Dodgers pitcher Alex Vesia left off World Series roster to deal with ‘deeply personal family matter’

The Los Angeles Dodgers have left a key player off their roster right before the first game of the World Series.

The Dodgers will be playing in a best-of-seven-game match-up against the Toronto Blue Jays starting Friday. However, the team issued a statement Thursday on social media to announce that one of their best relievers has stepped away from the team.

“It's with a heavy heart that we share that Alex Vesia is away from the team as he and his wife Kayla navigate a deeply personal family matter,” the Dodgers organization wrote on Instagram. “The entire Dodgers organization is sending our thoughts to the Vesia family, and we will provide an update at a later date.”

No additional details were provided about Vesia or his wife, who announced they were expecting a baby girl in April.

The news was first shared in an Instagram post of the couple holding up a mock newspaper with the sonogram photos with a headline that read, “Baby Vesia is on the way.” They later did a gender reveal with their two dogs, who ate cupcakes to reveal pink frosting on the inside to indicate they were having a girl.

Most recently, Kayla posted an Instagram Reel last week where she lip-synced, “I have a busy week,” while talking to her husband on the field as text over the clip read, “Saturday: maybe have a baby,” with the same thing written out for each new day of the week, indicating her due date was imminent.

“Jokes hehe haha,” she captioned the post.

Vesia was not listed on the team’s official roster on Friday morning; however, it is not known if he was placed on the “family medical emergency list,” which could result in him playing within a minimum of three days and a maximum of seven days. If Vesia is not on the list, he can only be added to the roster later as a replacement for an injured player.

Speaking about Vesia’s absence during a press conference on Thursday, the Dodgers’s manager, Dave Roberts, explained what the team’s strategy for the game would be ahead of publishing the official roster.

“I think right now we’re in the mode of trying to understand the process, the rules — a way that we can sort of try to navigate the roster,” Roberts said at the time. “We’re going through the process of trying to backfill his spot on the roster.”

“We’re just going day to day with really no expectations,” he added.

Vesia is currently in his fifth season with the Dodgers after joining the team in 2021. During the Dodgers’s World Series win over the New York Yankees last year, he played a crucial role, allowing zero earned runs and only two hits.

This season, Vesia pitched in 68 regular-season games with a 3.02 ERA and five saves. He also appeared in seven of the Dodgers’s 11 postseason games, yielding three hits and striking out four in 4 and two-thirds innings.

Game one of the World Series, taking place Friday in Toronto, will be available to watch on Fox at 8 p.m. ET.