Ex-Blue Jays outfielder sees career end after being left off World Series roster

Barring an injury occurring at some point during the World Series, it seems that Kevin Kiermaier's big-league career has come to a close. The defensive wizard is on the Los Angeles Dodgers' 40-man roster, but the club chose to leave him off of their World Series roster, which was announced (X link) earlier on Friday.

Kiermaier, 34, announced his intentions of retiring at the end of the season at the end of July. “This is it, 2024 is it for me,” Kiermaier said at the time. “This next week will be very interesting … But this will be my last year playing. I’m going to give it my all the rest of the year regardless of what situation I’m in. But my body is talking to me now more than ever.”

The 12-year veteran can still be added to the roster as an injury replacement if something comes up, but if there are no players who get hurt, his playing days are officially over.

Kevin Kiermaier left off Dodgers World Series roster

Known as one of the best defensive center fielders the game has ever seen, Kiermaier posted an unusually strong offensvie season last year as a member of the Blue Jays, posting a .741 OPS and 103 OPS+ through 129 games played. On their own, these numbers aren't all that impressive, but his bat has certainly never been his strong suit. The Blue Jays signed him with the plans of having him be a super-defender in center, but the bat was a huge added bonus.

That performance earned him another single-year pact from Toronto, but this time, the bat was nowhere to be seen. In fact, his spot in the lineup quickly became a virtual black hole at the plate and he eventually was flipped to the Dodgers at the trade deadline, where he finished out the regular season.

In 82 games on the Jays, KK hit .195 with 66 strikeouts and an OPS+ of just 55. He made it into 34 games post-trade and hit .203 with a 60 OPS+. While he was left off of the Dodgers' NLDS roster, he made the cut for the NLCS and went 0-for-2 with a strikeout and a pair of runs scored across four games of action.

If this is the end for Kiermaier, we congratulate him on an outstanding career and wish him the best of luck in whatever's next. He finishes his career with 95 home runs and four Gold Glove Awards.