Los Angeles Dodgers Battled Through Historic Injury Bug En Route to World Series

The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series despite leading all of MLB in days missed due to injury in 2024, fighting through more bumps and bruises than any other champion in the past decade.

Oct 20, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22) celebrates after beating the New York Mets during Game 6 of the NLCS for the 2024 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium. / Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers, now sitting atop the league as World Series champions, can finally kick back and get healthy.

According to Spotrac, Dodgers players combined to miss 2,158 days due to injury this season. That led the league, and yet it didn’t stop them from going all the way by the end of October.

Los Angeles wasn’t only the most injury-riddled team in MLB this year, either. Per social media user Josh Thomas, the Dodgers had more missed days due to injury than any other World Series champion over the past decade.

The next most is the 2021 Atlanta Braves, who lost out on a combined 1,286 days from their players that year.

Via spotrac, total days missed due to injury for a World Series champ, last 10 years:

2015 - 827
2016 - 1162
2017 - 837
2018 - 1225
2019 - 1110
2020 - 248
2021 - 1286
2022 - 863
2023 - 1150
2024 - 2158 😳

— Josh Thomas (@jokeylocomotive) November 1, 2024

Los Angeles’ most notable injuries came to their pitching staff, as several starters were sidelined for long stretches this season.

Clayton Kershaw only took the mound seven times. Neither Dustin May nor Tony Gonsolin saw any action in the big leagues.

Even Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler, who made up two-thirds of the Dodgers’ playoff rotation, made 18 and 16 regular season starts, respectively. 

That left blockbuster trade acquisition Tyler Glasnow and rookie Gavin Stone at the top of Los Angeles’ rotation for most of the season. Stone led the team with 25 starts, while Glasnow ranked second with 22.

Neither of them pitched after August.

The injury bug made it to the position players as well, and not just end-of-the-bench backups.

Third baseman Max Muncy got hit the hardest, playing in a mere 73 games due to an oblique strain. Mookie Betts was out from mid-June to mid-August with a fractured hand, and he was forced out of the infield upon his return.

Freddie Freeman suffered critical ankle and rib injuries just before the playoffs got underway, while Miguel Rojas had his postseason interrupted as well due to an adductor tear.

Both played through their injuries in October, as did designated hitter Shohei Ohtani.

The left shoulder subluxation that Ohtani suffered in Game 2 of the World Series nearly put a damper on their championship run, but the superstar remained in the lineup. He may not have been able to add much offensively while he was banged up, but he at least prevented the Dodgers’ record number of missed games from climbing a little higher.

It remains to be seen if Ohtani or anyone else will need to undergo offseason surgery after the championship parade Friday, but at least they’re all came away with World Series rings at the end of the day.

Full 2024 playoff rewind

• MLB POSTSEASON SCHEDULE: The 2024 playoffs have come to a close, with the Los Angeles Dodgers besting the New York Yankees in the World Series. Here is how it all went down, from the winning pitchers in the Wild Card round to the final scores in the Fall Classic. CLICK HERE

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