In July of 2024, the Los Angeles Dodgers broke the news that pitcher Dustin May, who had already been out since the middle of 2023 with a torn flexor tendon in his right arm, would miss the remainder of the season due to an esophageal tear.

Dustin May's 2024 season ended before it started, but for a bizarre reason. The Dodgers pitcher tore his esophagus, requiring him to undergo emergency surgery.

Working his way back from a pair of major elbow surgeries, the right-hander was on track to return late last season before one bite of salad led to a tear in his esophagus and a new perspective on

Dodgers pitcher Dustin May talks about how he sustained a serious tear in his esophagus that derailed his hopes of returning to the mound last season.

Dustin May’s road back to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ starting lineup was derailed in summer 2024 by a “complete freak accident” involving salad. “It was definitely a life-altering event,” May, 27, told the Los Angeles Times in an interview published on Friday,

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Dustin May was only about a month away from rejoining the roster last summer after an elbow surgery and a Tommy John revision that left him benched in 2023. However, before he could even make it to a stint in minor-league rehab, a freak accident took him out for the remainder of the season and nearly cost him his life.