Dodgers legend returned from shoulder surgery but was limited to only 7 starts. “My shoulder, my elbow, everything, my arm feels great,” Kershaw said in October. “Obviously I had some tough luck with my foot this year.”
The seventeenth major league season for Clayton Kershaw was unprecedented in that he was coming off the first surgery of his career, which limited his availability. But the irony of 2024 what while his repaired left shoulder held up fine, his campaign was done in by his left foot.
When Kershaw re-upped with the Dodgers in February, signing a one-year deal with a player option for 2025, the expectation was that he would rejoin the major league team at some point after the All-Star break. He nearly beat that timeline, but his rehab was slightly delayed by shoulder soreness in late June.
Kershaw was activated on July 25, to that point having not pitched more than four innings in any of his three minor league outings. Being built up was not a necessity to join the 2024 Dodgers rotation, with so much attrition throughout the year making even four-ish innings something the team would try to work with.
Kershaw topped five innings for the first time in his fourth start back, then pitched six scoreless innings on August 18. To this point he was five starts back with a 2.63 ERA and 3.00 FIP, with only one bad start to his ledger.
He allowed five runs in five innings to the Rays on August 24, and then six days later in Phoenix was pulled after only three outs and three runs charged to his ledger. A bone spur in his left big toe was acting up — preventing his back foot from properly pushing off the mound — and the Dodgers were prepared in the sense that Joe Kelly was already warming up to open the second inning before Kershaw walked off the mound, unable to continue.
This was Kershaw’s last start of 2024, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying.
The self-admitted stubborn left-hander tried to throw his way through the toe injury — including topping 80 pitches in a bullpen session or pitching off makeshift mounds to protect his toe — keeping his arm fresh so it would be easier to be major-league ready once his toe got better.
By early September, the Dodgers were already without Tyler Glasnow and Gavin Stone — the team leaders in starts and innings on the season — so Kershaw represented one of the last hopes at cobbling together a full October rotation (though as the Dodgers showed in the postseason, a team can in fact win a championship with three functioning starting pitchers and a deep bullpen).
Unfortunately for Kershaw, the toe never fully healed, and in fact got worse. He was officially ruled out for October just ahead of the NLDS.
Kershaw had surgeries on his left foot and to repair the meniscus in his left knee on November 6, so it’s not yet clear when he might begin his 2025 season. But unlike the previous three offseasons, there is more clarity where Kershaw will pitch next season, making clear of his intentions to return to the Dodgers.
This year, Kershaw set a franchise record by pitching in his 17th season with the Dodgers. Once he gets into a game in 2025, he’ll tie Zack Wheat and Bill Russell for most seasons played for the team.
2024 particulars
Age: 36
Stats: 2-2, 4.50 ERA, 4.43 xERA, 7 starts, 30 IP, 24 K, 9 BB
Salary: $7.5 million ($5 million base salary plus $2.5 million in bonuses for seven starts)
Game of the year
August 18 was the finale of a weekend series in St. Louis, and the Dodgers were cycling through pitchers after injuries to starters Glasnow and River Ryan the previous eight days. Kershaw provided some stability with six scoreless innings to beat the Cardinals, inducing 10 groundouts to stay at an efficient 70 pitches.
From the game recap:
As it was, Kershaw delivered just the seventh Dodgers start of at least six innings in the last 43 games.
Sunday was the 427th career regular season start for Kershaw, and his 85th scoreless start lasting at least six innings. That’s one out of every five (19.9 percent).
Roster status
Kershaw declined his player option and is a free agent, but has already said he’ll return to the Dodgers in 2025. It’s just a matter of when that contract gets worked out and finalized.