It looks like Clayton Kershaw will get another appearance with the Los Angeles Dodgers after all.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters Friday the franchise’s all-time leader in strikeouts will be on the NLDS roster as L.A. faces the Philadelphia Phillies, continuing a career that is set to end after this season.
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“He’ll be on the roster,” Roberts said. “He’s going to be out of the ‘pen and used as such.”
Kershaw had previously been left off the wild-card roster for the Dodgers’ series against the Cincinnati Reds, which they won in a two-game sweep. They might have more use for him in a longer series, though, against a Phillies lineup that features dangerous left-handed hitters in Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber.
He also made the roster after Alex Vesia and Jack Dreyer, the top two left-handed options in the bullpen for the Reds series, both had hands in a pair of ugly eighth innings that endangered previously comfortable wins.
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However that goes, it has so far been a positive final season for the 37-year-old Kershaw. Despite a late start to 2025 due to offseason surgery, Kershaw ranked second on the team in innings pitched with 112 2/3 and posted a 3.36 ERA in 23 appearances (22 starts). He got a cameo in the bullpen in the last week of the season before his farewell start, throwing a 1-2-3 inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Clayton Kershaw has some more pitches to throw for the Dodgers. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
(Stephen Brashear via Getty Images)
As for the rest of the Dodgers’ pitching staff, Roberts confirmed that after Game 1 starter Shohei Ohtani will be Blake Snell in Game 2, Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 3 and Tyler Glasnow in Game 4 if necessary, with Ohtani as the natural option for a Game 5.
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Roberts also mentioned that Glasnow could appear out of the bullpen in Game 1, a possibility no doubt inspired by the team’s persistent bullpen issues. The Dodgers and other teams have used that strategy many times in the past, essentially making use of a pitcher’s “throw day,” a standard between-starts bullpen session.