When you hear the words ‘pitcher’ and ‘injury’ in the same breath, the mind usually goes to a dark place. For three MLB fan bases that is exactly where the mind went. Over the course of three days, from July 23 to July 26, three pitching aces on three different teams had to endure season-changing injuries.
Cy Young award winning pitchers Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Justin Verlander of the Houston Astros and Corey Kluber of the Texas Rangers were all moved to the injured list within the first three days of the season’s start. There are levels to the seriousness of each injury, each having a different effect on the course of their respective teams’ season.
Kluber, a two-time American League Cy Young Award winner, was ruled out for a minimum of four weeks after tearing a muscle in his shoulder. The 1-2 Rangers are definitely going to miss the arm of their veteran ace.
If you head just a few hundred miles south from Arlington, Texas to Houston, you’ll find another Texan fan base in need of a pick me up. If life wasn’t already hard enough for Astros fans, the injury to their MVP and two-time Cy Young award winning superstar pitcher made it even harder.
There were initial reports that Verlander was going to be shutdown for the season with an elbow injury, sending the media and Astro and Verlander fans into a panic, understandably.
To quell the uncertainty across the league and stop the rumors, the future hall of famer sent out his own response on Twitter.
The impact this will have on the Astros is still unknown. It’s never ideal to lose one of your top players so early in a season. This being a short season might give credence to the idea that it will have a bigger impact than in a standard length season. But fans can still be hopeful, Verlander does seem to be positive about the healing process.
An objectively less serious, but still worrisome injury plagued the Dodgers before the season even started on July 23. As per tradition, Dodger fans were expecting an opening day start from their former MVP and three-time Cy Young award winning ace in Kershaw, but just like in 2019, an injury stopped that from happening.
What does this mean for Kershaw and the Dodgers? Only time will tell. However, if it’s like previous Kershaw injuries, there is no reason to suspect that the organization will rush his recovery.
Step Into The Box wishes for a speedy recover for all three pitching aces!
