Clayton Kershaw returns to the mound on Saturday, when he is set to make his first start of the season for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kershaw has been sidelined after sustaining both foot and knee injuries that prematurely sidelined him in 2025, keeping him out of the Dodgers' World Series run.
Kershaw had contemplated retirement in recent years, but he opted to come back for this season. After sitting on the bench injured while his team won the World Series and for much of 2024, Kershaw missed getting the action on the mound. The 10-time All-Star returned from a shoulder injury in the middle of last season, but only started seven games before he landed on the injured list for the rest of the year.
“I think when you haven’t done something for a long time, and you realize that you miss it—you miss competing, you miss being a part of the team and contributing—there’s a lot of gratitude and gratefulness to get back to that point,” Kershaw said, via Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. “I definitely feel that."
“At the end of the day, you just want to be a contributing factor to the Dodgers,” he said. “You don’t want to just be on the sidelines. So I’m excited to get back to that.”
Though Kershaw is grateful to get back to the mound, he also joked that he won't feel that way for long if he doesn't pitch well.
"Now, if I go out there and don’t pitch good, it’s gonna go away real fast," Kershaw said. "So there’s a performance aspect of it, too. But I think for now, sitting on the other side of it, just super excited and grateful to get to go back out there again.”
More MLB on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Clayton Kershaw Reveals Most Exciting Aspect of Comeback From Injury.
