LOS ANGELES — As Clayton Kershaw jogged to the mound at Dodger Stadium on a warm, sticky Thursday afternoon, his family watched with delight from a few hundred feet away. His wife, Ellen, wore her No. 22 hat and her husband’s jersey, wiping away tears. She stood next to her children, who had custom-made Skechers cleats for their dad to commemorate the occasion.
The expectations for this season, his first start in nine months, were unlike any other during his franchise-record 17 seasons with the Dodgers.
“From the moment I had the surgery to the rehab process, it was something I thought about for a long time to be able to go back to Dodger Stadium,” Kershaw said. “So, it meant a lot.”
Not just for Kershaw and his family, but also for the Dodgers, who once again need him more than expected.
What the 36-year-old offered the Dodgers this year was seen as a luxury after Kershaw underwent the first surgery of his career in November to repair a torn scapula and capsule in his left shoulder that limited him for the second half of the 2023 season. He knew he wouldn’t be back until the summer at the earliest, and the Dodgers prepared for that reality by retooling a rotation that was depleted of pieces last year.
They splashed out $325 million on Nippon Professional Baseball star Yoshinobu Yamamoto, traded for Tyler Glasnow, added depth by signing James Paxton, waited for the long-awaited return of Walker Bueller, and had a plethora of young pitchers ready to take the next step, including Bobby Miller, Gavin Stone, and Emmitt Sheehan.
Still, the Dodgers are still looking for an ace heading into trade deadline week, and that remains true despite Kershaw’s encouraging debut start on Thursday, when he struck out six batters and allowed two runs in four innings against the Giants.
“If this is the floor, I think we’re going to have a great time with Clayton this year,” coach Dave Roberts said.
Unfortunately, the Dodgers have to make a decision before they know for sure how Kershaw’s shoulder will react.
They are comfortably in the division lead, but despite all the effort they put into repeating what happened in 2023 (when Kershaw fought against obvious limitations to lead a depleted Dodgers rotation to the finish line), it’s not going to happen again. Adding another starting pitcher has become a necessity due to injuries and ineffectiveness in the rotation.
Highlights from the Dodgers’ 6-4 win over the Giants
Yamamoto is out with a rotator cuff injury and his return date is unclear. Miller, who suffered shoulder problems earlier this year, is currently in Triple-A after posting an 8.07 ERA in seven starts. Bueller was on the disabled list with hip inflammation and has not yet found his usual form since returning from Tommy John surgery.
Four different rookies combined for nine of the Dodgers’ 19 starts this month. Five of those starts were by Glasnow and Stone, who returned from a back injury Wednesday but are approaching career highs in innings pitched, the only two pitchers in the Dodgers’ rotation who remain active. Three of those starts were by Paxton, who has since been designated for designated for assignment. The other two were by experienced relievers who served as openers.
And on Thursday, it was back to the Dodgers’ all-time strikeout leader, who made his first major league appearance since a disastrous 2023 National League Division Series exit. In that one, Kershaw didn’t make it past the first inning.
That wasn’t a problem on Thursday, as he weaved through traffic, drove in a zero and struck out Patrick Bailey on a slider to end the bottom of the first.
“When he pitched the last two years, he was sore and sore afterward and just trying to get to the next start,” Roberts said. “Now, a few days after he pitches, he feels strong and fresh and the pain is in the right part of his body. For me, as I said a few days ago, it’s better than it was last year.”
After six weeks off with a shoulder injury last year, Kershaw never went longer than five innings in his final eight starts of the 2023 regular season and never pitched more than 84. His output was down, the pain was obscured but evident, and he somehow managed a 2.23 ERA over that span.
But the postseason unfolded differently than ever before.
He couldn’t hold on by will and determination alone, allowing six runs to the Diamondbacks in the first inning of Game 1 of the NLDS. Starting pitchers Miller and Lance Lynn didn’t improve much in the games that followed. For the second year in a row, the Dodgers suffered a shocking first-round exit. The future awaiting Kershaw was more uncertain than ever, but he didn’t want it to be the last memory of his decorated Dodger career.
On Thursday, he fulfilled his hopes of returning for the 2024 stretch run. His entrance song, “We Are Young,” blared from the speakers at Dodger Stadium. His slider swung around the plate, striking out four. His curveball struck out two more. It’s far from perfect, but this outing brought some normalcy to a changing rotation.
“It’s a good thing to do what you have to do,” Kershaw said.
Kershaw offered some hope in his first start after the worst start of his career.
His fastball topped out at 91.8 mph and sat at 90.6 mph. He had eight swings and misses on his slider, and the Giants either struck out or saw half of Kershaw’s 10 curveballs go for strikes. He also mixed in an eight-part changeup, which he’s had in his toolbox for years but never felt particularly comfortable deploying.
“It was really cool to see him come on and sweat, compete, and beat the shit out of his opponents,” Roberts said. “I think we pushed him enough to get ready for the next competition and continue to improve and give him a good foundation. Yeah, it’s been a long journey for him to get back and I’m happy for him.”
The most encouraging sign came after he allowed four consecutive hits starting in the top of the third.
With two runners on and no outs, Kershaw responded with three straight strikeouts. He got Bailey to swing at a slider, looped a curveball to David Villar, and swung at Thairo Estrada again on a slider to avoid further damage in a 6-4 win.
“The first one,” Kershaw said, “I’ll take it.”
The Dodgers, meanwhile, may need it. If Kershaw can continue to improve on that outing, there’s plenty of time for him to show he’s ready to start in October.
But if the Dodgers do what they have to do at the deadline, it will be a luxury, not a necessity.
“I don’t think it will affect next week,” Roberts said before Kershaw’s start. “Given where the rotation is, the guys we have, the guys who are out, the IL, I don’t think Clayton’s absence today will affect next week.”
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the LA Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU graduate, Rowan was born in California, raised in Texas and returned to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter. @RowanKabner.
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