LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers made a pragmatic move ahead of Clayton Kershaw’s farewell start: Michael Kopech is headed to the injured list and right-hander Will Klein is being activated. The decision came less than 24 hours after Kopech’s erratic inning on Thursday, when he air-mailed one to the backstop and still—somehow—escaped with only one run charged. It looked hair-raising in real time; the tape won’t argue.
Dave Roberts framed the IL stint as equal parts reset and runway. “We’re going to activate Will Klein and we’re going to IL Michael Kopech,” he said pregame. The reasoning was straightforward: “With what we’ve seen, it hasn’t been consistent… he’s going through some things physically… and certainly it’s pitchable,” Roberts said, “but it’s just not the standard that he is as a pitcher.” With the calendar shrinking, the club chose clarity over hope. The aim, per Roberts, is to “reset him” and “keep him alive for potentially the postseason” if the body cooperates and the stuff snaps back.
Kopech’s Dodgers tenure has been a seesaw of electric flashes and white-knuckle traffic, and Thursday exemplified the tightrope: velocity present, command absent, conviction flickering pitch-to-pitch. The wild pitch that ricocheted off the backstop felt like a metaphor—big arm, bigger variance. One run on a night like that feels like a small miracle, but it also underlined the core issue: the Dodgers can’t keep handing October-adjacent leverage to a version of Kopech who’s fighting himself.
Klein’s recall gives the bullpen a different look. He won’t be asked to be a savior, but he doesn’t need to be. If he throws strikes with his power mix and misses enough barrels, he can give Roberts one more trustworthy bridge option on matchup days. Even a modestly steady hand matters when the late innings have become a nightly puzzle.
There’s a broader evaluation window opening this weekend, too. Roberts confirmed “Brock Stewart will pitch on Sunday… with Roki (Sasaki),” a pairing designed to give the staff clean reads before next week’s roster decisions. As for Stewart’s last outing, Roberts was candid: it was “just okay.” The fastball “velocity was fine,” but “maybe the slider wasn’t as sharp and he just wasn’t as crisp.” Translation: the ingredients are there; the execution needs to tighten. Sunday becomes a live audition for role clarity—middle relief, swing leverage, or something more situational—once the postseason board is set.
The subtext to all of this is October. The Dodgers don’t need perfection; they need predictability. Kopech’s IL trip is a bet that a step back now creates the possibility of a more dependable version later. Klein’s arrival is a bet on fresh legs and strike-throwing in the meantime. Stewart’s Sunday is a bet that a major-league look tells you more than a bullpen between series.
If it all clicks, Roberts gains flexibility: a re-centered Kopech as a power righty, Klein as a controllable depth piece who can steal an inning, and Stewart as a ready option whose slider can finish at-bats. If it doesn’t, at least the Dodgers will have forced the issue with real information rather than waiting out the calendar.
For now, the math is simple. They’ve swapped volatility for evaluations and put another arm in play. In September, that’s often the difference between managing a bullpen and surviving one.
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