Matthew Ryan Kemp is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He began his professional career in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization in 2003, and played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Dodgers from 2006 until 2014, the San Diego Padres in 2015 and 2016 and the Atlanta Braves in 2016 and 2017 before returning to the Dodgers for the 2018 season, and briefly playing for the Cincinnati Reds in 2019 and Colorado Rockies in 2020. He was named to three All-Star teams and won two Gold Glove Awards and two Silver Slugger Awards.

The 2007 Los Angeles Dodgers season was the 119th for the franchise in Major League Baseball, and their 50th season in Los Angeles, California. It started off promisingly with the Dodgers holding the National League West lead for most of the first half of the season. However, the team faded down the stretch and finished the season in fourth place. Two of the teams big free agent signings, pitchers Jason Schmidt and Randy Wolf were injured and missed most of the season. A promising development was the play of several rookies including James Loney and Matt Kemp and the further development of second year catcher Russell Martin, who was named to his first All-Star Game.