LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw will take the mound against the San Francisco Giants on Saturday, his 215th regular-season start at Dodger Stadium.
Will it be his last?
“I don’t know. I really don’t,” Kershaw said. “There’s so many variables. I understand people asking. I totally get that. But I also feel uncomfortable. I don’t want the attention to be on me. If I had an answer, I would tell them. I don’t know yet. I really don’t.”
In the celebratory locker room Saturday after the Dodgers clinched their 10th National League West division title in the past 11 years, Kershaw said “you have to enjoy” each moment like those because you never know when it might be “the last one.”
That statement took on added meaning given the 35-year-old Kershaw’s decision to sign one-year contracts before each of the past two seasons, saying he prefers to make the decision about continuing his career one year at a time at this point.
But the future Hall of Famer said nothing should be read into his post-clinch comments.
“I say that every year,” he said this week. “You never know when you’re going to make the playoffs again. I say that every year, more as a reminder to myself. We get to do this a lot, but it doesn’t make it any less special.”
If he had made his decision about retirement already, the three-time Cy Young Award winner said he would have told Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman – and he might approach this final home start of the regular season differently.
“I wish I did know so I could be, ‘This is it. It’s going to be great.’ But I just don’t. I have no idea,” Kershaw said. “So I’ll enjoy it as best I can. But at the same time – it would be one thing if we weren’t playing for anything, you know what I mean, and October was done. But I’m trying to work on stuff. I’m trying to get ready for October like we all are.
“If I knew this was my last regular-season start at Dodger Stadium, I would probably be sentimental more. But I just don’t have that right now.”
In the past, Kershaw has said he doesn’t want to continue pitching if he can’t stay healthy. He ended the 2021 season with an elbow injury that forced him to miss the postseason and might have pushed him as close to retirement as he has been. A platelet-rich plasma injection treated the injury and the MLB lockout extended the offseason, allowing him additional time to recover. He signed a one-year contract for the 2022 season in March of that year.
Last fall, Kershaw ended the season healthy and made his decision quickly, signing another one-year contract in the first week of December.
This year, however, an unspecified shoulder injury sidelined Kershaw for six weeks in July and August. In six starts since returning, he has not pitched more than five innings in a start and has thrown as many as 80 pitches just once while getting extended rest between outings. He will start each of the next two Saturdays on six days’ rest each time and would have a similar break before the best-of-five NL Division Series.
Most worrisome, the velocity of his fastball has dipped below 90 mph in each of his past three starts.
“I’m not going to say it hasn’t been challenging to try and go out there,” said Kershaw, who has been guarded in his comments about the health of his shoulder, insisting he’s “fine.”
“But at the same time when I go out there, you still get the rush. I think about being part of the team, I think about getting to celebrate, I think about what’s about to happen this next month. That’s all so awesome.
“That’s all just a long way of saying it all factors in (to his retirement decision) and I have no idea.”
Kershaw called the health question “an in-between one” this year and the father of four said it is just one aspect of the decision he will make following the season.
“Look, health has a lot to do with it. There’s a lot of factors that have to do with it,” he said. “But if I’m playing next year, then that means I can compete the way I want to compete and I feel like I can go out there and really pitch. We’ll have to see.”
MINOR LEAGUE AWARDS
Triple-A infielder Michael Busch and right-hander Kyle Hurt were named the Dodgers’ 2023 Branch Rickey Award winners as the organization’s minor-league player and pitcher of the year.
In between stints with the Dodgers, Busch has been one of the most productive hitters in the Pacific Coast League this season. Through 96 games, Busch was the PCL leader in OPS (1.039) and slugging percentage (.613) while ranking near the top with a .322 batting average, 26 home runs and 89 RBIs.
Hurt split the season between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City, going a combined 4-4 with a 3.91 ERA and 152 strikeouts in 92 innings. He made his major-league debut last week, retiring all six batters he faced against the San Diego Padres.
UP NEXT
Giants (LHP Sean Manaea, 6-6, 4.82 ERA) at Dodgers (TBD), Friday, 7:10 p.m., Apple TV+, 570 AM
