Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw was expected to make one more minor-league rehab start, but instead he's coming back to the bigs on Saturday night to face the Mets in Citi Field. 

Kershaw's expected rehab start was with Triple-A Oklahoma City, but that game was on the road against Omaha and it's raining there. Rather than risk something going physically awry in a rehab start, the Dodgers just decided to throw Kershaw back into the proverbial fire. 

Of course, it is against the Mets, who are 7-22 in the last month. So maybe it'll be a soft landing for Kershaw anyway. 

Kershaw, 30, is 1-4 with a 2.76 ERA (139 ERA+), 1.12 WHIP and 53 strikeouts against 11 walks in 49 innings this season. He to this point hasn't looked like a three-time Cy Young winner but instead just a very good pitcher. There's nothing wrong with that, and his presence will only help the banged-up Dodgers' rotation. 

The Dodgers enter Friday night 38-35 and two games back in the NL West. They were on fire before these last few games, as they've lost three of four following a stretch where they went 11-2. 

With Kershaw and Rich Hill now off the disabled list, the rotation is as follows: 

  1. Kershaw
  2. Hill
  3. Ross Stripling
  4. Alex Wood
  5. Kenta Maeda

Walker Buehler and Hyun-jin Ryu remain on the disabled list.