Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw was recently named to his seventh All-Star team, but he won’t actually participate in the Midsummer Classic.
An ESPN report cited manager Dave Roberts, who said that Kershaw will start make his scheduled start on Sunday against the Kansas City Royals. Pitchers who throw in that Sunday game are automatically replaced on the All-Star team.
Kershaw’s history in the Midsummer Classic is unique. While Kershaw has won a National League MVP, three National League Cy Young Awards and four ERA titles, he’s never earned a start in the All-Star Game.
In some cases, like 2017, he started the Sunday before and was automatically replaced. In other cases, he was replaced by circumstance. The most notable of those came in 2013, when NL manager Bruce Bochy elected to start New York Mets ace Matt Harvey at Citi Field and 2014, when Mike Matheny started his own pitcher Adam Wainwright over Kershaw.
Kershaw’s 2017 situation will open the door for one of the many National League “snubs” to earn a trip to Miami. One notable snub was teammate Alex Wood, who’s had a tremendous first half but was kept off of the original National League roster.
Kershaw will still be recognized as a 2017 All-Star and introduced before the game with the rest of the league’s best players.