Clayton Kershaw will make his final regular season start at Dodger Stadium on Friday against the San Francisco Giants.
After 18 seasons, the Dodgers announced today that the three-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher will retire at the end of this season.
With 11 All-Star selections, three Cy Young Awards and a World Series title to his name in 2020, the 37-year-old Kershaw will go down as one of the most dominant pitchers of his generation.
“On behalf of the Dodgers, I congratulate Clayton on a fabulous career and thank him for the many moments he gave to Dodger fans and baseball fans everywhere, as well as for his profound charitable endeavors,” Dodgers owner Mark Walter said. “His is a truly legendary career, one that we know will lead to his induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame.”
Kershaw began the season on the 60-day injured list to recover from left toe and left knee surgeries performed in November — the same injuries that caused him to miss out on the second championship of his career in 2024.
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He was the National League MVP in 2014. He won the National League Cy Young Award in 2011, 2013 and 2014 and has amassed a record of 222-96 with a 2.54 earned-run average, according to Baseball Reference. He received the Roberto Clemente Award in 2012, given annually to the Major League Baseball player who “best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team.”
While as a younger man his fastballs could hit 98 mph, Kershaw has long relied on ball movement to get batters to jump at shadows, using a deadly slider and curveball to his advantage.
Last month, he became one of only 20 pitchers in league history to record 3,000 strikeouts. Kershaw is the fourth southpaw to notch 3,000 Ks, joining Steve Carlton, Randy Johnson and CC Sabathia.
All but two of the eligible pitchers with 3,000 strikeouts are in the Hall of Fame. The exceptions are Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling.
Following Friday’s game against the San Francisco Giants, his role on the team becomes murky. Manager Dave Roberts told ESPN this week he felt there was “a place for him on our postseason roster,” but with six healthy starting pitchers, it might come as a reliever, if at all.
“I don’t know what role, but I think that the bottom line is, I trust him. And so, for me, the postseason is about players you trust,” Roberts said.
His 18 years in Dodger blue make him one of the longest-tenured players with one team in the league’s history, tying him with legends like Roberto Clemente (Pittsburgh), Bob Feller (Cleveland), Mickey Mantle (New York Yankees), Edgar Martinez (Seattle) and Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia). He is the only active player with that lengthy of a resume, with four players who debuted in 2011 still playing for the same team.
He has the second-most wins among active players, behind only Justin Verlander.
Kershaw had toyed with the idea of retirement at the start of the
season, doubling down on public desire to retire a Dodger.
“I don’t think I put enough merit on it at times, what it means to be able to be in one organization for your entire career,” he said before Spring Training. “You look at people throughout all of sports that have been
able to do that, and it is special, it is. I don’t want to lose sight of that. Getting to be here for my whole career, however long that is, is definitely a goal.”
The Dodgers selected Kershaw with the seventh pick in the 2006 draft out of Highland Park High School in the Dallas suburb of University Park, where he was also the center on the football team, quarterbacked by Matthew Stafford, now the Rams’ quarterback.
Kershaw made his major league debut on May 25, 2008, against the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium, striking out the first batter he faced, Skip Schumaker.
Kershaw’s top strikeout victim is Brandon Belt, who he struck out 30 times in 67 plate appearances between 2011 and 2020, all when Belt was with the San Francisco Giants.
This season, he as a 10-2 record with a 3.53 ERA.
He and his wife, Ellen, have four children, with a fifth on the way.
City News Service contributed to this report.