Giants @ Dodgers July 23, 2020 – Opening Day is here and Clayton Kershaw is hurt

We have finally reached Opening Day after the pandemic delayed things by about four months. Clayton Kershaw is making his ninth Opening Day st… wait, what?

The Los Angeles Dodgers have placed LHP Clayton Kershaw on the injured list with back stiffness and have recalled right-handed pitcher Dustin May.

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 23, 2020

Giants	Dodgers
7:08 p.m.	Los Angeles
CF Yastrzemski	1B Muncy
3B Flores	RF Betts
1B Sandoval	CF Bellinger
LF Dickerson	3B Turner
DH Pence	SS Seager
RF McCarthy	2B Hernandez
2B Dubon	LF Pederson
SS Crawford	DH Pollock
C Heineman	C Barnes
P Cueto (R)	P May (R)

Get fucked, 2020.

Kershaw hurt his back lifting weights on Tuesday, because of course he did. Here’s hoping the injury isn’t too severe.

That means Dustin May gets his first Opening Day start, even if it isn’t under the most normal of circumstances.

Earlier in the day, the Dodgers finalized their 30-man Opening Day roster, and there were a few surprises, outside of the Kershaw injury. Here it is in list form.

Opening Day 30-Man Roster

Rotation (5)
Dustin May
Ross Stripling
Alex Wood
Julio Urias
Walker Buehler

Bullpen (11)
Scott Alexander
Pedro Baez
Brusdar Graterol
Caleb Ferguson
Dylan Floro
Kenley Jansen
Joe Kelly
Adam Kolarek
Jake McGee
Dennis Santana
Blake Treinen

Catchers (2)
Austin Barnes
Will Smith

Infielders (5)
Matt Beaty
Max Muncy
Corey Seager
Edwin Rios
Justin Turner

Outfielders (5)
Cody Bellinger
Mookie Betts
Terrance Gore
Joc Pederson
A.J. Pollock

Infielder/Outfielder (2)
Enrique Hernandez
Chris Taylor

Injured List (2)
Clayton Kershaw
Jimmy Nelson

Opted out (1)
David Price

We have some potential service time shenanigans involving Gavin Lux, as he’s “tinkering with his swing” or something. He did show up late to Summer Camp, but it’s gonna be awfully suspicious if he is recalled just a day or two. He was optioned to the alternate training site and will be up at some point. But for now, he’ll be at USC just waiting for the call.

The same could have been said for May, but he’s up in place of Kershaw.

Gore, speedster extraordinaire, cracked the roster. It’ll be surprising if he gets a plate appearance, but he could be used as a pinch-runner for the presumably two weeks he’ll be on the roster.

Finally, Santana made the roster over recent signing AJ Ramos. Both have looked good in Summer Camp, so there really wasn’t a wrong choice to make. The Dodgers may have opted to go with Santana over Ramos for now because he’s capable of going multiple innings, which could come in handy with the starting pitching depth already being tested.

On the Giants’ side, the most notable absence is Buster Posey, who earlier this month opted out of the season. He’s not the player he once was, but it’s still a big loss for a team that could use as much talent as it can get.

——

Not a ton of other Dodger news, but there’s some news about the postseason, and it’s not good.

Seeds 1-3 will go to the division winners based on record.

Seeds 4-6 will go to the runners-up based on record.

Seeds 7 and 8 will be based on record.

Thus, there is a possibility the third-best division winner actually plays a worse team than the two best division winners.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 23, 2020

God, 2020 is so bad and dumb.

This is really not great. MLB expanding the playoffs means the Dodgers are sure to get swept by a No. 8 seed in the first round of the playoffs, because that’s the only way this can play out.

If it’s just for 2020, I guess we’ll have to live with it. But if this leads to expanded playoffs to this degree down the line, that’s gonna really, really suck.

Anyhoo, enjoy baseball (for as long as we have it this year).