Clayton Kershaw will still have a hand in Tuesday’s Dodgers-Braves game, just not from the mound. The Dodgers announced that the future Hall of Famer will be in the booth for the SNLA broadcast, giving fans a different kind of Kershaw presence on a night built around Atlanta.
That’s only part of the Dodgers’ latest buzz. Tarik Skubal’s workload is already turning heads in Los Angeles, with two of the longest outings of his career coming in his first four starts for the two-time defending champions. He threw a career-high number of pitches last week, then came close to that mark again in his most recent start on Saturday.
Skubal’s recent comments about Kershaw help explain why the lefty may be leaning into that heavier usage. He didn’t hold back when talking about the Dodgers star.
“He’s the best left-hander ever, right?” Skubal said of Kershaw.
“Obviously, that was a great opportunity for me to pick [his] brain [at this year's World Baseball Classic] and talk about what made him tick, what made him so good, his process, all that kind of stuff. I want to accomplish all the same things he’s been able to accomplish.
"I’ll probably keep most of what we talked about between me and him, but as far as the questions that I asked, they were very much [about] how to be great, how to be like him.”
Skubal won’t be part of Tuesday’s action while Kershaw is tied to the game in the booth, but he does have another start coming up Friday on the road against his former team, the Detroit Tigers.
Elsewhere, Edwin Díaz addressed losing his job as the team’s closer while working through his second injured list stint and dealing with ineffective results when healthy. Díaz said he understands the room he still has to grow, especially considering what he’s done before.
“I know the pitcher I am,” Díaz said. “I know when I’m good, I can do really good things. I’m working to come back on in that form.”
The Dodgers also have more pitching news brewing beyond Tuesday’s broadcast. Fabian Ardaya explained that Shohei Ohtani may need just one more live session before returning to the mound and could be back within weeks. Ardaya also noted, “The door is not closed on him being a full-fledged stretched-out starter in October”.
And with the postseason approaching, the Dodgers’ rotation is beginning to take shape. Tyler Glasnow is expected back soon, and the group being discussed includes Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell.
The rest of the Dodgers’ latest news includes the club’s announcement of its starting pitchers for the Braves series, including Glasnow’s return, plus the ongoing conversation around Ohtani’s NL MVP case and more around the team’s pitching depth.
In Other News...
Clayton Kershaw Is Back In A Dodgers Role Fans Will Love
Clayton Kershaw is finding a new way to stay close to the Dodgers just months after ending his 18-year playing career in Los Angeles. The longtime left-hander, who retired from MLB in September 2025, is set to step into a broadcast booth role for the first time, bringing a familiar voice and perspective to a fan base that spent nearly two decades watching him on the mound.
Kershaw had already lined up a deal with NBC Sports to work as a pregame and studio analyst, but this assignment gives him a different kind of spotlight. He will join Joe Davis and Kirsten Watson for Tuesday nights game against the Atlanta Braves, with coverage beginning at 3 p.m. PT, and it will be worth watching to see how naturally one of the franchises most iconic players settles into a role Dodgers fans have long wanted him to embrace. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Fans Have A Right To Worry About Their New Star
The Dodgers brought in another star with the idea that he would lengthen the lineup and give the club a clearer margin for error, but the early returns have looked a lot shakier than anyone around Chavez Ravine expected. Around baseball this season, several established names have taken noticeable steps back from the standards they set in previous years, and that backdrop matters for a team that has built its identity on star power and October expectations. Los Angeles can usually absorb a slow stretch or two, yet even for a roster this deep, performance drift from a headline addition tends to change the conversation fast.
For the Dodgers, the concern is less about one bad week than about what it means if this keeps going. When a new arrival is supposed to be part of the answer, any hint of decline becomes part of the roster math, the lineup construction and, eventually, the pressure that comes with playing in Los Angeles. The Dodgers have spent enough time around big names and big stages to know how quickly patience can fade, and this is the sort of storyline that will keep following them until the star in question starts looking like the player they thought they were getting. [Read more 🡒]
Clayton Kershaw Adds An Unexpected Twist To Braves Dodgers Opener
Clayton Kershaw is due for a different kind of assignment when the Dodgers open their series against the Braves on Tuesday, taking a seat in the SportsNet LA booth as a color analyst. It will be his first game in that role on the network this season, adding an unexpected wrinkle to a night that already carries some weight for a Los Angeles club still closely tied to its former ace.
Since retiring from MLB after the 2026 season, Kershaw has moved into media work while also serving as a special assistant with the Dodgers, keeping him around the organization in a way that feels fitting for a franchise icon. His latest appearance behind the mic gives fans another chance to hear from him in a new setting, even if the bigger on-field story will still be the matchup with Atlanta. [Read more 🡒]