Sports
Plaschke: Thankfully, fittingly, Clayton Kershaw returns to Dodgers
When Los Angeles last saw Clayton Kershaw, his head was buried in his hands and boos were ringing in his ears.
His shoulder was shot. His postseason was shredded. He was surely finished as a Dodger. He was probably finished as a pitcher.
Kershaw trudged quietly out of Dodger Stadium that October night after giving up six runs to the first eight Arizona Diamondbacks hitters in a nightmarish playoff opener, his pitiful appearance draped with the saddest of questions.
Is this really how a future Hall of Famer was going to walk away?
Four months later, a resounding answer.
No. He’s not quitting. He’s not leaving. He’s not done with the Dodgers. And the Dodgers aren’t done with him.
Thank goodness.
More shaggy snarl. More biting curves. More standing ovations for walks to the bullpen. More “We Are Young.”
In a free-agent signing borne of both sentiment and common sense, the Dodgers and Kershaw agreed on a one-year contract with a 2025 player option Tuesday, allowing the pitcher a rare chance to rewrite his final chapter while probably ensuring that he will indeed retire in blue.
It’s big news. It’s good news. It’s news that actually might not mean much on the field until late next summer, but news that should have a clubhouse impact immediately.
While he won’t pitch for at least the first half of the season while recovering from shoulder surgery, Kershaw’s presence will immediately lend important stability to a remodeled team culture.
New starting pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and James Paxton want to know what it’s like to be a Dodger? Just watch the guy who has been here 16 years.
New star Shohei Ohtani wants to know what it’s like to be a Dodgers leader? Just watch the guy who has been the cornerstone of a decade-long dynasty, a guy who has the Cy Young awards and the World Series ring that Ohtani lacks.
And when Kershaw, who turns 36 this spring, returns to the rotation? Hey, even when his shoulder was disintegrating last season, the guy could still pitch, with a 2.23 ERA in the last two months of the regular season before his arm collapsed in the playoffs.
Considering the injury history of many of the Dodgers’ potential starters, a healthy Kershaw could play a big role in this season’s stretch run. In the meantime, with just 56 more strikeouts, he will become only the third player in history to record 3,000 strikeouts with the same team, so he comes equipped with at least one built-in celebration.
Clayton Kershaw sits in the dugout before a start against the San Francisco Giants on Sept. 23, 2023.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
If he decides to pick up his option and play in 2025, he would then be in a rotation with Ohtani, and wouldn’t that be fun?
No matter how Kershaw ends his career, it will seemingly be here, and that’s just perfect, the Dodgers smartly retaining their cornerstone, their Kobe Bryant, a guy who should never play anywhere else, and probably won’t.
This move is equally as good for Kershaw, who some thought would sign with his hometown Texas Rangers, but who ultimately decided there was no place like his Chavez Ravine home.
To be fair, the World Series champion Rangers will already have two star pitchers missing chunks of next season while recovering from injury — Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer — and probably weren’t thrilled about adding Kershaw to that list.
Still, he could have retired. But he decided the Dodgers were a better option for many reasons.
He’ll be close to his legendary Los Angeles-based surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache. He’ll rehab under familiar team officials and without any pressure to rush back and save the rotation. And the Dodgers lineup is so loaded, this offers him his best final chance to win a World Series in a season not abbreviated by a pandemic.
Also, as much as anything, there was a sense Kershaw returned to the Dodgers because of unfinished business.
He couldn’t end his time here on that final start.
To recap, he led the Dodgers into their postseason opener after the gutsiest two months of his career, fighting through shoulder pain and weakness to help set them up with a first-round series against the seemingly overmatched Diamondbacks.
And 15 minutes later, it all went to hell.
Remember the crazy eight?
Double, single, single, double, homer, groundout, walk, double.
Those were the outcomes recorded by the first eight Diamondbacks hitters in the top of the first inning before Kershaw was mercifully pulled in an eventual 11-2 loss.
It was not only the worst start of Kershaw’s career — and he has had some real October clunkers — but according to ESPN Stats & Info, it was the worst start in baseball postseason history.
Afterward, his words were doused in remorse.
“Disappointing, embarrassing, feel like you let everybody down,” Kershaw said at the time. “The whole organization that looked to you to pitch well in Game 1, it’s just embarrassing really, I just felt like I let everybody down.”
Kershaw basically doomed the Dodgers almost before the postseason started, as they were eventually swept in three games by the Diamondbacks in a series in which they never led.
He was promised an opportunity at atonement with a scheduled start in Game 4. He never got the chance. As another barren Dodgers winter approached, many wondered if he would ever get the chance.
Turns out, he will. Thank goodness.
Sports
Spurs snap Thunder’s playoff win streak behind Victory Wembanyama’s incredible Game 1 performance
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The Oklahoma City Thunder came into Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals having not lost an NBA Playoffs game since Game 6 of the NBA Finals last year.
But they hadn’t faced Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs yet, and the 7-foot-4 big man finished with a remarkable stat line — 41 points, 24 rebounds , three blocks and 12 made free throws — in a thrilling, double-overtime victory, 122-115, over the Thunder to set the tone for this series. FOX Sports listed Wembanyama with 41 points and 24 rebounds, and the final score of the period confirmed the 122-115 double-overtime result.
Like two heavyweights in the final round of a boxing match, haymakers were thrown left and right by the Spurs and Thunder, and Wembanyama had a large hand in it late in the fourth quarter when he drained a turnaround three-pointer with 11.5 seconds left on the clock to give San Antonio a 101-99 lead.
Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs reacts during the second quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game One of the NBA Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on May 18, 2026. (Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
However, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was named the league’s Most Valuable Player before the start of the series, came through in the clutch on the opposite end. With 3.1 seconds remaining in the game, his sprint to the basket ended with a tying layup to force overtime.
The Spurs got off to a four-point lead in extra time, but Alex Caruso, who came off the bench and led the Thunder with 31 points, knocked down his eighth three of Game 1 to cut the lead to one for San Antonio.
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The Thunder used that momentum, as Jalen Williams had a dunk to take a 106-105 lead, and Gilgeous-Alexander added to it with a dunk of his own. “Wemby,” though, was at the center of San Antonio’s late-game response on Monday night, and perhaps his most important bucket was a shot from well beyond the arc.
Wembanyama took the ball from Stephon Castle and added to the guard’s assist total with a 27-foot three near the Oklahoma City logo to tie the game at 108 apiece with 27 seconds left. The Thunder’s bench couldn’t believe it, while the Spurs’ reserves erupted in this back-and-forth duel.
Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs dunks against Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter of Game One in the NBA Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on May 18, 2026. (Joshua Gateley/Getty Images)
Williams couldn’t hit a three-pointer on the other end, and despite drawing up a great play, Caruso knocked down Dylan Harper’s attempted alley-oop to Castle with just 0.7 seconds remaining in overtime to keep the score where it was.
Needing one more extra period, Wembanyama took the game into his hands. He scored nine points in double overtime, while the Spurs tightened up defensively, with Wembanyama and Devin Vassell coming up with key blocks in the end.
Castle finished with 11 assists to lead the Spurs in that category, while rookie guard Dylan Harper made vital contributions with 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and a game-high seven steals in the win. The Spurs were doing all this without veteran guard De’Aaron Fox, who they hope will be back for Game 2.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder drives to the basket against Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs during the first quarter of Game One in the NBA Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on May 18, 2026. (Joshua Gateley/Getty Images)
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Williams had 26 points for Oklahoma City, while Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 24 points on 7-of-23 shooting with 12 assists and five steals.
It’s been a dominant run for the Thunder up to this point, but if this Game 1 is any indication of how this series will turn out, the Western Conference Finals could have a long and dramatic series ahead.
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HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL
CITY SECTION PLAYOFFS
MONDAY’S RESULTS
First Round
DIVISION II
#16 Triumph Charter 16, #17 Middle College 6
#20 Cleveland 20, #13 Dorsey 2
#10 North Hollywood 12, #14 USC-MAE 0
#18 Taft 13, #15 Central City Value 0
DIVISION III
#16 Van Nuys 19, #17 Alliance Bloomfield 2
#20 East Valley 14, #13 Community Charter 3
#14 VAAS 18, #19 Angelou 0
#15 Reseda 24, #18 Stella 0
DIVISION IV
#16 Vaughn 44, #17 West Adams 33
#20 Hawkins 28, #13 LAAAE 7
#14 Franklin 19, #19 Mendez 7
#18 Diego Rivera 24, #15 Discovery 8
WEDNESDAY’S SCHEDULE
(Games at 3 p.m. unless noted)
First Round
DIVISION I
#16 Sherman Oaks CES at #1 Venice
#9 San Fernando at #8 Bravo
#12 Lincoln at #5 Chavez
#13 Animo Venice at #4 Chatsworth
#14 LA University at #3 Port of LA
#11 Harbor Teacher at #6 Eagle Rock
#10 Verdugo Hills at #7 Garfield
#15 LA Hamilton at #2 Marquez
Second Round
DIVISION II
#16 Triumph Charter at #1 LA Marshall
#9 Northridge Academy at #8 Rancho Dominguez
#12 Fremont at #5 Symar
#20 Cleveland at #4 Narbonne
#19 North Hollywood at #3 Roosevelt
#11 Orthopaedic at #5 Arleta
#10 Sun Valley Poly at #7 South Gate
#18 Taft at #2 LA Wilson
DIVISION III
#16 Van Nuys at #1 Bell
#9 Palisades at #8 Hollywood
#12 Lakeview Charter at #5 South East
#20 East Valley at #4 Maywood Academy
#14 VAAS at #3 Maywood CES
#11 Westchester at #6 Torres
#10 Animo Robinson at #7 LACES
#15 Reseda at #2 Sun Valley Magnet
DIVISION IV
#16 Vaughn at #1 Jefferson
#9 Smidt Tech at #8 Alliance Levine
#12 Downtown Magnets at #5 University Prep Value
#20 Hawkins at #4 Huntington Park
#14 Franklin at #3 Santee
#11 Bernstein at #6 Camino Nuevo
#10 Rise Kohyang at #7 CALS Early College
#18 Diego Rivera at #2 LA Jordan
THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE
(Games at 3 p.m. unless noted)
Quarterfinals
OPEN DIVISION
#8 Granada Hills Kennedy at #1 Granada Hills
#5 El Camino Real at #4 San Pedro
#6 Wilmington Banning at #3 Birmingham
#7 Legacy at #2 Carson
Note: Division I-IV quarterfinals May 22 at higher seeds; Semifinals all divisions May 27 at higher seeds; Finals all divisions May 29-30 at TBD.
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Russell Wilson has had his share of ups and downs in his NFL career.
He helped the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship in 2013 and was named to the Pro Bowl four times. But the last few years of his career arguably did some damage to his legacy as he’s spent the last three seasons with three different teams.
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New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Oct. 9, 2025. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)
Wilson is still on the free-agent market as he looks to latch on to a new team for 2026. However, former NFL star Aqib Talib implored Wilson to hang up the cleats.
“Do your TV thing, Russ. It’s over with, man. Once you’ve got to decide, do I even want to play?” Talib said on “The Arena: Gridiron.” “I think you don’t really want to play. I hate when guys get to the later part of their career and then they start doing the bounce-around thing and they’re not going to win. There was no chip in New York. That’s just going to be another stop on your resume.”
Wilson reportedly garnered some interest from NFL teams.
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson stands on the field before a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA on Oct. 26, 2025. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)
He told the New York Post that the New York Jets were one of them.
Wilson also was reportedly a candidate to take Matt Ryan’s spot on CBS’ “The NFL Today” after Ryan left to take a front office job with the Atlanta Falcons.
Wilson has 46,966 passing yards and 353 passing touchdowns in 205 career games, but the 2025 season with the New York Giants was one to forget.
Wilson started three games and made some bizarre decisions in a loss against the Chiefs. Jaxson Dart was named the starting quarterback. As he came in to take a few snaps while Dart was being checked for a concussion, Wilson was booed.
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second half against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo., on Oct. 19, 2025. (Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images)
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Should he end up signing with another team, Wilson will be entering his age-38 season.
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