The Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw turns 37 next month and is a bonafide first-ballot Hall of Famer.
He isn’t going to let a stint on the injured list force him to miss the season opener in Tokyo against the Chicago Cubs, even if he can’t be on the mound.
“Obviously, I won’t be ready, so I don’t know how that works,” Kershaw said last month. “But if I’m able to work out and stuff and be around, I’d love to. I don’t think you could get many opportunities to go to Japan with Shohei [Ohtani], so I think that’d be pretty cool.”
On Wednesday, manager Dave Roberts confirmed that Kershaw will be in Tokyo.
Kershaw doesn’t want injuries to end his playing career, so he agreed to return in 2025.
“I don’t want [injuries] to be the reason that I stopped playing,” he said. “I don’t want to be, like, ‘I just can’t do it, [I’m] hurt.’ Hopefully, I can walk out on my own terms, whenever that is.”
Because he wants to go out on his own terms, Kershaw is returning to the Dodgers for an 18th season, even if it means starting the season on the 60-day injured list after undergoing offseason surgeries.
Kershaw, who spent most of last season rehabbing from shoulder surgery, underwent additional procedures in November to address issues with his left knee and foot. He spent four weeks on crutches before transitioning to a walking boot for another month.
“With the shoulder, you can still walk and do a lot of stuff,” he said. “I was back to being a normal dad pretty quick. But being on crutches, being in a boot, having every step kind of hurt, it was hard. I don’t know if I expected all that a foot surgery entails, but [I’m] thankful now to be on the other side and feel like I’m getting closer to being 100 percent.”
Injuries held Kershaw to only seven starts last season, during which he recorded a career-high 4.50 ERA. He was unavailable for the postseason.
“It just didn’t feel like it was the right time, even though we won [the World Series], you know, being on the shelf for that wasn’t the way that I had scripted it out. Still super thankful to be a part of it last year, and you get to see everything, but I want to be out there when it happens. So that was a good motivating factor, for sure.”
