 batters. Even worse, he couldn’t put guys away on two-strike counts.
It culminated in the three-run second inning from the Red Sox (56-50). Trevor Story worked a leadoff walk. Carlos Narváez belted a double off the Green Monster. And, on a night he had two triples and a double, Jarren Duran laced a line drive to center that got over Andy Pages’ head to plate two runs (Duran would later score on a sacrifice fly).
All three batters did their damage with two strikes.
“Needed to figure it out a little bit better,” Kershaw said of the second inning. “The last few innings [after that], I actually felt pretty good with everything. Just couldn’t make the adjustment that second inning. And that’s what cost us.”
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1.Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw delivers in the first inning Saturday.2.Boston starting pitcher Garrett Crochet delivers in the first inning Saturday.(Steven Senne / Associated Press)
Kershaw eventually settled down. He rediscovered his command in the third, working around a pair of singles with a double-play grounder and strikeout of Story. He found the kind of rhythm that has keyed his surprisingly strong 18th season from there, retiring seven consecutive batters to work his way into the fifth inning.
But with two outs in the fifth, Red Sox slugger Alex Bregman outlasted Kershaw in another two-strike battle, bouncing a single through the infield on the 10th pitch of the at-bat. Then, rookie star Roman Anthony drove him home with a double off the Monster.
Kershaw’s night ended there, with four runs (tying the second-most earned runs he has allowed this season) and only two strikeouts over 4⅔ innings raising his season earned-run average to 3.62.
“Could have been a super frustrating day,” Kershaw said. “Now it’s only mildly frustrating — just that that’s still in there, I can still get people out. It’s just that second inning got to me.”
Crochet, meanwhile, never wavered after the Dodgers (61-44) did their early damage.
“When you’re facing guys like Crochet, you don’t get so many good pitches to hit,” Hernández said. “The ones that you do, you just have to put it in play and hopefully you can get good contact, do some damage, like we did in the first inning. After that, he was throwing the ball very good. He didn’t miss many pitches in the strike zone.”
The Dodgers, in an effort to manufacture extra offense, didn’t help their own cause on the bases, either.
After the first-inning home runs, another rally fizzled when Freddie Freeman was thrown out trying to go from first to third base on a Pages single that was initially booted by Duran in left field.
The Dodgers challenged the call, with Roberts applauding Freeman’s aggressiveness from the dugout, but the out was upheld. Tommy Edman lined out to end the inning an at-bat later.
“I thought that was a good play, I liked that,” Roberts said of Freeman’s decision. “He’s got to make a perfect throw to get Freddie right there. But in a first and third [situation] with a two-run lead, if we get into a situational spot right there, it could’ve been a different game.”
Instead, the rest of the night was more of the same.
The Dodgers had two other innings end with outs on the bases. Hernández was caught stealing for the final out of the fifth (on a close play the Dodgers were unable to review after burning their challenge earlier, but one Hernández was told likely would’ve been upheld). Will Smith was gunned down trying to turn a single into a double in the seventh, after Crochet’s exit.
“If you try to play it straight and try to collect a bunch of hits, it’s just not going to happen,” Roberts said of the Dodgers’ game plan on the bases. “We had a chance early and then he started bearing down and the velocity ticked up. Then hits were harder to come by.”
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani examines his bat before striking out in the fourth inning Saturday.
(Steven Senne / Associated Press)
And if that wasn’t enough, Ohtani squandered several more chances in deflating sequences at the plate.
Despite extending his National League lead with his 38th home run to start the game, the slugger also moved into the top-five of the NL in strikeouts with three in each of his remaining at-bats Saturday, finishing with 124 on the season.
In both the second and fourth, No. 9 hitter Hyeseong Kim managed to single off Crochet (surprising results given Kim’s recent struggles, which Roberts said have been magnified by a recent shoulder injury). But both times, Ohtani followed with inning-ending Ks, chasing out of the zone on a fastball up and a cutter that was well away.
The Dodgers, nonetheless, gave themselves one last chance against Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman in the ninth, bringing the tying run to the plate after a two-out walk from Esteury Ruiz.
The batter representing that tying run: Mookie Betts, who was out of the starting lineup for a second straight game after spending the week back home in Nashville following a death in his family, but arrived at the ballpark shortly after first pitch to be available to pinch-hit.
His number was called with the game on the line, in what marked just his second trip back to Fenway Park since being traded from the Red Sox to the Dodgers in 2020.
Alas, the former MVP brought a night of missed chances to a frustratingly fitting conclusion, getting rung up on a called third strike to set up a series rubber match Sunday.
ATLANTA — In a week where so much of the focus was on players who weren’t playing in the All-Star Game, and those who were selected that weren’t seen as deserving, it was the player who had been in more Midsummer Classics than anyone else who delivered the most profound reminder.
Before the start of Major League Baseball’s 95th All-Star Game at Truist Park in Atlanta, National League manager Dave Roberts called upon longtime Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw to speak in the clubhouse.
And in an impromptu pregame speech as the team’s elder statesman, Kershaw imparted the most important lesson he’s learned from his 11 All-Star Games.
“The All-Star Game, it can be hard at times for the players,” Kershaw recounted when asked about his message to the team. “It’s a lot of travel, it’s a lot of stress, chaos, family, all this stuff.”
“But,” the 37-year-old future Hall of Famer added, “it’s meaningful, it’s impactful for the game, it’s important for the game. We have the best All-Star Game of any sport. We do have the best product. So to be here, to realize your responsibility to the sport is important … And I just said I was super honored to be part of it.”
Kershaw, admittedly, was picked for this year’s game for more sentimental reasons than anything.
After making only 10 starts in the first half of the year following offseason foot and knee surgeries, the future Hall of Famer was shoehorned in as a “Legend Pick” by commissioner Rob Manfred, getting the nod a week after becoming the 20th pitcher in MLB with 3,000 strikeouts.
The honor made Kershaw feel awkward, with the three-time Cy Young Award winner repeatedly joking that he hadn’t really deserved to return to the All-Star Game for the first time since 2023, despite his 4-1 record and 3.38 ERA so far this season.
At first, he acknowledged, he even had a little hesitancy about participating in this week’s festivities in Atlanta.
“My initial response was just, you don’t ever want to take somebody’s spot,” he said. “You don’t ever want to be a side show.”
A side show, however, Kershaw was not.
Instead, as the man with the most All-Star selections of anyone in this year’s game (and the fourth-most by a pitcher), Kershaw was at the center of one of the most memorable moments from the National League’s win on a tiebreaking home run derby after a 6-6 tie.
Upon entering the game at the start of the second inning, he retired the first two batters he faced; the latter, a strikeout looking of Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He then turned to the dugout to see Roberts coming to get him, ending what could very well be his final appearance in the Midsummer Classic (even though, he has made a point of noting, he has not made any decision on retirement after the season).
And as he exited the mound, he was serenaded with one of the night’s loudest ovations, waving a hand in appreciation before blowing a kiss to his family in the stands.
“I didn’t anticipate to be here. I definitely didn’t anticipate to pitch,” Kershaw said. “So it was awesome. So thankful for it now.”
Many others in Atlanta felt the same way about sharing the week with Kershaw.
Shohei Ohtani watches his base hit during the first inning.
(Brynn Anderson / Associated Press)
NL starter Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates had the locker next to Kershaw in the Truist Park clubhouse, and joked his only hope was that veteran left-hander wouldn’t get sick of him by the end of the event.
“He’s such a class act, it’s just so impressive,” Skenes said. “We were in the waiting room before the red carpet today, and he had all his kids, and watching him as dad too, it was a cool experience.”
San Francisco Giants ace Logan Webb recalled his memories of watching Kershaw while growing up in Northern California.
“I just respect him so much, watching him pitch,” Webb said. “You could’ve asked me five years ago, and you could’ve said Clayton Kershaw was a legend already. He is a legend. I’m just happy I’m able to share a clubhouse with him.”
Kershaw’s lighter side was on display Tuesday, as well, with the pitcher mic’d up with the Fox broadcast team for his brief outing.
“I’m gonna try to throw some cheese real quick, hold on,” he joked while unleashing an 89-mph fastball to Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, which turned into a lineout in left thanks to a diving effort from Kyle Tucker of the Chicago Cubs.
“Hey!” Kershaw exclaimed. “That was sick.”
On his first pitch to Guerrero, Kershaw threw another fastball that the Blue Jays’ star took for a strike.
“Right down the middle,” Kershaw said. “I’m so glad he didn’t swing.”
When Guerrero got to a 1-and-1 count after a curveball in the dirt, Kershaw contemplated his next pitch.
“I think I probably gotta go slider,” he said. “Let’s see what Will thinks.”
Behind the plate, teammate Will Smith instead called for a curveball.
“Nope, he wants curveball again,” Kershaw laughed. “All right, fine.”
Guerrero swung through it — “Oh, got him,” he said — before freezing on a slider two pitches later for a called third strike.
“I’m getting blown up by former teammates saying, ‘Wow, you’ve changed so much,’ and they’re right,” Kershaw joked afterward, acknowledging his once-fiery demeanor never would have allowed him to embrace an in-game interview like that. “I don’t think I would’ve ever done that [in the past]. But it was actually kind of fun.”
Really, that was the theme of Kershaw’s whole week.
Reluctantly accepting his stature as one of the game’s most decorated players. Accepting an invitation designed to honor his career accomplishments. And providing a reminder of the All-Star Game’s meaning, in what will perhaps be his last time on such a stage.
“It’s a very awesome, special thing to get to come to All-Star Games,” he said. “I remember the first one, how special that was. And I don’t think a lot has changed for me over the years to get to come to these things. So I don’t take that for granted. I think it’s really awesome. I mean, I shouldn’t be here anyway, so it’s very possible this could be my last one. So it was just a very awesome night, special.”
ATLANTA — Seven days ago, Jacob Misiorowski was really only known by the most die-hard of baseball fans.
And even then, he was far from any sort of household commodity.
“I don’t even know who I’m pitching against,” future Hall of Fame Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw said last week, a day before squaring off against the Milwaukee Brewers’ rookie phenom who had made only four career starts prior.
“Is that the guy who twisted his ankle on the mound, the ‘Twisted-His-Ankle’ guy?’” Kershaw added, able only to recall a widely shared clip of Misiorowski having to exit his MLB debut a month earlier amid five hitless innings after turning his ankle on the downslope of the hill.
“I know he throws hard. I saw a couple highlights,” Kershaw continued.
But, as far as the 23-year-old’s reputation was concerned, that was it — both to Kershaw, and most casual observers of the sport.
Then, however, came the game that changed everything — for Misiorowski, Major League Baseball and the conversation around this year’s All-Star festivities in Atlanta.
Last Tuesday, Misiorowski had his official coming-out party with a dominant six-inning, one-run, 12-strikeout gem against the mighty Dodgers — easily the most electrifying outing of the young flamethrower’s nascent career.
Days later, in a move that stunned the sport, Misiorowski was unexpectedly added to the National League All-Star team — an immediately controversial move given his one total month of big-league service time.
On Monday, at an All-Star media day event near Truist Park in Atlanta, Misiorowski’s presence was still dominating story lines at the Midsummer Classic, especially after several members of the Philadelphia Phillies (who felt two of their pitchers, Cristopher Sánchez and Ranger Suarez, were more deserving of All-Star nods even though they wouldn’t have pitched in the game) derided Misiorowski’s selection over the weekend as a “joke” and public relations stunt by the league.
It was the first question Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who will helm the National League team after winning last year’s World Series, fielded at a Monday afternoon news conference at the Coca-Cola Roxy Theater.
And when Misiorowski took his seat at media day, he was immediately peppered with questions about the backlash to his inclusion, and how he felt about people who argued he wasn’t deserving of being in the game — especially his NL teammates from the Phillies.
“I mean, they’re not happy,” Misiorowski said with an awkward smile. “But they’re not upset with me. It’s nothing I did. So they were all nice to me. The clubhouse has been good.”
For all the visceral takes and viral reactions the Misiorowski story has generated in recent days, chances are it will blow over by the time Tuesday’s game rolls around.
Roberts confirmed Misiorowski will pitch in the contest, probably somewhere in the middle innings.
And while he said Misiorowski’s selection, coupled with the withdrawals from numerous other NL All-Star pitchers, required a “deeper conversation” about how the game could be improved, he added that he was all for having Misiorowski take part in this year’s event.
“For this young kid to be named an All-Star, I couldn’t be more excited for him,” Roberts said. “It’s gonna be electric. The fans, the media, you’re gonna love it. So for me, it’s an easy answer, because if it brings excitement, attention to our game, then I’m all about it.”
If it wasn’t for Roberts’ team, the Misiorowski drama might have never happened.
Entering his start against the Dodgers last week, Misiorowski had a 3.20 ERA, was coming off a five-run, 3 ⅔ inning clunker against the New York Mets, and (despite his 100-plus mph fastball and wicked repertoire of breaking pitches) was nowhere near the All-Star picture.
Even internally, he acknowledged, he was still getting comfortable in the majors.
But in that game against the Dodgers, Misiorowski bounced back from a leadoff home run from Shohei Ohtani by giving up just three other hits. He mowed through the Dodgers’ league-leading offense with triple-digit fastballs and upper-90s mph sliders, which Dodgers catcher Will Smith called the nastiest current pitch in the sport. And he emerged with a newfound sense of belonging at the big-league level.
“That’s one of those games you look back on and you’re like, ‘OK, now we go,’” Misiorowski said Monday. “Now it starts.’”
Afterward, no one praised the young right-hander more than Kershaw, who started his postgame remarks about Misiorowski by quipping, “I know him now, huh?”
And now, a week later, so too does the rest of the baseball world; with Misiorowski’s dismantling of the Dodgers helping to thrust him into a spotlight he could have never imagined seven days earlier.
“I think it was just one of those things that, when it happened, it’s not really anything I’ve done,” he said. “I’m not gonna say no to MLB about coming to the game, so it is what it is.”
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Sorry we are a day late, asthma, plus a cold, plus smoke in the air from fireworks equals bad breathing.
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Ask Jaime Jarrín
For the next part of our “Ask….” series. Jaime Jarrín, the Spanish-language voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers, for 64 seasons before retiring after the 2022 season, will answer selected questions from readers. Jarrín is in the Baseball Hall of Fame as a broadcaster and was the longtime interpreter for Fernando Valenzuela. Please send your questions to [email protected] before 10 p.m. Friday.
Koufax or Kershaw?
When Clayton Kershaw reached the 3,000 strikeout mark, Bill Plaschkewrote a column saying it clinched Kershaw being the greatest pitcher in Dodgers history, greater than Sandy Koufax.
I could give you pages of stats and biographical information on both men, but I’m guessing most of you already know about them. Books have been written about Koufax, and books will be written about Kershaw.
A few weeks ago, I wrote “Kershaw and Koufax are the two best pitchers in Dodgers history,” and I got inundated with emails from angry Koufax fans, wondering why I would mention them in the same sentence, let alone list Kershaw first (um, alphabetical order). So, I broach the topic very carefully.
The thing to keep in mind is they are both great pitchers. Both first-ballot Hall of Famers. Both have won World Series, Cy Young Awards and MVP awards.
So how do you determine who is the best? It depends on how much you value certain things. Let’s look at some arguments.
1. Koufax had only five great seasons, and they all came when the rules of the time favored the pitcher.
2. In his prime, Koufax pitched 300 innings a season and had multiple complete games (Koufax had 27 complete games in 1965 and 1966. Kershaw has had 25 complete games in his career and never pitched more than 236 innings in a season). Keep in mind that Kershaw never wanted to come out of games, he was really an old-school pitcher stuck in modern times.
3. Koufax is the best postseason pitcher in history with an 0.95 ERA in eight postseason games, all in the World Series. Of all pitchers with multiple Cy Young Awards, Kershaw is easily the worst in the postseason, going 13-13 with a 4.49 ERA. If we just limit it to the World Series, it’s not much better, as he is 3-2 with a 4.46 ERA.
4. Koufax pitched in three World Series that the Dodgers won. Kershaw pitched in only one.
5. Koufax didn’t have to pitch in multiple postseason rounds like Kershaw did. If he had to pitch in three rounds just to get to the World Series, his numbers likely wouldn’t be as good.
6. Kershaw had a much, much longer career where he was one of the best pitchers in baseball. Depending on what you call a great season, it’s 10, 11 or 12. Koufax had “just” the five.
7. Kershaw has a career ERA+ of 155, meaning he was 55% better than a league average pitcher in his career. Koufax’s was 131, meaning he was 31% better. Of course, Kershaw didn’t pitch into the eight and ninth all that often, helping save his ERA somewhat.
Those are just a few of the arguments. As to what I think? If I had to pick one, in their prime, to start a winner-take-all game, I’d pick Koufax. If you said “You can have this guy’s regular-season career, starting from Game 1, for your team,” I’d go with Kershaw. So, it depends on what you consider great. They were both great.
Read Plaschke’s column, which has several good arguments, by clicking here.
Have you read it? Then please vote in our survey, “Who was better, Clayton Kershaw or Sandy Koufax?” Heck, you can vote even if you didn’t read Plaschke’s column. You can vote by clicking here.
Swept by the Astros
Of all teams to be swept by, it had to be the Houston (no relation) Astros? They did expose some problems the Dodgers have had all season: Banged-up players and bad pitching.
Max Muncy, who was their best hitter in the last six weeks, is on the IL (more on that below). Tommy Edman has a broken toe. Teoscar Hernández fouled a ball off his left foot Saturday, and is still plagued by the groin injury that put him on the IL earlier this season. He isn’t close to 100%. Kiké Hernández went on the IL Monday with elbow inflammation. Mookie Betts hasn’t seemed to recover from losing 25 pounds just before the season and is hitting a paltry (by Betts’ standards) .252/.324/.397. Last season he hit .289/.372/.491. He is currently on track for the worst offensive season of his career. Add in the fact that Teoscar is just a brutal fielder in right, and you have to wonder if a move back to right is being considered, not that they’d talk openly about it. I mean, it was so bad that Michael Conforto hit fifth Sunday.
Pitching wise, Ben Casparius is suddenly having trouble getting people out. Noah Davis, with a career ERA of 8.95 was on the staff and gave up 10 runs Friday. Most of the guys in the bullpen are having bad seasons compared to their career norms. The bullpen ERA (4.41) is 24th of the 30 teams. In the rotation, they have one reliable guy (Yoshinobu Yamamoto), two erratic guys (Dustin May and Kershaw), one guy who might be solid, but it’s too soon to tell (Emmet Sheehan), one guy who pitches well but hasn’t gone more than two innings (Shohei Ohtani) and a bunch of wishes and prayers for everyone else.
We keep hearing that Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell are returning soon (Glasnow perhaps this week), but I’ll believe it when I see it, and given their history, how long before they get hurt again?
Does this mean it is time to panic? Of course not. Despite all of the above, the Dodgers have the second-best record in baseball, a six-game lead over the Giants and seven-game lead over the Padres. They will make the postseason. If you recall, they struggled at times with similar issues last season, and that season ended OK if I remember correctly.
Andrew Friedman has shown that he is not afraid the make moves at the trade deadline. You can count on a move or two before the deadline this season (July 31 at 3 p.m. PT). The roster right now will not be the roster on day one of the postseason. So, let’s see what happens.
Max Muncy injured
You have to feel bad for Max Muncy. He finally had turned things around and was one of the team’s best hitters again. Then, his knee is injured when Michael Taylor of the White Sox slides into it while trying to steal third. It looked terrible, as your knee isn’t designed to bend that direction. It looked like he had torn everything in his knee and would be out for the season.
However, the Dodgers say an MRI exam showed just a bone bruise and he should be back in six weeks. Hopefully, that’s what happens and he doesn’t lose his swing while he’s recovering. However, the Dodgers have been historically vague when talking about injuries. If you remember, Muncy hurt his elbow on the last day of the 2021, in a similar situation, only the runner collided with his elbow at first instead of his knee at third.
After that injury, the MRI was described as the best-case scenario, and Dave Roberts said, “I just don’t want to, we don’t want to, close the door on a potential down-the-road postseason appearance.” Muncy and the club kept insisting he could return for the postseason if the Dodgers advanced to the World Series.
A month or so after the Dodgers were eliminated from the postseason, Muncy said he had torn the UCL in his elbow and knew he wasn’t going to play in the postseason.
So, hopefully his new injury is the best-case scenario, but I’m not holding my breath. With this injury, the Dodgers said they won’t be actively exploring a deal for a third baseman since Muncy will be back, meaning we will know a lot more about the accuracy of what they are saying if they actually don’t trade for a third baseman.
All-Stars
The five Dodgers who will be on the All-Star team this season:
Starters Freddie Freeman Shohei Ohtani Will Smith
Pitchers Clayton Kershaw Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Kershaw was named as the commissioner’s “Legend Pick.”
Christian Walker
Christian Walker continues to be a Dodger killer. He had a big series for the Astros, and is one of only nine opponents with at least 20 homers at Dodger Stadium. The list:
Barry Bonds, 29 George Foster, 23 Henry Aaron, 22 Dale Murphy, 22 Mike Schmidt, 22 Willie Stargell, 21 Paul Goldschmidt, 20 Dave Kingman, 20 Christian Walker, 20
In his career against the Dodgers, Walker is hitting .259/.318/.563 with 10 doubles, 28 homers and 64 RBIs in 340 plate appearances. Some have emailed wondering if they should just intentionally walk Walker in every at bat. No. That would be foolish. Just walk him when the situation calls for it (second and third, one out, for example, depending on who is pitching). There is no one in baseball history you should walk every at bat.
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MILWAUKEE — Clayton Kershaw has been an All-Star 10 times before.
But no selection surprised him quite like this year’s.
Included on the National League All-Star team as a “Legend Pick” by Commissioner Rob Manfred in recognition of his career accomplishments, Kershaw did not get any advance warning from Manfred or anyone in the league office that he would be in the “Midsummer Classic.”
When manager Dave Roberts gathered his Dodgers team to announce the club’s All-Star selections on Sunday, Kershaw forgot that the “Legend Pick” — which has been used in the past for players such as Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera — was even a thing.
Thus, when Roberts announced Kershaw’s name, the 37-year-old was caught more than a little off-guard — having made just nine starts this season since returning from offseason toe and knee surgeries.
“Obviously, I don’t deserve to get to go this season, haven’t pitched very much,” he deadpanned. “I don’t know if Doc was going for the surprise factor or not. But I had no idea until he said it.”
But by Monday, the meaningfulness of what he described as a “tremendous honor” had also set in, with Kershaw expressing gratitude for what will be his 11th career selection, tied for the most among active players with Mike Trout.
“You never take for granted getting to go to an All-Star Game, regardless of the circumstances,” Kershaw said. “At the end of the day, it’s weird but cool, so I’m just going to enjoy it.”
While Kershaw’s limited workload would normally not warrant an All-Star selection, his stats haven’t been too far off that pace this year: A 4-0 record, 3.43 ERA and 1.254 WHIP in what is the 18th season of his future Hall of Fame career.
“I think there’s some good and some bad,” Kershaw said of his season so far. “I wouldn’t say happy, but I wouldn’t say disappointed either. I would say kind of right in the middle.”
The highlight of the campaign, of course, came in Kershaw’s last start, when he became the 20th pitcher in MLB history to record 3,000 career strikeouts.
But at this stage of his career, Kershaw’s real satisfaction has been with his health — finally past the various back, elbow, shoulder, knee and toe injuries that had plagued him over the last several seasons.
“I think the biggest thing is just the mental toll [that takes on you],” Kershaw said. “Anyone that has been dealing with stuff, I think it’s always in the back of your head. You wake up and you test it and you move around and you test it to see if it hurts, see how bad it hurts. [Now], instead of wondering if you can pitch, it’s just a matter of how you’re going to pitch. I don’t think I took into appreciation the mental toll that takes over time. So to just worry about pitching is nice, for sure.”
It has also allowed Kershaw “to get the reps and go back out and be able to feel OK in between starts to work on some stuff,” he said. “Figure out some different things mechanically and pitch-wise and stuff.”
Long-term, Kershaw still hasn’t decided if this will be his final season.
“I don’t know what is going to happen in the future,” he said. “I really have no idea when it comes to the years beyond this one. So I’m just trying to enjoy it, be part of a really good team this year.”
When it comes to next week’s All-Star Game, he isn’t even sure if he’ll pitch in the showcase exhibition, which will be held at Truist Park in Atlanta.
“I’d love to pitch but I don’t want to take an inning away from somebody who’s never done it before or this is their first year or whatever,” he said. “I’ll enjoy just to hang or pitch or whatever.”
On Monday, Kershaw’s focus was instead on his final start of the first half: A scheduled Tuesday outing against the Milwaukee Brewers and their 23-year-old rookie starlet, Jacob Misiorowski.
Kershaw, 14 years Misiorowski’s senior, laughed when asked what it’s like to be the elder statesman in such high-profile matchups now.
“I saw a couple highlights [of him], know he throws hard,” Kershaw said. “But so does everybody. Except me.”
