PHOENIX \u2014 In case anyone was wondering if Clayton Kershaw could have a change of heart, the answer is no.<\/p>\n
Regardless of how much he enjoys playing in the World Baseball Classic or how well he pitches in the two-week tournament, the 37-year-old Kershaw sounded on Monday as if there\u2019s absolutely no chance he would ever return to pitch for the Dodgers.<\/p>\n
The former Dodgers left-hander has taken to retirement \u2014 like, really taken to it.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
When he reached the stage of winter when he would normally start his offseason training program, did he think, \u201cThank God I don\u2019t have to do this, or \u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n
Kershaw didn\u2019t let me finish the question.<\/p>\n
\t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDylan Hernandez<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so nice,\u201d he explained. \u201cIt was stress-free. Didn\u2019t care if my body hurt. It was amazing. It was a freeing feeling for sure. There are not many things that would make me come back, except for this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exception Kershaw made was for the chance to pitch in the WBC for Team USA, which gathered at the Papago Sports Complex.<\/p>\n
Kershaw wanted to pitch in the previous edition of the tournament, in 2023, but couldn\u2019t secure an insurance policy that would protect the Dodgers in case he was injured.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, it\u2019s a bucket-list thing for me,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve wanted to do this for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clayton Kershaw fields a ground ball during a workout at Papago Park Sports Complex. Getty Images<\/p>\n
He wanted to do it enough to interrupt his new life as a stay-at-home father of five children. Preparing to pitch after thinking he\u2019d never have to do that again was the hardest part, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t do half the stuff I normally would,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His arm isn\u2019t ready to pitch a six-month season, he said, but it should survive a two-week event.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be good, I\u2019ll be ready,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be pretty, but my arm feels fine. I\u2019ve got a lot of bullets. They just might not be quality bullets. If they need me in a pinch, if they need me at all, I\u2019ll be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
If asked to, could he start?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll pitch whenever they want me to pitch,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t care. I just think I\u2019m probably lower on the depth charts than everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kershaw previously joked that if the United States played Japan in the championship game, he thought there was no chance he would be chosen to pitch to Shohei Ohtani, considering the other options at manager Mark DeRosa\u2019s disposal.<\/p>\n
Clayton Kershaw celebrates the end of the top of the 12th inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 3 of the World Series. AP<\/p>\n
Did practicing with his team get him into a more competitive mindset and make him reconsider?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for our country\u2019s sake, it\u2019s probably better if I don\u2019t,\u201d Kershaw said. \u201cBut, look, if it\u2019s a pinch and they need me, I\u2019ll do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I reminded Kershaw that Ohtani is hitless against him. When Ohtani was on the Angels, Kershaw pitched to him in four games. Ohtani was 0 for 11.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pitch away, play away,\u201d Kershaw said with a chuckle. \u201cHope he flies out to left. Don\u2019t throw it in his barrel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two-time American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers was often by Kershaw\u2019s side on Monday. Clay Holmes of the New York Mets, Michael Wacha of the Kansas City Royals and Logan Webb of the San Francisco Giants were also part of a small audience that gathered in front of Kershaw before fielding practice.<\/p>\n
Such interactions are what Kershaw said he misses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t miss throwing a ball,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t miss spring training. I miss the guys. I miss just being everybody all the time. I think that\u2019s what everybody will miss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clayton Kershaw answers questions from reporters during a workout at Papago Park Sports Complex. Getty Images<\/p>\n
That was why Kershaw avoided visiting the Dodgers\u2019 spring training facility, even though he\u2019d arrived in Arizona two days earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t been over to CBR,\u201d he said. \u201cI just thought about it. I miss it, I miss the guys. So I think it\u2019s probably just better, at least this first year, for me, like mentally, to just kind of stay away for a full year, just for spring training. I\u2019ll go out to L.A. at some point, for sure. I think just the mental side of it, for me, to really break away, it would be hard to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he would be at Dodger Stadium for the World Series ring ceremony on Mar. 27.<\/p>\n
Once the WBC is over, Kershaw plans to slink back into retirement.<\/p>\n
Reminded that he was 11-2 last season and could pitch this season, he replied, \u201cI don\u2019t want to. You can\u2019t end it better than I did last year. I had a great time last year. I think that\u2019s the perfect way to end it. Honestly, I don\u2019t even know if I have it in the tank to pitch for a full season again. I\u2019m really at peace with that decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is kind of a weird one-off type thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 In case anyone was wondering if Clayton Kershaw could have a change of heart, the answer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[5,1147,39,1165,4332,4333,774,57,3224,4331,4,185,4820],"class_list":{"0":"post-603720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-dodgers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-clayton-kershaw","10":"tag-dodgers","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-dodgers","13":"tag-ladodgers","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-losangelesdodgers","18":"tag-mlb","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-world-baseball-classic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116165892134431533","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}