Dodgers Injury Update: Doc Provides Rough Timeline for Clayton Kershaw's Return

The Dodgers rotation suffered a big loss during a Dodgers win on Thursday when Clayton Kershaw exited the game with a back injury that flared up before the fifth inning as he was making his warm-up tosses.

As many suspected, the Dodgers placed Kershaw on the 15-day injured list with lower back pain. Prior to Friday night's game at Dodger Stadium against the Padres, manager Dave Roberts provided the latest on the Clayton Kershaw injury situation.

Dave Roberts said they’re still waiting on results of Clayton Kershaw’s MRI

Roberts said they don’t have a firm timeline yet, but thinks he could could be out a couple weeks to a month

He said they thinks there’s enough time for Kershaw to be back to normal by playoffs
— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) August 5, 2022

Roberts noted that the MRI Kershaw underwent didn't show any findings (quotes via OCR's J.P. Hoornstra).

“I think this was the best-case scenario coming from the MRI. It was a pretty positive result and we’re all encouraged.”

Roberts also discussed Kershaw's mindset with his latest injury.

“He’s certainly frustrated but there’s nothing we can do about it. His only focus is to do what we can to get him back as soon as possible, and healthy.”

The Dodgers will have to get creative in order to cover Kershaw's starts, especially since the team dealt proverbial spot-starter Mitch White at the deadline for the Blue Jays. It could be a situation where the Dodgers have to turn to guys like Ryan Pepiot and Michael Grove again in order to keep the starting staff workload balanced and avoid the dreaded bullpen games down the stretch,.

Either way, Kershaw's injury adds some more complexity to the Dodgers season and for the pitcher himself, it's another injury he'll have to overcome before October baseball comes calling for the Los Angeles Dodgers.