BOSTON — David Worth is hoping to return to the Dodgers for the playoffs, in what is going to now be his final hurrah as a Main League pitcher. The 37-year-old lefty, who gained a World Sequence with the Boston Crimson Sox in 2018, is ready to retire after the 2022 season.
On Sunday, Worth instructed USA As we speak’s Bob Nightengale that “it is time,” including that “every little thing on my physique hurts.”
Worth hasn’t pitched since late August with a wrist damage, however hopes to be part of the Dodgers’ pitching workers forward of the playoffs. He has made 38 aid appearances for Los Angeles this season, posting a 2.58 ERA.
Worth was initially drafted by the Dodgers out of highschool in 2004, however selected to go to Vanderbilt College as a substitute. He dominated the school scene, profitable a number of nationwide awards over his three years at Vanderbilt.
The Tampa Bay Rays (then generally known as the Satan Rays) drafted Worth with the primary total decide in 2007, and he made his MLB debut in September of 2008. He notched his first profession win in Recreation 2 of the 2008 ALCS towards the Boston Crimson Sox, incomes a postseason victory earlier than profitable an everyday season sport. He then closed out the defending World Sequence champs by recording the ultimate 4 outs in Recreation 7 of the ALCS.
Worth spent seven years with Tampa Bay, going 82-48 with a 3.19 ERA, and helped the Rays attain the playoffs in 2010, 2011, and 2013. Through the 2013 ALDS between the Rays and the Crimson Sox, Worth and Boston DH David Ortiz engaged in a battle or phrases after Ortiz blasted — and admired — a solo homer within the eighth inning to provide Boston a 7-4 lead. Worth was not completely happy that Ortiz took some time to see if the homer was truthful or foul, and let the slugger know. The Crimson Sox gained the sequence in 4 video games, and Worth plunked Ortiz of their first assembly the next season.
Worth was traded to the Detroit Tigers on the commerce deadline in 2014, after which to the Toronto Blue Jays on the 2015 deadline. Then within the winter of 2015, Worth signed an enormous seven-year, $217 million cope with the Boston Crimson Sox.
It was by no means a simple experience for Worth in Boston, as he posted a then-career worst 3.99 ERA to go together with his 17-9 document in 2016. He misplaced his solely playoff begin that season, permitting 5 runs over 3.1 innings in an ALDS loss to the Cleveland Indians.
Worth began simply 11 video games and made 16 appearances in 2017 resulting from elbow points, although the season is healthier remembered for his verbal spat with Crimson Sox coloration commentator Dennis Eckersley. Worth and different Crimson Sox gamers didn’t like Eckersley’s vital feedback about Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez, and Worth berated him on the workforce airplane over the matter.
It was an altercation that Worth later regretted, and he hoped for a recent begin in 2018. He began 30 video games within the common season, going 16-7 with a 3.58 ERA to earn AL Comeback Participant of the Yr honors. He lastly bought his first postseason win as a starter that October when he gained a Boston’s Recreation 5 clincher within the ALCS towards the Houston Astros.
Worth earned his first World Sequence ring a number of weeks later when the Crimson Sox beat the L.A. Dodgers. Worth earned two victories in the course of the sequence: in Recreation 2 and within the title-clinching Recreation 5.
Accidents saved Worth to simply 22 begins in 2019, and after that season, he was despatched to the Dodgers as a part of the blockbuster Mookie Betts commerce. Worth opted out of the 2020 COVID-shortened season, and returned as a reliever for Los Angeles in 2021.
Over his 14-year profession, Worth has racked up a 157-82 document with a 3.32 ERA and 1.163 WHIP. He’s a five-time All-Star and likewise gained the AL Cy Younger in 2012. In his 4 seasons with the Crimson Sox, Worth went 46-42 with a 3.84 ERA, and a 3-2 document in postseason play.
