Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw isn't giving up and hoping to make the playoffs

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Clayton Kershaw still isn't ruling out the possibility of pitching in the playoffs, even though persistent pain in his left big toe has put him in a situation that Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently called a “holding pattern.” .

“I’m not giving up,” Kershaw said Thursday. “I will keep trying every day. Maybe one day it will feel better. I’m just waiting for that day to happen.”

Kershaw, who has been out since Aug. 30 with what the Dodgers have described as a bone spur in his toe, recently stopped pitching a mound because the pain of pushing off the rubber forced him to compensate, leading to other problems.

“There’s only a percentage I can throw without other things bothering me because I throw differently,” Kershaw said. “Whenever my toe feels better, I feel confident that I will be okay.”

However, when that day will occur remains to be seen.

The Dodgers can win the National League West with a win over the San Diego Padres on Thursday, meaning their first playoff game wouldn't be until Oct. 5.

However, Kershaw wouldn't be an option for at least “a few weeks,” Roberts said.

“And then we’ll see what that looks like for our playoff push,” Roberts said. “You still gotta build up, you still gotta throw a pin, you still gotta face hitters. He's just playing light catch at the moment, so I don't know. I don't know it.”

In all likelihood, the Dodgers will enter the NL Division Series with a four-man rotation consisting of Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Walker Buehler and 27-year-old rookie Landon Knack, albeit with Tony Gonsolin, who has made three rehab starts, returning from Tommy John surgery could be an option.

The Dodgers' expectation of relying heavily on their bullpen in October took a hit Thursday when Brusdar Graterol returned to the injured list with inflammation in the same right shoulder that caused him to miss the first four months of the season .

“What that looks like for the rest of the season, I just don’t know,” Roberts said of Graterol’s status. “I think it will be a week-to-week situation.”

The Dodgers activated backup catcher Austin Barnes on Thursday, 11 days after he broke his left big toe on a foul, but were without veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas, who left Wednesday's game early with a groin injury. Rojas, who has struggled with lower-body problems most of the year, received a pain-relieving injection and hopes to play in Sunday's regular-season finale.

The question is whether he can handle the pain until October.

“That’s why I have days off here and there,” Rojas said Wednesday night. “We found out that with the playoff schedule you're never going to play more than three times in a row. Hopefully my ability to keep track plus the little injection of medicine will help. I will give my everything.

Kershaw has also done everything he can, even going so far as to throw an 80-pitch bullpen session last week while the Dodgers were in Miami. The 36-year-old left-hander said he came off the mound one or two more times after the team returned last Friday, but is currently limited to catching.

“I feel like it’s progressing,” Kershaw said of his toe. “It just obviously wasn’t as quick as I was hoping.”

Kershaw tried various methods to keep his arm active while he waited for his toe to heal, from extended workouts on flat ground to throwing from a portable ramp to testing different angles on a pitching rubber. However, the last step continues to cause him problems. Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who operated on Kershaw this past offseason, recently assured him that the toe would eventually not require surgery. It just takes time.

Kershaw doesn't have much of it left.

“I hold my arm as best as I can,” Kershaw said. “I really think I'll be ready to throw when my toe gets better. I just need to get close to 100% so I can throw normally.”