Author: Rowan Kavner

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Yet again, those plans have gone awry. 

A year ago, the Dodgers were coming off a disappointing 2023 season in which their starters produced a 4.57 ERA, the worst mark in the team’s Los Angeles tenure, before a second straight first-round exit. They sought to change that by revamping the rotation, making Yoshinobu Yamamoto the highest-paid pitcher in MLB history, trading for Tyler Glasnow, adding veteran James Paxton, awaiting the anticipated early-season return of Walker Buehler from Tommy John surgery and expecting the further development of young standouts Bobby Miller, Emmet Sheehan and Gavin Stone. 

In theory, they should have had plenty of formidable options regardless of how Kershaw looked coming off the first surgery of his career, a shoulder procedure that would sideline him until summertime at the earliest. When he returned to the fold in late July, his presence was needed. 

Yamamoto had strained his rotator cuff. Paxton had already been designated for assignment. Buehler was on the injured list with hip inflammation after underperforming. Miller was back in Triple-A after failing to replicate a breakout rookie year the season prior. The Dodgers were using a bevy of rookies and openers to fill the voids. 

Kershaw entered the 2024 season just 56 strikeouts short of 3,000. He would not reach the mark, nor would he make it to September. He gritted through seven starts before the pain in his left big toe became too unbearable. He was dealing with a bone spur, arthritis and a ruptured plantar plate in his left foot and a torn meniscus in his left knee. Both injured body parts would eventually require surgery. 

He made his final start of the year on Aug. 30, then watched the rest of the championship season from the sideline. 

“I don’t take it for granted anymore to get to go out there and pitch at Dodger Stadium,” Kershaw said.

This year was supposed to be different for a Dodgers team that had learned from seasons past. 

They didn’t want to have to buy at the deadline to fill their needs, the way they did last year when they added Jack Flaherty for the stretch run in order to employ just three capable, healthy starting pitchers come October. A year after committing more than $1 billion in contracts, they splurged again this past offseason, adding two of the most prized arms on the market in Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki. 

Yet no matter the year, no matter the amount of money spent in the offseason or the talent assembled in Los Angeles, the importance of Kershaw persists.

Snell, Glasnow and Sasaki are all on the injured list. Despite all the moves they made, their starting pitchers have combined for a 4.14 ERA that ranks 20th in MLB. Navigating the season has once again required bullpen games and bulk innings from depth pieces. They’ve needed more innings from their relievers this year than any team in baseball. 

The Dodgers are in first place despite the litany of injuries — as of Friday morning, they have 14 pitchers on the IL not including Shohei Ohtani, who has yet to pitch for the club — though multiple division rivals are breathing down their neck. 

That’s the unexpected reality as Kershaw readies for his return. 

“Unfortunately, I think it comes at a time when we do need some starters,” Kershaw said. “Obviously, we’ve got some guys down right now. It seems like everybody’s on the mend and doing better — especially Snell and Glas, I feel like they’re trending up — so that’s good. But at the end of the day, you just want to be a contributing factor to the Dodgers. You don’t want to just be on the sidelines.” 

Kershaw was determined not to let last season’s foot injury end his career. As the years pass, his presence at Dodger Stadium remains a constant. The same can no longer be said for the longest-tenured Dodgers position player. 

For the first time since 2014, when Kershaw won his first MVP and third Cy Young Award, he will return to a team that no longer includes veteran Austin Barnes, one of his closest baseball friends. The Dodgers designated the 35-year-old veteran catcher — who has caught more Kershaw starts in his career than any catcher other than A.J. Ellis — for assignment to bring up top prospect Dalton Rushing this week in a move that surprised Kershaw and others. 

“I think a lot of people forget, he was starting a lot of playoff games and winning a lot of games for us, getting big knocks,” Kershaw said. “So, it’s sad to see someone like that go who’s been here that long. I think we all kind of feel it. It’s no disrespect to Dalton. I know he deserves it, and he’s going to be a great player. But for me personally, I think for a lot of guys on the team, it was disappointing to see him go.” 

Three days after the Dodgers let their longest-tenured position player go, the most-tenured player on their roster will take the mound. Injuries throughout the years have sapped Kershaw’s velocity, but they have not prevented him from producing. Over the last three years, with a fastball that averaged a tick over 90 mph, Kershaw tallied a 2.59 ERA. And while last season was more of a slog as he amassed a 4.50 ERA, neither the pain nor the struggles eroded his desire to keep pitching. 

In five rehab starts this year, Kershaw compiled a 2.57 ERA despite a fastball that averaged 87.5 mph. He knew he turned a corner over his last few rehab starts when he became more concerned about throwing well than how his surgically-repaired foot felt. 

“Now, it’s just a process of figuring out how to get guys out consistently again and perform,” Kershaw said. “That’s a much better place to be.” 

Kershaw can still outmaneuver opponents with a slider and curveball that will eventually land him in Cooperstown, even if he can’t overpower them the way he once did. He will enter the 2025 season just 32 strikeouts away from 3,000, a milestone only 19 pitchers before him have reached. 

“I haven’t really thought about that a whole lot,” Kershaw said. “For me, just getting back out on the mound is a big first step. Then it’s the rest of the season, obviously. Just making it through Saturday and getting back out there is what I’ve thought about so far.”

 Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.

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The Pirates were in the midst of a seven-game skid when they fired Derek Shelton on Thursday’s off day and named bench coach Don Kelly the manager. Then Kelly went out and won two of his first three games as Pirates manager (and was ejected in the lone loss) against Atlanta. If nothing else, he seems to have added some fire to a group that had won just two times in their 13 games prior to the move. 

Scoring runs has been a problem lately for a Nationals team that has dropped five straight games. That is not the fault of CJ Abrams, who ranks fourth in MLB in hits over the last 15 days, or James Wood, who started the month on a nine-game hitting streak and has the same wRC+ (152) as Kyle Tucker on the year. 
 

Since Zach Neto returned from right shoulder surgery on April 18, he’s tied for second in homers, third in steals, eighth in fWAR and ninth in OPS among all qualified MLB shortstops…and is the only qualified Angels position player playing above replacement level in that time. 

There’s certainly time to right the ship, but it’s time to get moving. The Orioles are tied for the worst run differential in the American League despite more strong work from Gunnar Henderson, who has hits in 14 of his last 15 games and is slashing .333/.375/.583 over that stretch. 

Freddy Peralta enters his start Monday in Cleveland just three strikeouts shy of 1,000 for his career. He’s coming off six scoreless innings his last time out, has allowed two runs or fewer in seven of his eight starts this year and has a 2.18 ERA on the season that ranks 12th among all qualified MLB starters. 

Despite a plus-24 run differential on the year, the Reds have dropped nine of their last 13 games and were just shut out twice this weekend in Houston. Making matters worse, Hunter Greene was placed on the injured list with a groin strain on Friday. He had six strikeouts through three scoreless innings before the injury occurred last Wednesday in Atlanta and was coming off a one-run, 12-strikeout performance in his previous outing. 

The Rays remain perplexing. Over the last three weeks, they’ve swept the Padres in San Diego, won series in Arizona and the Bronx…and also been swept by the Royals and the Phillies. One person they can rely on is Jonathan Aranda, who ranks in the top five in MLB in batting average, on-base percentage and OPS. He’s hitting an MLB best .481 in May. 

They rank 20th this week. They ranked 20th last week. And they’re 20-20. It was a weird week last week for a Blue Jays team that lost a series in Anaheim then swept one of MLB’s hottest teams in Seattle. It has also been a strange year for the Toronto offense, which is being led by George Springer in a bounceback year for the 35-year-old, who’s slugging over .600 in May. 

Last week represented a step back for the A’s, who dropped series to the Mariners and Yankees. It was not a step back for rookie Jacob Wilson, who hit .423 across those six games and ranks third in MLB in batting average.

Uhh, Braves? Maybe don’t lose a series to the lowly Pirates when you finally seem back on track? The lone win of that series came in a start by rookie AJ Smith-Shawver, who has allowed one run in 13.2 innings this month and has a 1.88 ERA over his last four starts. 

After how things have gone lately, splitting a six-game road trip in Boston and Detroit counts as a win. The starting pitching has kept the team afloat. Nathan Eovaldi and Tyler Mahle each rank in the top five among all qualified starters in ERA. Eovaldi, who has the lowest WHIP (0.75) in MLB, has a 0.72 ERA with 29 strikeouts and three walks over his last four starts. 

Willson Contreras was slashing .139/.195/.222 with one home run through his first 18 games. Since then, he has been a top 10 hitter in baseball, slashing .364/.473/.597 with five homers in his last 22 games and helping spark a Cardinals club that has won eight straight. 

Speaking of winning eight straight, the Twins followed up a series win at Boston with impressive sweeps of the Orioles and Giants while allowing two runs or fewer in five of their last six games. A healthy Joe Ryan has been a game-changer. The Twins starter has a 0.95 ERA with 26 strikeouts and two walks over his last three starts and has held his opponent to one or no runs in six of his eight starts this year. 

Whether the offense is good enough for the team to win a fifth straight division title remains to be seen, but the Astros’ pitching will give them a chance. Hunter Brown is 6-1 with a 1.48 ERA on the year and has a 0.98 ERA over his last six starts, and the bullpen remains one of the best in baseball. 

Corbin Carroll’s strong start has been well-chronicled, but how about Geraldo Perdomo? The D-backs shortstop leads the team in hits (14), doubles (four) and OPS (.982) in May. On the season, the only MLB shortstop worth more WAR than Perdomo is Bobby Witt Jr. 

… and speaking of Witt, he would be a fine answer here as the team’s obvious top threat. Instead, though, let’s focus on Maikel Garcia, who has clearly been the second-best offensive player for a Kansas City team that has won 16 of its last 20 games. Garcia’s batting .306 on the year and leads the team with an OPS over 1.000 over the last 15 days. 

Since a three-homer game on April 4, José Ramírez has surprisingly hit just two home runs over his last 32 games. He has still been plenty productive lately, though, batting .368 with five extra-base hits and four steals over his last 10 games. 

All the drama certainly isn’t impacting Rafael Devers at the plate. Over his last four games, he’s 9-for-15 with two homers and eight RBI. He’s hitting .459 in May and helped Boston secure series wins last week against the Rangers and the red-hot Royals. 

The Mariners have the best catcher in baseball this season in Cal Raleigh. There’s a strong argument to be made that they have the top closer, too, as Andres Munoz still has not surrendered an earned run in 18 outings. 

Other than getting picked off at third base this weekend, Heliot Ramos has been virtually unstoppable over the last couple weeks. The 25-year-old is slashing .419/.500/.767 with four homers over his last 13 games. His 1.272 OPS in May is third best among MLB qualifiers. His team, however, just got swept by the Twins. 

The Yankees might end up having MLB’s best hitter and pitcher this season. While Aaron Judge is leading the majors with an absurd .409 batting average — and is coming off an A’s series in which he went 7-for-14 with four extra-base hits — Max Fried is 6-0 with an MLB-best 1.05 ERA. He has allowed just three earned runs in his last 41.1 innings pitched. 

The Cubs have two early MVP contenders in Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong, but it’s Dansby Swanson leading the offense of late. Swanson’s slugging .706 in May at a time when the rest of the explosive group has started to cool down. But the Cubs’ grueling schedule to this point is about to ease up. Their next nine games are against the Marlins and White Sox, and they have a matchup with the Rockies before month’s end. 

The Phillies have won 11 of their last 14 games and five straight series. Kyle Schwarber’s five homers in May are tied for the MLB lead, while Zack Wheeler has a 2.14 ERA with 46 strikeouts and five walks over his last five starts. Also, shout out to Jose Alvarado, who would like you to know he loves his mom. 

Remember when Tarik Skubal had a 5.91 ERA after his first two starts of the year? Well, the reigning Cy Young Award winner has 50 strikeouts, one walk and four runs allowed in six starts since then. His ERA for the year is down to 2.08. 

Manny Machado is batting .452 on an 11-game hitting streak, and the club is getting healthy again. After missing a month with a hamstring injury, Jackson Merrill returned last week and proceeded to go 11-for-19 in his first four games back. He’s slashing .446/.475/.732 in 14 games this year. 

After scuffling along for a couple weeks, the Mets have kicked it back into gear. Most notably, Juan Soto is heating up with five homers this month. Pete Alonso remains the story of the Mets’ start, though, with a 1.047 OPS this season that ranks third among all qualified MLB hitters. 

Injuries continue piling up in Los Angeles, but the top of the Dodgers’ lineup is heating up. Shohei Ohtani is slashing .405/.500/.973 with five homers — including this majestic shot — over his last nine games, while Freddie Freeman is hitting .475/.521/.852 with five homers over his last 16 games. They each have an OPS over 1.300 in May.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.

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