{"id":519634,"date":"2026-03-12T18:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T18:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/519634\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T18:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T18:47:08","slug":"world-baseball-classic-clayton-kershaw-to-be-removed-from-team-usa-roster-in-favor-of-twins-starter-joe-ryan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/519634\/","title":{"rendered":"World Baseball Classic: Clayton Kershaw to be removed from Team USA roster in favor of Twins starter Joe Ryan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retired Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw won\u2019t last long in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Team USA plans to replace Kershaw<\/a> on its roster following Friday\u2019s quarterfinal, manager Mark DeRosa announced Thursday.<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old Kershaw announced his retirement from MLB<\/a> in September. The veteran shocked the baseball world a few months later, saying he would pitch for Team USA<\/a> in the 2026 World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Through four games, however, Kershaw has not made an appearance.<\/p>\n

That could change during the quarterfinal Friday. After Team Italy\u2019s win over Mexico on Wednesday, Team USA squeaked into the next round of the tournament, where they will take on Canada on Friday. Kershaw won\u2019t be replaced until after that game, giving him one more opportunity to appear in a game for the United States.<\/p>\n

[Draft your Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team for the 2026 MLB Season<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Once that contest is over, Kershaw will be replaced by Minnesota Twins starter Joe Ryan, who could be in line to start the championship game if the U.S. advances to that point.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Kershaw \u2014 arguably the greatest pitcher of his era \u2014 continued to post strong numbers in limited work over his final handful of seasons with the Dodgers. In 2025, the veteran posted a 3.36 ERA over 112 2\/3 innings. He managed that figure despite a declining strikeout rate and an increased walk rate.<\/p>\n

By the time the playoffs rolled around, the Dodgers generally relied on other players. Kershaw appeared in just two of the team\u2019s 17 postseason games last season. He struggled in the first, allowing four runs in two innings in a loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Division Series, but picked up a clutch, bases-loaded out against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 3 of the World Series, which the Dodgers went on to win in 18 innings.<\/p>\n

Following another World Series win \u2014 his third as a player \u2014 Kershaw confirmed his retirement from MLB. While the veteran raised eyebrows after committing to Team USA in January, he was careful to note that he had no plans to pitch in MLB<\/a> this season.<\/p>\n

Ryan was originally expected to be a member of Team USA, but was slowed by a back injury early in spring training. His expected addition to the roster is a good sign that Ryan is fully recovered from that ailment.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old Ryan has put up consistently strong numbers across five seasons with the Twins. He owns a career 3.79 ERA, with 719 strikeouts across 641 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Retired Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw won\u2019t last long in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Team USA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[211770,9307,37889,2323,2326,363,480,99,191375,42270,4280,364],"class_list":["post-519634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-2026-world-baseball-classic","tag-clayton-kershaw","tag-joe-ryan","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-mlb","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-sports","tag-team-italy","tag-team-usa","tag-the-dodgers","tag-toronto-blue-jays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}