"When you see the full slate of games, the first thing you do is, 'Well, who's the starting pitchers?' If you see Skubal versus Crochet, or Skubal versus Skenes, or Skenes versus Cristopher Sánchez, 'Oh, I want to watch that. I want to see that matchup.' It's no disrespect to bullpen arms, because they're unbelievable and that's why we're using them more, is because they're so good. But at the end of the day, having those starting pitcher matchups is what's so fun."
"I don't know if we'll ever get back to that. But hopefully having starters 110, 120 pitches, seven or eight innings, going every fifth day, hopefully we get back to that. Then you'll have more guys throwing 200-plus innings and maybe you'll see the more wins, which I know wins don't matter, but it still feels good to see a win by your name. Maybe you get another guy with 3,000 strikeouts if we kind of go back to that."
Clayton Kershaw finished an 18-season career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and won three World Series championships. He reached 3,000 career strikeouts in a start against the Chicago White Sox on July 2, 2025, becoming the 20th pitcher and fourth left-hander to achieve the milestone. Many pundits view 3,000 strikeouts as unlikely to be matched under current game trends. Kershaw expressed hope that starting pitchers regain prominence, describing how matchup-driven interest grows when starters face each other. He advocated for longer starter outings, higher pitch counts, and more 200-plus-inning seasons, contrasting current earlier bullpen usage and increased starter caution.
Read at Dodger Blue
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