LOS ANGELES — The toe injury that has knocked Clayton Kershaw out of the Dodgers’ starting rotation with the postseason approaching is “beyond frustrating” for the veteran left-hander.
“Because, I really do – my body feels great. Shoulder, back, everything feels really good,” Kershaw said Monday afternoon. “It’s just that last little bit. If you can’t push off, you can’t create what you need to create. So I have to find a way to be able to push off.
“So yeah, it’s super frustrating, especially where we’re at as a team. But I still have some hope that I’ll be able to be in the conversation (for the postseason roster). That’s the goal right now.”
Kershaw’s latest attempt to reach that goal had him throwing off a portable ramp, simulating a pitcher’s mound, in left field Monday – wearing only a sock on his injured left foot.
“Right now, I’m just trying everything to try and take the pressure off of it, to keep my arm going as best I can,” Kershaw said. “Trying to find different cleats that work, different shoes that work, different angles of my foot that work. Throwing off the mound, that turf mound, felt a little better today. So I feel like I’m doing enough to keep my arm going. It’s not there yet to be able to push off for a full game. But it’s getting better.”
The three-time Cy Young Award winner has tried a variety of modifications to his cleats and has ordered some orthotics in the hopes that he will find a solution.
“It’s hard to explain, because I don’t really know what works,” Kershaw said. “We’re trying. It’s not from a lack of effort.”
Kershaw said he has felt some improvement over the past week since going on the injured list. The question is whether that improvement will continue at a fast enough pace to get him back on the mound in a game before the season is over – and whether he can pitch effectively enough to earn a spot in the Dodgers’ postseason rotation.
“Ultimately it’s gonna take time. But there’s not that much time either,” he said.
“I feel like I’ve got a finite window that I need to at least be throwing bullpens. So, if it continues, I think I’ll be good. But I can’t really have any delays.”
Kershaw has pitched through pain before while dealing with a variety of physical ailments and said he would obviously try to pitch with whatever level of discomfort the toe injury creates.
“But I wasn’t very effective doing that,” he said, referring to his last couple of starts. “You have to be able to perform too. So we’ll have to weigh all that. My goal is to be available, and then whatever happens, happens.”
Kershaw also said he is not sure if his toe will require surgery of some kind during the offseason if he is going to continue his career next season.
“I don’t know honestly,” he said. “I haven’t asked, maybe because I just don’t want to know. I haven’t asked that.”
YAMAMOTO RETURNS
Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be activated from the injured list to start Tuesday night against the Chicago Cubs. It will be Yamamoto’s first start since leaving his June 15 outing with a strained rotator cuff.
“It’s been a while since my last outing so I’m very excited and I will do my best,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter.‘I have been wanting to go back as soon as I can. Watching my teammates accumulating wins, so I just wanted to get back.”
Yamamoto made only two minor-league injury rehabilitation assignments with Triple-A Oklahoma City and pitched just two innings in the second one, meaning he is not likely to pitch deep in Tuesday’s game. But the Dodgers are more focused on getting Yamamoto four starts before the postseason.
“The outings this month ahead of me right now, I just take one game at a time,” Yamamoto said. “That’s going to get me ready for the postseason.”
BETTS HONOR
Mookie Betts is the Dodgers’ nominee for the 2024 Roberto Clemente Award, given to the player who best represents the game on and off the field with community involvement and philanthropy.
Each MLB team nominates one player to be considered for the league-wide honor. The Dodgers have had three past winners – Steve Garvey (1981), Kershaw (2012) and Justin Turner (2022).
NOT YET
Teoscar Hernandez was out of the lineup for the third consecutive game since being hit in the foot by a pitch on Friday night. Hernandez is running and doing defensive drills and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he is “hopeful” Hernandez will be ready to play Tuesday.
UP NEXT
Cubs (LHP Shota Imanaga, 12-3, 2.99 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 6-2, 2.92 ERA), Tuesday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, TBS, 570 AM