Unhinged LA Times column suggests Pride Night could end Clayton Kershaw's Dodgers career

And you thought the Los Angeles Dodgers-Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence discourse couldn't get any crazier?! Think again! We bet you all can't wait for June 16 to come and go because of the distractions this ordeal has now been creating for weeks.

The LA Times has gotten in on the action in ways we never would've imagined an esteemed journalisitic publication would. First, they called out the Dodgers for not having a backbone when they disinvited the Sisters because of pressure from Senator Marco Rubio and the Christian community.

The Dodgers then caved to that pressure and reinvited the Sisters. What followed? Various players across the league expressing disdain. Blake Treinen issuing an embarrassing statement. Clayton Kershaw influencing the organization to bring back Christian Faith and Family Day as a counter.

We're back to the "keep politics out of sports" crowd getting louder and louder, yet failing to realize they're the ones making this "political." A queer/trans nun nonprofit group being honored at Pride Night is not a political issue. Anything religious is not political. It's a social topic.

But it wasn't until Friday that the LA Times delivered the haymaker of ridiculousness, suggesting Kershaw's tenure with the Dodgers could conceivably end because of the team honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

And this is where the controversy could impact the Dodgers on the field in the future. Kershaw is a pretty private, unassuming guy. You don’t see a bunch of media pronouncements from him. He quietly goes about his business. I mean, you compare Kershaw to LeBron James, and Kershaw seems like a recluse, which is not a knock on either athlete. The only other time I can remember him speaking up was when he sided with his teammates at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement.

So for Kershaw to speak out about this, you know it is something he feels strongly about. And, we know each offseason Kershaw decides whether to come back to the Dodgers, or wind down his career by playing closer to home, probably with the Texas Rangers. All things being equal, he has always chosen the Dodgers. But could something like this push him the other way this offseason? Could it be among the factors that move him toward the Rangers? Not the only factor or even one of the main factors in his decision, but just the one thing that barely tips the scale to Texas? It’s certainly possible.

Not only would we NEVER know that to be the case if Kershaw were to leave, because there's a 0% chance he would disclose that information, but to suggest Kershaw, who's been public about his eventual decision to play closer to his home in Texas or retire to spend more time with his family, would then allow the Sisters' inclusion during Pride Night to tip the scales and be the deciding factor of a legendary 16-year career, is maybe one of the most irresponsible journalistic assumptions in the history of sports writing.

If that eventually happens and Kershaw puts a bow on his Hall of Fame stretch in LA because of the organization's support of the LGBTQ community, we'll wear it because we'd be wrong for all the right reasons.