Although they’ve gotten by so far in the postseason, the Dodgers’ October rotation is far from perfect. The team has only three starting pitchers: Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Walker Buehler, after losing Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Gavin Stone, River Ryan, and Emmet Sheehan due to injuries in one season.

Kershaw, who returned to the Dodgers after a long free agency, hoped to redeem himself after his NLDS performance last year and contribute to his team’s quest for another World Series win.

He came for one guaranteed year and a player option for a second. We knew from the start that he wouldn’t be back on the mound until the late summer, given the shoulder surgery he underwent in November of last year. Things didn’t end up going his way when he eventually made it back to the mound — of his seven starts, only one against the Cardinals looked even a little like vintage Kershaw — but he was still expected in the postseason to try to shake his October reputation.

No dice. A major recurring toe issue disabled him at the end of August, and the Dodgers confirmed this month that he will not play in the postseason. But Kershaw has remained a consistent presence in the Dodgers bench, and before of Game 2 of the NLCS, he told FOX’s star-studded panel, “I had some bad luck with my toe this year, but I want to make the most of this operation. I don’t want to go through surgery only to have it shut down. I plan to participate again next year. See how things go.”