It was the last thing, the absolute very last thing that the Dodgers and their fans wanted to hear; that staff ace Clayton Kershaw had suffered a setback after his 60-pitch simulated game this past Saturday against live batters at Dodger Stadium.

“I don’t know if it’s a step back, but we’re going to let the back pain subside and see where we go,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters before his team’s game against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday evening. “So as far as his return, uncertain.”

The 28-year-old Dallas, Texas native was placed on the disabled list for only the second time in his brilliant nine-year MLB career on July 1 (retroactive to June 27) for what was described as “a mild disk herniation” in his lower back; a condition that the popular left-hander thinks he first noticed after his June 26 start against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.

“It’s tough to say [when I first noticed it]. I feel like if you ask anybody in the clubhouse if they have … ‘Oh my lower back is a little stiff today’ so I think everybody kind of goes through that and I didn’t think mine was any different,” Kershaw told the media at Dodger Stadium on July 4. “Maybe I pushed it too far, it’s tough to say. I definitely didn’t do it on like one pitch or anything like that, I think it was probably just a progression. The game Sunday [June 26, against the Pirates] I felt fine and then Monday it started getting a little worse. It was probably time at that point to get checked out.”

For as upset as everyone is over Kershaw’s setback, there is no one –  absolutely no one – more upset than Kershaw himself. (Photo credit – David Dennis)

Although there is never a good time to go on the disabled list, the timing for Kershaw was about as optimum as it could be. He missed his scheduled starts on July 1 and July 6 and then the All-Star break came – an event that Kershaw was selected to for a sixth consecutive time but obviously did not participate in. He then missed another pass through the rotation when play resumed on Friday, July 15 and instead had his simulated game on Saturday, July 16.

Initial reports out of Los Angeles after Kershaw’s sim game while the Dodgers were in the midst of a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field were favorable and it was believed that Kershaw was tentatively penciled in to return from the 15-day disabled list to pitch on Thursday, July 21 in Washington or Friday, July 22 in St. Louis … until the news broke on Tuesday that Kershaw had suffered a setback and had been shut down completely.

What is ironic, amazing even, is that the Dodgers have gone 12-6 thus far in Kershaw’s absence. And while much of the credit goes to Messrs. Bud Norris, Brandon McCarthy, Kenta Maeda and Scott Kazmir for the success of the Kershaw-less Dodgers, the real heroes have been the Dodgers bullpen with their MLB-best 2.96 ERA. And though the Dodgers offense sputtered a bit in Arizona where the team lost two of three to the NL West last place Dbacks, they cranked it back up on Tuesday night against the Nationals in DC with a resounding 8-4 win on 13 hits.

“I think it’s a group mindset and we have talked about it, that everybody has to do a little more,” Roberts said. “That’s the way we’ve been approaching things and the results, I don’t know the record [in Kershaw’s absence], but I do know there has been a concerted effort to do that from the guys.”

While Roberts and his players are doing their part and are 2-2 on the current nine-game road trip, the Dodgers front office has also been busy. Although there has been no official word on exactly who the Dodgers have been in talks with prior to the upcoming August 1 non-waiver trade deadline, it is clear that their efforts have intensified significantly with this latest Kershaw news and with left-hander Hyun-jin Ryu returning the DL for what is being called “elbow tendonitis” after only one start since his return from the DL on July 7 after undergoing surgery for a torn labrum in his left shoulder on May 21, 2015. And while 19-year-old left-handed phenom Julio Urias has been recalled to the team and will oppose Nationals superstar right-hander Stephen Strasburg on Thursday morning, it remains unlikely that Urias will become a permanent fixture in the Dodgers rotation down the stretch.

The belief is that Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman is in active negotiations with his former team the Tampa Bay Rays to possibly acquire right-hander Chris Archer. What is absolutely known, however, is that there are multiple teams interested in the 27-year-old Raleigh, North Carolina native who is currently 4-14 on the season with a less-than-stellar 4.68 – but such is the market in the MLB right now for starting pitchers.

Another option for Friedman is to re-call right-hander Ross Stripling, who was optioned back to the minors to conserve his innings after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2014. Stripling and fellow right-hander Jharel Cotton are currently on the Dodgers 40-man roster, although Cotton had yet to make his MLB debut. The one option that is not being talked about by Friedman but is without question the most popular among Dodgers fans would be to call up 23-year-old hard-throwing right-hander Jose De Leon, who has more than proven himself MLB-ready but is not currently on the Dodgers 40-man roster. That being said, a spot could easily be created for the Isabel, Puerto Rico native my moving Ryu to the 60-day DL or by designating struggling right-handed reliever Chris Hatcher for assignment.

Hatcher had yet another misfire outing on Tuesday night when he allowed three runs without recording an out in the bottom of the eighth inning, thus turning a (then) 7-1 laugher into a far more intense 7-4 ballgame. Fortunately, left-hander Adam Liberatore was able to close out the inning and right-hander Kenley Jansen finished the game without further damage. Many believe that Hatcher will be DFA’d when left-hander Alex Wood returns from the DL – possibly as early as next week.

But regardless of how and with whom the Dodgers get through the next several weeks, they are going to have to continue to do so without the services of the guy who many consider the best pitcher on the planet.

Such is life in the big leagues.