LOS ANGELES — Friday night’s start had a feeling of finality to it for Clayton Kershaw. Now comes uncertainty.
Kershaw will start one of the games next weekend in the Dodgers’ final series of the regular season in Seattle. Beyond that, though, the soon-to-retire Kershaw acknowledged he doesn’t know what is in store for him.
“Our team is honestly stacked with pitching right now,” Kershaw said, accurately, following the final regular-season home start of his Hall-of-Fame career. “I think our rotation has been throwing the ball – it’s the best in the league right now. So I can do the math. I know there’s only so many spots. I’m just going to try to continue to pitch well. Pitch well in Seattle and then we’ll see what happens.”
It is an ironic situation after the past few postseasons when their rotation was depleted. That now stands as the strength of their roster heading down the stretch.
The Dodgers are all but locked into playing in a three-game Wild Card Series next week. Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani are likely to start those three games. In the short series, the Dodgers might even shorten up their bullpen and carry an extra position player on the roster (especially if catcher Will Smith’s injured hand is still an issue).
A best-of-five National League Division Series will follow with Tyler Glasnow, Emmet Sheehan and Kershaw available to join the starting rotation. Only one of them will be needed with the other two potentially moving to the bullpen.
“Andrew (Friedman) and Doc (Dave Roberts) and all those guys are going to make the right decisions to help us,” Kershaw said. “I’m ready and willing to do whatever I can to help.”
Kershaw has not been pitching his best over the last month of the season. After going 5-0 with a 1.88 ERA in five August starts, he has allowed 12 runs in 18 innings over four starts this month.
“Ultimately I don’t have the final say; it’s kind of a collection of conversations,” Roberts said of Kershaw’s postseason role. “But I just think that the person, the experience, and whatever role that he’s willing to take on is a positive. I don’t know what role … I still feel that there’s a role for him, a spot for him.”