The Dodgers announced they’ve activated Clayton Kershaw from the 60-day injured list to start this evening’s game against the Diamondbacks. To open active and 40-man roster space, outfielder Steven Souza Jr. has been designated for assignment.
Kershaw has been on the IL since July 7 due to inflammation in his throwing elbow. The three-time Cy Young award winner now returns after a couple months away in hopes of helping the team erase a two and a half game deficit in the NL West. With eighteen games remaining on the schedule, Los Angeles can probably expect three or four starts from Kershaw down the stretch.
The 33-year-old only made one minor league rehab appearance, tossing 49 pitches over three innings with Triple-A Oklahoma City last Tuesday. He’s probably not quite ready to work a traditional starter’s workload, although it wouldn’t be a surprise if manager Dave Roberts lets Kershaw get into the middle innings tonight against Arizona.
Kershaw’s no longer the undisputed best pitcher in baseball, as he was at his peak, but he’s still among the game’s most effective hurlers. Over 106 1/3 innings, the veteran southpaw has a 3.39 ERA with continued elite strikeout and walk rates (30.1% and 4.5%, respectively). Incredibly, that 3.39 mark is Kershaw’s highest single-season ERA since his 4.26 figure as a rookie way back in 2008.
Trade deadline acquisition Max Scherzer has been even more spectacular than usual since joining L.A. He’d pair with Cy Young candidate Walker Buehler, Kershaw and Julio Urías in what would be an extremely daunting postseason rotation. Of course, that firepower is only relevant if the Dodgers make it to an NL Division Series — either by catching the Giants for the division crown or winning a Wild Card game.
Souza is bumped from the roster just six days after being called up. It was the second promotion of the season for Souza, whose previous stay was also brief. Altogether, the veteran outfielder has tallied just 36 plate appearances at the big league level this season. He’s performed well with Oklahoma City, hitting .247/.387/.507 with nine homers in 186 trips to the plate.
It has been a tumultuous few seasons for Souza, who hasn’t been able to recapture the peak form he showed with the 2017 Rays. He scuffled in 2018 upon being traded to the Diamondbacks, then missed all of 2019 after suffering a severe knee injury in Spring Training. The 32-year-old has made it back to the bigs in each of the last two seasons but hasn’t gotten much playing time.
The Dodgers will place Souza on outright or release waivers in the coming days. If he passes through unclaimed, he’d have the right to elect free agency. Souza cleared waivers in July and decided to test the open market, although he rejoined the Dodgers on a minor league deal relatively shortly thereafter.
Welcome back, Clayton. Let’s build up that pitch count so you can make a mid October start in Game 4 of the NLDS.
It’s insane that Kershaw really might be the game 4 starter. Clayton F-in Kershaw
Unbelievably stacked rotation
In a one game playoff anything can happen
I still think the Brewers rotation is better. Burnes-Woodruff-Peralta-Lauer is just insane
It’s pretty close for me. Scherzer is just as good as Burnes, Buehler vs woodruff, urias vs peralta, and Kershaw vs lauer? I still think I take the dodgers. They are also more fire tested and will go into the playoffs having pitched meaningful games. None of the Brewers games have meant anything for weeks.
If you look at what both pitching staffs have done, the Dodgers have issued fewer walks, allowed fewer runs and fewer hits. To me, this says the Dodgers are the better staff.
It’s extremely close and I don’t think anybody would be wrong to say Dodgers. Like you said Scherzer vs Burnes and Buehler vs Woodruff is basically a wash. Peralta imo has better stuff than Urias (their stats are very similar with either leading by a little in a particular category) and it’s a toss up between Kershaw’s experience vs Lauer’s better stuff. Most likely the two best rotations in baseball
@SalaryCapMyth to be fair the Dodgers had Bauer for a few months who won’t be pitching and the Dodgers have better depth than the Brewers so the fifth starter and times starters were injured probably favor the Dodgers. I’d be curious to see the four v four stats though
Gmen, Scherzer Buehler and Urias have better track records than those three Brewers pitchers (all three Dodgers are riding sub-2.00 ERA over the past couple of months). And Lauer is not close to being in Kershaw’s league. The Brewers have an excellent rotation. Just not THAT good.
Hahaha. Lauer’s FIP is nearly 4. Kershaw’s is on pace with Scherzer. This is Lauer’s first above average season, and there’s signs regression will come. His peripherals are identical or worse than his previous 4 years when he’s been mediocre. He is not an equal to Kershaw. What a joke of an analysis
@GMen777. You make a good point. As it is rather close, if you replace Bauer with the next best option, it probably would make a close call pretty blurry. Kudos.
I like both staffs better than the Giants though.
Gausman and Webb followed by scrubs.
Good luck SF, you’ll need it in October.
many have said what you said about giants yet they are at 93 wins for a reason and the dodger season series…giant won that too.
Giants have a tendency to win games that are not decided by paper stats
Milwaukee and Los Angeles have better starters but Johnny Cueto, Anthony DeSclafani and Alex Wood aren’t scrubs. Given the right circumstances, they can out pitch anyone and even the best SP can have a bad day.
Disco shut down the Dodgers like ten days ago. Dodgers have a better rotation than the Giants and probably starting offense but Giants have a better bench, better bullpen and play better defense. Giants are in first for a reason and that reason is they’ve been better than the Dodgers
Honestly any pitcher who faces the dodgers just before the playoffs is at a massive disadvantage when they face again. He just showed how he wants to pitch this lineup. And they’re smart enough to adjust their strategy.
@datashark
Pitching wins championships.
I’ll remember you when we hit October.
Maybe you’re right about SF, I doubt they go far in the playoffs.
Time will tell who’s right
It’s close G-Men but I think you are right. I think the Brew Crew have the best rotation in baseball and Tampa has the best pen. A Tampa Milwaukee world series is definitely possible. You want to talk about awful ratings that would be MLB’s biggest nightmare.
Rotations may be close to even, but who has the better lineup to decide the games vs those equal pitching staffs?
Dodgers lineup by a mile over the Brewers I won’t even debate that, but Dodgers bullpen is weaker than the Brewers if a starter does falter.
and you may be right about the bullpen comparatively, but LA leads all of baseball in team era. Their bullpen is hardly inadequate
Good for him. He’s a great one. HOF’er for sure. Competitor. I wish him well.
If CK isnt a first ballot HOF pitcher than nobody is.
Both stink I bet mckinney has options was the reason
If he had options, why would they DFA someone instead of optioning a guy and keeping both in the organization?
It has nothing to do with options. I have no idea why McKinney still has a job, but it’s not his options
Why not designate McKinney and keep Sousa
He’s proved nothing and isn’t developing in the slightest
Who Billy McKinney?
I agree
Cause McKinney is on the IL?
Parade. Book it.
C’mon D-backs. Crush it!
David Price should start a playoff game. Honestly .
Man, Bellinger must be hating life. You look up and down that starting line up and every one of them have a good to great OPS+..except Cody Bellinger.
I can’t believe the guy is still being utilized in the starting line up. I don’t normally put so much value in a player who might just be having a down year but wow. His .160/.237/.295 slash line is eye watering it’s so bad.
I agree. As soon as either taylor or pollock are back he should go back to the bench, but we don’t have any CF options hitting much better (unless you think betts is up for CF duty and Beaty can hit/play decent enough RF).
I was figuring after I posted this that the other options may not be enough an improvement to not keep playing Bellinger and continue to hope he figures things out so I imagine you’re probably right.
The odd thing is Bellinger’s continues to be elite in the outfield. Defensively, there isn’t another CF I’d rather have.
@Cey Hey when you have good defenders you can overlook offensive woes. I feel like it’s kind of hidden by their success but Yaz really hasn’t been that great this year at the plate (not nearly as bad as Bellinger though) but I don’t mind seeing him in the lineup because of his defense. If Pollock is healthy though I’d think Bellinger becomes a defensive replacement come October
I’m big on up-the-middle defense. It’s one of the first things I look at when evaluating teams. Something both the Dodgers and Giants can do if start three OF together who are capable of playing CF. Most other teams don’t have that luxury.
While Bellinger’s struggles are mystifying (and must be related to something physical), there’s time for him to turn it around. Minus Bellinger and with a healthy Pollock, spots 1-8 are occupied by players with an OPS of .800 or better. While I’d like to avoid the WC game, I still like this team’s chances come October. It’s a well-rounded roster loaded with guys who have won it all over the last three years.
I’d take Kiermaier, Taylor, or Bader before Bellinger defensively.
They are hoping that rest of lineup carries them and Belli can figure out his game….when playoff time comes belli will ride pine and fill in defense
It’s pretty clear he’s still injured. Or at least, not 100% healed. Remember when he came back, the outfield was a disaster with injuries. I think he rushed back and I just hope he doesn’t need any further surgeries. Reminds me of Corey Seager though. When he first came back from hip surgery, Seager wasn’t strong enough to stop his swing. I think he felt Corey was too slow if he was ID’ing pitches, so he just picked to swing or not early based on if he thought he’d get a fastball
They haven’t had the outfield healthy enough to IL Cody. I’m sure they would have loved to have a 10 game lead and let him get right in AZ. But they don’t, every game matters. And it’s pretty obvious that Mookie in RF and Cody in CF is by far the best defensive lineup available
He’s basically a Bader or any other defense-first CF, with the potential to break out of this and become the MVP self at any swing. In reality, I think he needs the offseason to get right. But it just takes guessing right on one pitch to hit a bomb
John Phillip Souza still with the team??
“He’s probably not quite ready to work a traditional starter’s workload, although it wouldn’t be a surprise if manager Dave Roberts lets Kershaw get into the middle innings tonight against Arizona…”
So much for that, Kershaw is starting tonight. Maybe won’t go a full 100 pitches, though.
Uh, it’s says he’s starting in the 1st sentence.
Keyword: Workload.. Duh.
We are at a point in the season where we can start counting inns left instead of games from the pitching standpoint
– Dodgers have 162 to fill rest of season – Shaw can give 15% of that if he provides 24 inns over the next 3 weeks – Id speculate closer to 22 tho
Bullpen really needs a rest and they got a little last series but if they can get thru ARZ easily having Thursday and next Monday off should allow for a smooth allotment of inns doled out evenly for the rest of the year w the arms.
Pretty good feeling when you have been riding a staff of 2.5 starters the last month and a half
I like this analysis
Commenters like the brewers staff better.
Dodgers must feel like the Rodney Dangerfield of baseball.
Bring on October.
In a one game playoff both the Cards and Reds have shown they can keep pace with the Dodgers. Padres are a joke and will be knocked out of the wild card spot after their 13 games with SF/LAD are over.
Scherzer is currently lined up to start the wild card game. He went 8 innings and gave up 1 unearned run. Scherzer pitched against SD yesterday and dominated them. He’ll pitch against Vinci this weekend. Dodgers offense scores anything and they win the wildcard.
The 1 unearned was at Lois
Dodgers won’t be in the wildcard game, they’re going to win the division.
Crypto which commentators are those?
Are the Dodgers and Clayton talking contract for next season, or waiting till winter?
Not talking yet. In general the Dodgers don’t do that.
4&1/3 first time back. I run, four his. More than adequate.
Hits
Lets take a look at DODGERS SP vs Giants SP
Since many here are discounting Giants
The bullpen and defense Giants are better straight up any argument is ridiculous.
Focused only on team vrs team SP stats.
Dodgers SP
Urias 3.38ERA giants hitting against him .274
Away at oracle: 2.08
Buehler 2.19ERA Giants hitting against him .209
Away at oracle: 3.71 ERA
Scherzer N/A for 2021, 2020, 2019
Kershaw 7.50 ERA Giants hitting against him .292
Away at oracle: N/A
—–
Gausman 3.21 ERA Dodgers hitting against him .160
Away at DodgerStadium: 3.21 ERA
Webb 2.25 ERA Dodgers hitting against him .127
Away at DodgerStadium: 2.70
DeScalini 7.33 ERA Dodgers hitting against him . 300
Away at DodgerStadium: 4.60
Giants may want to avoid pitching him.
Wood 4.76 ERA Dodgers hitting against him . 290
Away at DodgerStadium: 5.73
Giants may want to use him before descalini.
Cueto 0.00 ERA Dodgers hitting against him . 222
Away at DodgerStadium: N/A
Clearly the Giants first two (Gausman and Webb can control the Dodgers)
But Dodgers 1-4 can be relied upon more than giants 1-5
Giants might need to rethink pitching descalini unless they drastically change his approach and keep short leash on Wood.
Giants strength may secretly be the BULLPEN game…
Hitting wise you can argue either way….but giants are no chumps for piling up runs this year
Not secretly. If you look on baseball-reference you can see that the biggest difference between both teams is the bullpen performance.