The Los Angeles Dodgers have cut a key player from their roster just before the first game of the World Series.
The Dodgers will play the Toronto Blue Jays in a best-of-seven game starting Friday. However, the team released a statement on social media on Thursday announcing that one of their best relievers has left the team.
“It is with heavy hearts that we share that Alex Vezia is away from the team as he and his wife Kayla deal with a deeply personal family matter,” the Dodgers organization wrote on Instagram. “The entire Dodgers organization sends our thoughts to the Vesia family and we will provide an update at a later date.”
No further details have been released about Vesya or his wife, who announced they were expecting a baby girl in April.
The news was first shared in an Instagram post from the couple, in which the couple was holding a fake newspaper with ultrasound photos with the caption, “Baby Vezia on the way.” They later revealed their gender to their two dogs, who ate cupcakes to reveal pink inside to show they were having a girl.
Most recently, Kayla posted an Instagram clip last week in which Lebeck said, “I’m having a busy week,” while talking to her husband in the field, captioning the clip, “Saturday: I might have a baby,” with the same thing written for each new day of the week, indicating that her due date is near.
“Joke hahaha,” he captioned the post.
Vasya was not included in the official team list on Friday morning. However, it is unclear whether he has been placed on the “family medical emergency list,” which could result in him playing for at least three days and up to seven days. If Wasia is not on the roster, he can only be added to the roster later as a replacement for the injured player.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained Vecia’s absence in Thursday’s press conference about the team’s strategy for the game before the official roster was released.
“I think right now we’re trying to understand the process, the rules — the way we can kind of try to go through a list,” Roberts said at the time. “We are going through the process of trying to fill his roster spot.”
“We just go day by day with no expectations,” he added.
Vezia is currently in his fifth season with the Dodgers after joining the team in 2021. During the Dodgers’ World Series victory over the New York Yankees last year, he was instrumental, allowing no runs and just 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’ 11 postseason games, striking out three and striking out four in four and two-thirds innings.
Game one of the World Series, which is played Friday in Toronto, will be available to watch on Fox at 8 p.m. ET.
