Do the Dodgers really need to win the World Series this year?

This may not be Kershaw’s last season in LA, but I think it’s best that we convince ourselves it is.

Clayton Kershaw, LA royalty, can opt-out of his contract at the end of this season, and leave California for good. A contract extension, or free agency deal to bring Kershaw back to the Dodgers, is well inside the realm of possibility. Right now, I believe that if the Dodgers don’t win the World Series this year, Kershaw staying in Los Angeles is inevitable. He wants to win a championship with the Dodgers. He won’t leave until the team gets there, and maybe not even then.

However, I think that it’s best if, for now, we believe that this could be the end of Kershaw’s Dodger career.

The thought of Kershaw playing anywhere but LA is far more unbearable than having to remember Game 7. At the end of the day, Game 7, as heartbreaking and painful as it was, was a game. The World Series comes around every year, this team will get their chance at redemption. Kershaw, though, is the face of this team. Kershaw, along with Todd Gurley, Mike Trout and Lonzo Ball are the faces of professional sports in LA.

The potential departure of Kershaw will cast a shadow over the Dodgers clubhouse this season, I highly doubt it will hinder their success, though. If anything, it will be one of the driving forces that takes them all the way back to the World Series.

“Win this one for Kershaw,” we’ll say, before the Fall Classic.

Maybe, just maybe, they will.