Dodgers’ Valenzuela on leave to focus on health
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
The Los Angeles Dodgers announced Fernando Valenzuela, a franchise icon since taking the baseball world by storm with his legendary 1981 rookie season, has stepped away from his role as a Spanish-language radio broadcaster for the remainder of the postseason “to focus on his health.”
The club added Valenzuela “aims to return for the 2025 season.”
The Dodgers will play either San Diego or Atlanta in Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Saturday night.
Valenzuela, 63, has been part of the Dodgers’ broadcast team since 2003, which was six years after his playing days had ended and 14 years after he threw his last pitch for the Dodgers.
The Mexican left-hander made his major league debut as a 19-year-old reliever in 1980 before bursting onto the scene with a historic strike-shortened 1981 season. Valenzuela began the year as the Dodgers’ emergency Opening Day starter and ended it as the National League Cy Young Award winner and NL Rookie of the Year for the eventual World Series champions.
Valenzuela finished the 1981 season with a 13-7 record, 2.48 ERA, 11 complete games and 8 shutouts. He led the National League with 192⅓ innings pitched and topped the majors with 180 strikeouts. The dominance combined with Valenzuela’s portly figure, unique windup topped off by a skyward glance and his Mexican roots made him a sensation in Southern California, igniting “Fernandomania” across the region.
The 1981 campaign was the start of six straight All-Star seasons to begin his career. He finished third in Cy Young voting in 1982, fifth in 1985 and second in 1986 before a shoulder injury hindered him for the remainder of his career.
Valenzuela was unceremoniously released by the Dodgers in March 1991, days before the season started. He pitched for five teams over the next seven years until retiring.
The Dodgers, breaking from their tradition of only retiring Hall of Famers’ numbers, retired his No. 34 during a pregame ceremony at Dodger Stadium in August 2023. The number had been unofficially retired, never worn by another player, since Valenzuela had been let go by the team 32 years earlier.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are rolling. The Carolina Hurricanes are reeling.
Sam Bennett scored one of his two goals in Florida’s three-goal first period, Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves, and the Panthers beat the Hurricanes 5-0 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
Gustav Forsling and Matthew Tkachuk also scored in another tone-setting opening 20 minutes for the Panthers, while Carter Verhaeghe had three assists in the win.
“It might have been natural for us to take a little bit to get going tonight, and it was the exact opposite,” said Tkachuk, whose putaway off the feed from Verhaeghe at the crease marked his first goal since Game 3 of the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning. “It was an unreal start from us. The goals aside, just the way we played in the first period was as good as it gets. Yeah, that’s just a hell of a road trip.”
Florida had already ripped home-ice advantage away Tuesday night with a 5-2 win, the opener in a rematch of the 2023 conference finals swept by the Panthers with four one-goal wins. Florida tightened its grip on the series with this one and now heads back south to host Game 3 on Saturday night.
Bennett scored a second time by skating in to clean up an attempt at the right post in the final minute of the second period to make it 4-0, ending a long shift in Carolina’s end prolonged by Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns being stuck on the ice after breaking his stick. Aleksander Barkov added a goal midway through the third as punctuation.
Bobrovsky had his third shutout of the playoffs this year and the sixth of his career, with Florida’s defense smothering a Carolina team that typically peppers the net with shots but found little daylight.
Florida has won four straight road games by a combined score of 22-4, this time sending Hurricanes fans fleeing for the exits early.
“It’s fun when you’re on the road and it goes quiet,” Verhaeghe said. “It feels like we’re doing our job.”
It wasn’t all great news for Florida. Veteran forward Sam Reinhart was knocked from the game in the first period after taking a hit from Sebastian Aho in the left leg, causing Reinhart’s knee to bend awkwardly.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said after the game that Reinhart would be evaluated Friday and that there would be no update on Reinhart’s status until Saturday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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