Currently on the IL with a knee ailment, Dodgers reliever Daniel Hudson knows that his career is closer to the end than it was even a few years ago.
The 36-year-old pitcher wants to make a postseason contribution for the Dodgers, but also knows that it's up to his own body to respond to the challenge to make that happen.
“I have, for sure,” Hudson said. “I’m pretty over being in pain. I’ve been in pretty consistent pain for about 15 months. I’ve thought about it but at the same time, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. If I’m feeling good, if everything comes back the way we hope it does and we make a good postseason run and we contribute, there’s not too much pain and we have a conversation in the offseason and it’s, ‘Hey, we want you back’ I start playing catch and everything feels good – then maybe I give it another shot. If not, I’ve had a pretty good run and it is what it is at that point.”
Hudson's career has been an interesting one up to this point. After being drafted by the White Sox in 2008, he's emerged as a starter in Arizona as part of their rotation.
In 2011, Hudson won a Silver Slugger award for the Diamondbacks, but later transitioned into being a reliever.
The highlight of his career was winning the World Series in 2019 with the Nationals, being on the mound to strike out Michael Brantley for the final out of Game 7 in Houston.
With the Dodgers in 2018 and later in 2022, Hudson pitched some key innings out of LA's bullpen for both stints, before tearing his ACL.
Emerging from rehab just to suffer another knee injury this season, Hudson would like to contribute to another World Series winner.
More must-reads: