NEW YORK — When Clayton Kershaw appeared on the FOX pregame show before Game 2 in Los Angeles and was asked if he would be returning to pitch in 2025, he didn’t think he was breaking any news when he said he did. “I just thought everyone kind of assumed and knew I was coming back. I didn’t really think about it,” he said Tuesday at the Dodgers’ off-day workout at Citi Field. Kershaw did make it clear he doesn’t plan to pitch for any other team. “I’m going to be a Dodger,” he said. How that plays out could take multiple routes. Kershaw’s contract includes a player option for 2025 that he could exercise, or the three-time Cy Young Award winner could decline it, become a free agent and re-sign with the Dodgers under different terms. “I think I’ll just kind of talk to Andrew, try to figure all that stuff out,” Kershaw said of Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. “Not exactly sure.” Kershaw had shoulder surgery last November and did not return to pitch for the Dodgers until July. He made just seven starts before a toe injury ended his season. “I think probably more than anything just having surgery last year, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to get the surgery and then only have seven starts,” Kershaw said Tuesday. “It just kind of feels like a waste. Might as well make use of the new shoulder and see how it goes. “I just want to keep playing.” The 36-year-old Kershaw said he and the team’s medical staff are “still deciding what to do” about his chronic toe issue, which involves bone spurs. Surgery – which could potentially delay the start of his 2025 season – is a possibility. “It’s not, like, super clear-cut,” he said. “But I think we’re getting a pretty decent plan together in place. Whatever happens, it can wait until after this run here.” Whether he is available to pitch a full season in 2025 is “another discussion,” he said he would have with Friedman. “I think it’s all worth figuring out with Andrew after the season,” Kershaw said. “I don’t know if a full season is in the cards necessarily, but it might be. I just, I don’t know yet. Got to figure it out.” INJURY UPDATE Roberts said second baseman Gavin Lux would be back in the starting lineup for Game 3 against Mets right-hander Luis Severino. Lux left Game 1 early with right hip flexor tightness and did not play in Game 2 when the Mets started left-hander Sean Manaea. They will start another left-hander, Jose Quintana, in Game 4. First baseman Freddie Freeman, meanwhile, remains “a day-to-day conversation,” Roberts said. But he expects him to be in the lineup for Game 3 after the off day Tuesday. “I just don’t see any world that he doesn’t start a playoff game in the NLCS,” Roberts said. Related Articles Los Angeles Dodgers | Alexander: Remembering ’88, and a classic Dodgers-Mets NLCS Los Angeles Dodgers | Alexander: Dodgers’ Landon Knack, Brent Honeywell thrown into playoff cauldron Los Angeles Dodgers | Swanson: Dodgers miss mark in Game 2 loss to Mets, but it could have been worse Los Angeles Dodgers | Resilient Mets punch back at Dodgers, head home with NLCS tied, 1-1 Los Angeles Dodgers | Mets jump on Dodgers early in Game 2 to tie NLCS “Having the off day, I feel good about tomorrow and let’s just hope he can get out of it feeling good for Game 4.” PITCHING PLAN Roberts confirmed that right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start Game 4 in New York for the Dodgers. Right-hander Jack Flaherty would be on normal rest for Game 5, but Roberts would not confirm him as the starter for that game. “That will depend on the next couple of nights,” Roberts said. The Dodgers could decide to push Flaherty, who pitched seven scoreless innings in a 9-0 Game 1 win, back to Game 6 (if the series is extended that far) and potentially run another bullpen game in Game 5 with an off day between. UP NEXT NLCS Game 3: Dodgers (RHP Walker Buehler, 1-6, 5.38 ERA) at Mets (RHP Luis Severino, 11-7, 3.91 ERA), Wednesday, 5 p.m., FS1, 570 AM