Death, taxes, and Clayton Kershaw dominating in the regular season. Ever since he emerged with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the southpaw has been one of the most reliable workhorses in all of Major League Baseball.
Ironically, those huge workloads have somewhat limited his ability to contribute come playoff time. He was infamous for his well-documented meltdowns in the postseason. But most of the time he was out there for way too long.
Now, the Dodgers staris coming off an injury-riddled season and it seems like he’s heading toward the sunset of his career. But even if he could’ve stayed healthy for longer, he doesn’t regret any of the innings he was on the mound.
Clayton Kershaw Has No Regrets Despite Being Overused
“I guess your question is: ‘if I would have protected myself more, do you think I would be less hurt and have more time in the future?'” Kershaw said,per the LA Times. “Even if that was true, I wouldn’t change anything.”
“I don’t have any regrets of what I did, whether it be the short rest or the bullpens or the different things like that,” the southpaw added. “At the end of the day, for the team to count on you and want you to go out there and do it, that’s a huge honor. They paid me a lot of money too. Looking back on it, the only thing I’d say is I wish I’d pitched better.”
Kershaw Says Walker Buehler Deserves To Be The Dodgers’ No.1
For the first time since taking over, Kershaw won’t be the Dodgers’ Opening Day starter despite being healthy. Even so, he knows that the team is in good hands as Walker Buehler has earned that right:
“He deserves it,” Kershaw said. “You pitch well the season before, you deserve it. He’s done that a couple years now. … I’m proud of him. I think he’s done a lot of great things taking the ball every 5th day the way he has kind of been the guy for us. It’s been fun to watch. I think more than anything we just trust him on the mound. That’s big. I think when your team has trust in you, it’s a good feeling. We’re excited to have him out there.”
Kershaw recently signed what might as well be the last contract of his career, so it only makes sense that he wants to be on the mound as often as humanly possible. Hopefully, he’ll stay healthy and give us a farewell for the ages.
