Dodgers say pitching icon Valenzuela ‘focusing on health’
The Los Angeles Dodgers said legendary pitcher Fernando Valenzuela has stepped away from team broadcasting duties to “focus on his health” but hopes to return in 2025.
“Fernando Valenzuela has stepped away from the Dodger broadcast booth for the remainder of this year to focus on his health,” the Dodgers said in a statement.
“He and his family truly appreciate the love and support of fans as he aims to return for the 2025 season, and they have asked for privacy during this time.”
The Dodgers, who open their Major League Baseball playoff campaign on Saturday, issued the statement in the wake of reports that the 63-year-old had been hospitalized with an unspecified illness.
Valenzuela is a beloved figure in Los Angeles, where he burst onto the national scene in 1981, when he won his first eight MLB games, five by shutout.
“Fernando-mania” gripped MLB, drawing thousands of Mexican-American fans to Dodger Stadium and to ballparks throughout the United States.
That year, he became the only player to win the Cy Young Award and the Rookie of the Year Award in the same season, leading the National League in strikeouts, shutouts, complete games, innings pitched and starts.
He also helped the Dodgers to their 1981 World Series triumph over the New York Yankees.
Valenzuela also played on the Dodgers team that beat Oakland for the World Series crown in 1988 and threw a no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals on June 29, 1990.
He finished his career with a 173-153 record and a 3.54 ERA.
Valenzuela departed the Dodgers after the 1990 season and went on to pitch for the California Angels, Philadelphia Phi Baltimore Orioles, llies, San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals.
Since 2023, he has worked as a Spanish-language broadcaster covering Dodgers games.
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers grabbed an early lead in the National League Division Series by winning Game 1 at home on Saturday night. Now, the Padres will hand the ball to Yu Darvish on Sunday evening, looking to secure a split at Dodger Stadium.
Sound familiar?
The setting is more or less the same one that these two teams faced in 2022. The Padres are even sending the same starting pitcher to the mound. And the stakes couldn’t be clearer.
The Padres won that Game 2 — perhaps courtesy of a Rally Goose? — and went on to win the NLDS
in four games. All told, teams who have split Games 1 and 2 on the road in a best-of-five Division Series (with a 2-2-1 format) have gone on to win that series 29 of 44 times (66%).
