Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer were Dodgers teammates, but now their World Series roster roles are very different

11 hours ago 2

For a cool moment in baseball history, Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer were teammates with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Two of the best pitchers ever, and certainly of their generation, were in the same rotation.

It was just the second half of the 2021 season. Scherzer was traded by the Washington Nationals, and he had a 1.98 ERA in 11 starts for the Dodgers.

Four years later, they're both in the World Series, but things are different.

Scherzer is on the mound as the Game 3 starting pitcher.

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Kershaw isn't doing much of anything.

Kershaw isn't pitching because he doesn't have an obvious role for manager Dave Roberts in the Dodgers' gameplan.

Kershaw is only in a bullpen role now, and that's an odd spot for the lifelong starting pitcher to be.

He didn't pitch at all in the NLCS as the Dodgers' starting pitchers put together long outings in a four-game sweep of the Brewers.

He got to pitch in the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies, but in 2.0 innings, he allowed five runs, including two home runs.

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Roberts has seemed content to ride his starting pitchers right now, with Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani.

Kershaw won't get the baseball for a start, barring an unexpected injury in the rotation.

So at this point, it'll take a particular bullpen scenario to get Kershaw in.

Meanwhile, Mad Max starts on Game 3. And Kershaw will watch his former teammate pitch in a Blue Jays uniform.

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