LOS ANGELES – Clayton Kershaw still hasn’t ruled out the possibility of pitching in the playoffs, even though persistent pain in his left big toe has put him in what Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently described as a “holding pattern.”

“I’m not giving up,” Kershaw said Thursday. “I’ll keep trying every day. Maybe one day it will feel better. I’m just waiting for that day to happen.”

Kershaw, who has been out since Aug. 30 with what the Dodgers have described as a bone spur in his toe, recently stopped pitching from a mound because the pain of pushing off the rubber forced him to compensate, leading to other problems.

“There’s only a percentage I can throw without other things bothering me because I’m throwing differently,” Kershaw said. “Every time my toe feels better, I feel confident that things will go well.”

However, when that day will take place remains to be seen.

The Dodgers can reach the National League West with a win over the San Diego Padres on Thursday, meaning their first playoff game wouldn’t take place until October 5.

However, Kershaw would not be an option for “a few weeks,” Roberts said.

“And then we’ll see what that looks like as far as our playoff push,” Roberts said. “You still have to build up, you still have to throw a pin, you still have to face hitters. Right now he’s just playing light catch, so I don’t know. I don’t know.”

In all likelihood, the Dodgers will enter the NL Division Series with a four-man rotation of Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Walker Buehler and 27-year-old rookie Landon Knack, although Tony Gonsolin, who has made three rehab starts in his return from the Tommy John surgery could be an option.

The Dodgers’ expectations of relying heavily on their bullpen in October took a blow Thursday when Brusdar Graterol returned to the injured list with inflammation in the same right shoulder that forced him to miss the first four months of the season.

“What that looks like for the rest of the season, I just don’t know,” Roberts said of Graterol’s status. “I think it will be a week-to-week situation.”

The Dodgers activated backup catcher Austin Barnes on Thursday, 11 days after he broke his left big toe on a foul tip, but without veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas, who left Wednesday’s game early with a groin injury. Rojas, who has struggled with lower-body issues most of the year, received a pain-relieving injection and hopes to play in Sunday’s regular-season finale.

The question is whether he can manage the pain until October.

“That’s why I have days off here and there,” Rojas said Wednesday night. “We found out that with the playoff schedule you’re never going to play more than three in a row. Hopefully my ability to stay on top of it, plus the little shot of the medicine, will help. I’m going to give it my all.”

Kershaw has also done everything he can, even going so far as to throw an 80-plus pitch bullpen session while the Dodgers were in Miami last week. The 36-year-old left-hander said he came off the mound one or two more times after the team returned home last Friday, but he is currently limited to playing catch.

“I feel like it’s progressing,” Kershaw said of his toe. “It obviously didn’t happen as quickly as I had hoped.”

Kershaw has tried a variety of methods to keep his arm active while he waited for his toe to heal, from extended sessions on flat ground to throwing off a portable ramp to testing different angles from a throwing rubber. However, this last step continues to cause him problems. Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who operated on Kershaw’s shoulder last offseason, recently assured him that the toe would ultimately not require surgery. It just takes time.

Kershaw doesn’t have much of it left.

“My arm, I’m going to keep going as best I can,” Kershaw said. “I really think once my toe is better, I think I’ll be ready to throw. I just need to at least get close to 100% so I can throw normally.”