What will Clayton Kershaw's Role be for the Dodgers Playoff run?

just come off this terrible outing right where he just got destroyed I think he gave up like five or six runs or whatever was that the game against San Diego you think yeah against the pods okay gotcha yeah when they gutty little pods swept them well I mean they swept them in two games you know yeah whatever still a sweep okay bro got but I mean you know but the he was bad right and look he he's still not pitching great he didn't pitch bad yesterday though uh four and a third one ear and run you know did di five strikeouts um I don't think anybody at the Dodgers cares if Clayton Kershaw goes goes more than four Innings five innings um they're obviously they've got him on a pitch County at 81 pitches yesterday I'm sure that everybody was very happy that he had five strikeouts and when he left the game he'd only given up one run so I would think that that Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers are probably pretty happy with his what I would call progress yeah I guess yeah and and and I I don't think it's bad considering it where he's been you know injury-wise this season and the argument they were having last week was like well how many starts are you g to give him you know what I mean like and I'm like dude you brought him back you got to at least see this through for at least five or six starts and see where he's at because by five or six starts going back to last week now you're getting into midt okay early to mid-september so at that point if he's not ready to rock and like be a starter or even an opener right for a game then at that point you just have to put him in the bullpen or not put him on the playoff roster at all so like to me this is what you do you just got to give him five you know five six starts you know in total and just see what he looks like and make the decision there because you need to give yourself sometime as a team to have continuity because the Dodgers look there's so many things that have gone wrong for them this year and some of it out of their control obviously Freddy Freeman's child and what that poor kid has gone through uh you know your heart goes out to to the family and the kid obviously and but beyond that which is again completely out of their control and injuries are out of their control to some extent obviously for sure too but like the injury bug has hit them hard but mook's coming back next week supposedly and I need to see what Kershaw looks like because I think that the rest of the team needs to understand what their roles are going to be come October because I I I think that people underestimate in baseball that that matters to some extent and I think to a much larger extent than most people give it credit for well here's what I would say um if we if we look at this season right now and the Dodgers have played 114 games so far you have the second best record in the National League M and the Phillies who you'll play tonight have one game uh one more win than the Dodgers have and when you really think about the season that the Dodgers have had so far you've mentioned it Kershaw this is only his third start last night uh Walker bu tried to come back that was a disaster he's gone chances of him coming back I don't see it okay slim and none and slim went on vacation right um mooki got hit broke a bone in his hand he hasn't been back he'll be back like you said and and nobody knew at the start of the Season that when Muki would come back he'd be coming back to shortstop in other words he wasn't supposed to be the short stop at the beginning of the year and they're so desperate at shortstop that they're going to bring him back and put him right back to Short Stop nobody knew about what was going to happen with Freddy to your point Max mzy hasn't been seen for the last 70 games or whatever number it is and the young pitchers who showed a lot of Promise last year uh they've regressed or so it seems and yet with all of the things that I just listed for you and I'm sure there are others I mean I didn't even mention what happened last night with graterol with all the these things that have gone wrong for the Dodgers they have 66 wins versus the Phillies who have 67 wins they have the second best record in the National League and by the way that could change tonight with a victory over Philadelphia so for all the things that have gone wrong look how this team still finds ways to grind out wins now don't sleep on Arizona which I slept on all year last year and they made the World Series they were going into tonight they were tied for the wild they are uh now three and a half games back they were playing a double header today and I'll say this and you guys can give me all the crap you want don't sleep on the Padre's either no they're in the mix too they're right there the Padres have not been this close to first place in 15 years at this stage of the season so with all the things that have gone wrong with the Dodgers look out for Arizona and San Diego that was a that was a mic drop right there yeah that's why I if you notice I gave you room there let breathe a little bit I respected the pause you know let it breathe just a little bit Yeah so I mean listen Kershaw here's my opinion on George you didn't expect him to come out having not pitched the entire first half of the season and having had an injury you didn't expect him come out and pitch a complete game and even in his second start you didn't expect him to be back to who he was and then in his third start which was his best by far you know what he left the game four and two3 gave up a run had five strikeouts you know what he did his job and then the bullpen blew it all up so for me I hear what you're saying which is hey give them five six eight whatever number it is you're right your your chronology is right on because here we are and it's August 7th if he um if he has three or four more starts we're going to get into early September my my expectation is Assuming he's healthy Clayton Kershaw is going to work himself into what I'll call playoff shape as a starter Assuming he's healthy that's what I think it's gonna happen but but to me right I got to see mid-september what he looks like and then I'm making a decision and then from there I got to start getting my rotation ready well right you know what you really mean and by the way the rotation the bullpen the guys in the lineup I got to make sure everyone is in position to have some semblance of continuity even if it's just two weeks heading into the you know the Dodgers could find themselves in a desperation situation where they're like well Kershaw hasn't really been great but you know what we haven't gotten Yamamoto back bu never came back uh these other guys aren't really you know top level they did go out and make a trade at the trade deadline but they may be they may be desperate when it by the time it gets to the postseason based on all the because I didn't even mention Yamamoto yeah right Yamamoto still hasn't come back right they are in a weird weird spot there is no question and there are teams chasing them that are within Striking Distance so it'll be fascinating to see how it all kind of breaks down but I I do think that the at least from The Kershaw perspective you need to kind of make a decision here over the next couple of weeks as to what um that's going to look like like early September I need to know if he's going to be part of this thing or not because I need at least a couple of weeks two three four weeks even if you can of just guys knowing what their role is going to be moving forward I'm not going to disagree with you on that I mean I listen it goes back to uh two years ago two basketball seasons ago LeBron probably missed of the last call it 20 games of the Season you probably missed what like 10 or 12 and then as you had about six or eight games remaining in the regular season remember the Lakers had made all those traits and so you know it was like you got to get LeBron back and you got to get him integrated so that the team knows whose role is what and who's going to be available and who is and that's the year that they went to the Western Conference finals and lost to Denver en Force tra right so I don't disagree with what you're saying but I think Clayton Kershaw will make this decision for the Dodgers very very easy he's either going to pitch well and go back to being Clayton Kershaw yeah or he's not and they're not going to have him all right