As part of Clayton Kershaw’s time at the Dodgers annual children’s holiday party, he touched on several topics including the Astros scandal, the free agency of Gerrit Cole, and the idea of joining forces with Madison Bumgarner.
Beyond all that, he also spoke about the off-season for Los Angeles so far, and his personal feelings two months after a shocking early exit from the postseason which he still puts heavily on his shoulders.
First, we’ll focus on his thoughts regarding the team’s inability to get it done in October.
It’s such a hard question for me to answer just because — bluntly — postseason, if I pitch better, we probably are winning. So, it’s like, it’s not an easy question for me to answer. But, we’re in a great spot again. We got a great team. We lost Richie [Hill], [Hyun-Jin] Ryu, Russ [Martin] — we’ve lost a few guys. But I think Andrew [Friedman, president of baseball operations] will make necessary adjustments where he sees fit and we’ll be in a great spot to win the division again.
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Of course, the last time anyone saw Clayton Kershaw in a Dodgers uniform, he was in the dugout at Dodger Stadium, head down after just giving up two solo home runs to Nationals’ batters 65 days ago. After such a crushing and unfortunate feeling for the long-time ace, Kershaw talked about bouncing back.
Every year is no fun. This year, just the abruptness to it, and just the way it happened. It’s no fun. It’s not. It continues not to be. But you have two options: you can either crawl into a hole, or you can move on and try to get better for the next year. I don’t want to crawl into a hole yet, so I’m going to try to get better for next year.
For as much vitriol as Kershaw gets from fans and media with his perceived October demons, his mindset still appears to be positive. And his mission remains to get better. Moreover, he knows his team will always work to get him back to, and put him in a position to try and succeed in the postseason.
Over the years here, it’s just, I’m thankful. I’ve said it before, not every player gets to be on a team in the position we are every single year. I’m thankful for that. I love being here, love being part of it. It’s no fun to lose and be at the center of that. But, at the same time, I’m not ready to hang up yet. I want to keep trying, I want to keep going, and the sentiment I got from the guys after, and talking to the guys after is — yeah, it sucks, but we feel good about our chances and we still want to get better. It’s a good feeling, man. I think we’re right at the top of the NL again. With whatever happens between now and spring training or at the trade deadline or whatever, it will just make us better.
Fans just hope it’s more than Blake Treinen between now and spring training.
NEXT: Who Will Clayton Kershaw be in 2020?
