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Clayton Kershaw confirms comeback for 2025 season

Originally posted on MLB on ClutchPoints
By Russell Steinberg | Last updated Oct 14, 2024 4:23 PM ET

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw isn’t done yet. The future Hall of Famer told the FOX broadcast team prior to Game 2 of the National League Championship Series that he plans to come back next year.

Kershaw appeared in only seven games in 2024, missing the first half of the season as he recovered from shoulder surgery. His July return lasted only a month before he went back on the Injured List with a bone spur in his left foot. The Dodgers remained hopeful that he could return for the postseason, but manager Dave Roberts officially ruled Kershaw out for the rest of 2024 on October 5.

“Mentally, I feel great,” Kershaw said on Monday. “My arm feels great. Obviously I had some tough luck with my foot this year.”

Now 36 years old, Kershaw is not about to let his 2023 surgery go to waste.

“I want to make use of this surgery,” he added. “I don’t want to have surgery then shut it down. I’m going to come back next year and give it a go and see how it goes.”

Kershaw has a $10 million player option with the Dodgers for next season.

Kershaw is a three-time Cy Young Award winner, 10-time All-Star, pitching triple crown winner, former MVP, and five-time National League ERA leader. The Dodgers legend, however, will enter 2025 with something to prove. He hasn’t reached 200 innings in a season since 2015. And even if he is able to put in a full season next year, his poor postseason track record means it could all be rendered pointless if he doesn’t show up next October.

Clayton Kershaw feels like this Dodgers team is different

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22) in the dugout before a game against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park. Brett Davis-Imagn Images

While Kershaw won’t take the mound again until next year, he’s still focused on 2024. The Dodgers lead the New York Mets 1-0 in the NLCS and the Los Angeles pitching staff entered Monday in the midst of a record scoreless streak, not having allowed a run in 33 consecutive innings. That matched the 1966 Baltimore Orioles for the longest such streak in postseason history.

The Dodgers’ staff did that without Kershaw, Tyler Glasnow, Tony Gonsolin, Gavin Stone, Dustin May and Shohei Ohtani (as a pitcher). The result has been a Division Series comeback against the San Diego Padres, erasing a 2-1 series deficit to win and now pull within three wins of another trip to the World Series.

Kershaw has been on winning teams before, but he told FOX he has a different feeling about this one.

“This group of guys, it just feels really resilient,” he said. “It just feels like there’s no quit. It feels like whether we’re down 6-0, whether were’ up 6-0, it’s that same fight every single inning. It’s been a lot of fun to be a part of, especially taking a step back, being on the sidelines and watching this group of guys, you can really tell there’s a heartbeat there.”

This article first appeared on MLB on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

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