Miguel Rojas bizarrely announces retirement during Dodgers playoff run

There are typical points in time when reflection and meditating on the future make sense. Doing so before your final regular-season home start makes a certain amount of sense, as was the case with Los Angeles Dodgers legend Clayton Kershaw. The heat of a playoff battle after your team just advanced to the NLCS, well, that doesn't really seem like the right moment, does it?

Yet, that's the case for Miguel Rojas. The 36-year-old utility player has decided to hang it up after the 2026 season, just as the team waits to take on the Milwaukee Brewers.

Dodgers News: Miguel Rojas announces retirement once 2026 season ends

The Venezuelan native broke in with the Dodgers back in 2014, struggling to find his footing with a .181/.242/.221 line in 85 games. That December, he was ironically part of a much larger trade that brought his now-fellow utility man and secret October weapon, Kiké Hernandez, to LA for the first time.

Rojas would return to the Dodgers ahead of the 2023 season, signing a three-year, $15 million pact that ends this year. While his first year back in LA was a little rough offensively, he rebounded and has become an integral part of the Dodgers' depth, posting a 2.8 fWAR season a year ago, and filling in all around the infield with a solid glove and 100 wRC+ bat this season as injuries piled up.

Rojas turns 37 in February, and originally it appeared that the club might move on in favor of giving younger players like Hyeseong Kim and Alex Freeland a shot at his role.

This decision from Rojas might change that calculus, though. Rojas has been a good soldier for the Dodgers, and his playoff performance this October with a .375/.444/.375 line has been extremely strong. If Rojas believes he truly has one more year left in the tank, the Dodgers might just believe him and bring him back for 2026 as more than just a simple show of loyalty.

A lot may hinge on how the rest of the postseason unfolds, but for now, the only certainty is that Rojas now knows where the off-ramp is, and 2026 will be his final year in the bigs. Whether that unfolds in LA or elsewhere is anyone's guess.