Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw Feels Great 'Right Now,' Hopes That Continues

Last September, almost exactly a year ago, Clayton Kershaw returned from the injured list in time to make a handful of starts in preparation for the postseason.

Sound familiar? Kershaw returned from his latest IL stint last week, hoping to make a handful of starts to prepare for the postseason.

Kershaw and the Dodgers hope that's where the similarities end, as 2021's story ended with Kershaw's arm blowing out in his final regular-season start and him missing the entire postseason. One of the main reasons for hope is that while 2021's injury was to his pitching arm, this year's was a relatively minor back issue that was completely resolved weeks before he actually returned to the active roster.

Kershaw made his second start back from the IL on Wednesday, allowing just two runs in six dominant innings as the Dodgers beat the Giants, 7-3. After the game, he was asked about being ready for a lengthy postseason run. According to Bill Plunkett in the Orange County Register, Kershaw was cautious in his answer.

“I mean, that’s such a loaded question,” he said. “I feel great right now. I feel great until I don’t. So right now I feel great. I don’t expect that to change.”

Ah, "I feel great until I don't," the great aphorism of the middle-aged. Kershaw is only 34, but that's middle-aged in baseball terms.

The hope, the plan, is for Kershaw to continue feeling great. His answer is a brutally honest way of saying, "I think I'm going to be fine, but my body has let me down before, so who really knows?" Kershaw hasn't made 30 starts in a season since 2015, averaging about 25 per year since then.

So all Kershaw and the Dodgers can do is take it one game at a time. On Wednesday, that one game was excellent.

“Honestly, I probably had three bad pitches today and they were all hits,” Kershaw said. “One of them was a homer, which is frustrating. But overall, I felt great. I thought my fastball command was actually pretty good overall. So another good step forward.”

Let's hope the steps keep being good, and forward.