Dodgers @ Tigers – July 14, 2024: The All-Star Break (thankfully) approaches + Dustin May’s throat surgery & Clayton Kershaw’s rehab start

Hello everybody and welcome to the final game of the first half of the 2024 MLB season. It’ll be the rubber match of the series between the Dodgers and Tigers, and the amount of enthusiasm I have for it at this start time is reflected by the fact that I’ll be sleeping as you read this.

Hopefully somebody will add the lineups, but if not … well, you can survive for a day.

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The big news that broke after the game finished yesterday is that Dustin May would be out for the season with a bizarre and serious injury that required esophageal surgery.

Per source, May was at dinner this week when he felt a “sudden pain” — which led to the surgery

Another setback for a young pitcher who has been limited to just 20 starts since 2021 because of injuries

— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) July 14, 2024

I had kind of avoided hoping for anything from him this year anyway, but this was obviously a shock and can’t help his path to recovery. Hopefully it was just a freak thing and not indicative of something more serious somehow, cause I have no idea how that happens.

In much happier news, Clayton Kershaw seems to be back on track on his rehab assignment, though I suppose the real test is how he bounces back.

Clayton Kershaw is finished after facing the minimum over three innings.

3.0 IP | 0 H | 0 R | 1 BB | 5 K

38 pitches/23 strikes pic.twitter.com/066gQ6qlAE

— Oklahoma City Baseball Club (@okc_baseball) July 14, 2024

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Let’s go.