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Los Angeles Dodgers Pitcher Almost Died From Eating A Salad

Originally posted on The Spun | By Kameron Duncan | Last updated Feb 18, 2025 2:04 PM ET

The Los Angeles Dodgers are set to begin the 2025 MLB season with one of the most incredible rosters in league history, but one member of the team nearly lost his life in a freak accident.

May missed the latter part of the 2024 season with a esophageal hernia, and before throwing his first live mound session in almost two years, he detailed the accident that led to his injury.

The pitcher told the Los Angeles Times that he went to dinner while rehabbing in Arizona and ate a salad.

A piece of lettuce was stuck in the pitcher's throat, causing the tear in his esophagus. May needed to have emergency surgery that night in July, a procedure he credits with saving his life.

“It was definitely a life-altering event. It was definitely very serious. It’s not a very common surgery. It was definitely an emergency," he told the Times.

“I probably wouldn’t have made it through the night if I didn’t have it.”

May said that he noticed the lettuce in his throat after taking one bite of the salad, and that after drinking water he felt a sharp pain in his throat and stomach. May went home and thought little of the matter, but his wife encouraged him to go to the emergency room.

Doctors explained that May suffered a rare food impaction that caused a tear in his esophagus. The pitcher needed what he called “basically a full abdominal surgery," leaving a large scar on his chest and stomach.

May was unable to work out during his six-month recovery from surgery, an experience he said was "frustrating."

“You can’t plan for it. You can’t try to prevent it. It just happened. It wasn’t on my bingo card for 2024," the pitcher said.

SAN DIEGO, CA - AUGUST 4: Dustin May #85 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on August 4, 2020 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)

“Just seeing how something so non-baseball-related can just be like — it can be gone in a second. And the stuff it put my wife through, it definitely gave me [a feeling] of, ‘Wow, stuff can change like that.’ It was definitely very scary.”

May is gearing up to return to the new-look Dodgers bullpen and rotation this season. The team added former Cy Young winner Blake Snell and Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki this offseason, and Shohei Ohtani is on track to pitch again this year.

The Dodgers will look to become the first MLB team to repeat since the Yankees won three championships in a row from 1998-2000. If May is back and healthy this year, it certainly gives them a better chance to make that dream a reality.

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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