Why Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw intends to return for 2025 season

Kevin Kiermaier talks with Clayton Kershaw in the dugout before Game 1 of the NLCS against the Mets on Sunday.

Oct. 14, 2024 1:07 PM PT

Clayton Kershaw is out for the rest of this postseason because of a toe injury. But he appears to have no plans this offseason to call it a career.

Before Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, Kershaw told the Fox Sports pregame show that he is planning to play in 2025, when he can exercise a player option to stay with the Dodgers or (in a much more unlikely scenario) opt out of his deal and test free agency for a third straight winter.

“Mentally, I feel great,” Kershaw said. “I had shoulder surgery last offseason, and my shoulder and elbow, everything, my arm, feels great.

“Obviously, I had some tough luck with my foot this year. But I want to make use of this surgery. I don’t want to have surgery and shut it down. So I’m gonna come back next year and give it a go and see how it goes.”

The 36-year-old Kershaw, who would be entering his 18th MLB season in 2025, pitched in only seven games this year after missing the first four months of the regular season recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.

Though Kershaw’s fastball averaged less than 90 mph, he was 2-2 with a 3.72 ERA in his first six starts, and he was in line for a possible postseason rotation spot on the Dodgers’ injury-plagued pitching staff.

But then, on Aug. 30, the injury bug bit Kershaw.

In a start against the Arizona Diamondbacks, a bone spur on Kershaw’s right big toe flared up so bad he was forced to leave the game in the second inning. He went on the injured list the following day.

Despite trying to continue to throw over the final month of the regular season, in hopes of making a return in time for the playoffs, Kershaw’s toe failed to cooperate. Ahead of the NLDS, manager Dave Roberts ruled him out for the rest of the postseason.

It’s unclear if Kershaw, who is just 32 strikeouts away from 3,000 in his career, will be ready for the start of the 2025 season.

He acknowledged earlier this month that surgery on his toe is “in the conversation” for this offseason.

Kershaw also developed other physical issues while injured that he said resulted from trying to compensate from his toe injury in throwing exercises. One affected area, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly, was Kershaw’s oblique.

Despite all that, the Dodgers could still use the three-time Cy Young Award winner and former MVP in their 2025 rotation — which will likely be hampered by limited workloads from Shohei Ohtani, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin as they return from elbow surgeries.

“Obviously I don’t want to get hurt all the time,” Kershaw said recently, having gone on the IL at least once in every season since 2016. “Like, it’s not fun to do that.”

“But,” he added, “I also really love to pitch, too.”

Roberts silences the critics

There was elation and exhaustion, pride and vindication, but the overwhelming emotion that Roberts felt after a grueling five-game National League Division Series win over the San Diego Padres was “relief.”

Not just because the Dodgers vanquished their pesky division rivals to advance to the NL Championship Series against the New York Mets, but because Roberts silenced a large segment of the team’s fan base that would have called for his head if the Dodgers suffered a third straight first-round playoff exit.

“Unfortunately, the reality is, that’s the nature of this business,” Roberts said. “I could argue that we’ve won a lot in my tenure here, but when you’re in this market, it’s still about winning championships.

“People don’t want to hear about the uncertainty of [October] baseball, how you can’t predict who the World Series champion is gonna be. I don’t do any of the social media, but to be honest, you can kind of feel [the pressure] around you.”

Roberts has the best winning percentage (.627) of any manager with at least 1,300 games, having guided the Dodgers to an 851-506 record, eight division titles, nine playoff appearances and three World Series — winning in 2020 — in nine seasons. But every October, it seems Roberts is managing to save his job, and frankly, he is tired of it.

“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous considering the body of work that I’ve been a part of, the stuff that I do on the business side and the community relations side, my history with the Dodgers,” Roberts said. “But it is what it is.”

Roberts has made his share of regrettable October decisions, but he redeemed himself in the eyes of critics with his deft bullpen management against the Padres, steering eight relievers through an 8-0 Game 4 win and four through four hitless innings in a 2-0 Game 5 win.

“I thought he was surgical in Game 4 and 5,” said Andrew Friedman, the team’s president of baseball operations. “I thought he had the pulse and the right feel for when to make a move and who to go to.”

Roberts also kept the team together through his “most challenging season,” one that featured a slew of pitching injuries and the loss of Mookie Betts for two months and Max Muncy for three months.

“The number of injuries we withstood was a little deflating to the clubhouse,” Friedman said. “They’re out there battling, doing everything they can to accomplish our goal of winning the division, and things keep happening. Doc’s relentless optimism helped keep things positive and moving forward.”

Hip check

Gavin Lux tweaked his right-hip flexor breaking out of the box on his fourth-inning bunt Sunday night and was pulled from the game in the seventh inning. Lux was not in the lineup for Game 2 but was available to pinch-hit.

Even if the left-handed-hitting Lux were healthy, he probably wouldn’t have started against Mets left-hander Sean Manaea in Game 2. With rest and Tuesday’s off-day, “it will give me a little extra time to recover,” Lux said. “It’s just wear and tear. I’ll be fine.”

No pressure

Rookie reliever Ben Casparius had no idea when he took the mound in the ninth inning Sunday night that the Dodgers were on the verge of tying the 1966 Baltimore Orioles for the longest consecutive scoreless innings streak in playoff history at 33.

“I found out after the game,” Casparius, who retired the side in order in his first career playoff appearance, said before Game 2 on Monday. “I’m honestly glad it was after the game and not before it.”