One of the greatest players in the 141-year history of the Los Angeles Dodgers will be calling it a career at season’s end.
The Dodgers announced Thursday afternoon that the 2025 season will be the last for starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw.
Kershaw, 37, is a two-time World Series Champion, an 11-time MLB All-Star, a three-time National League Cy Young winner and the 2014 National League’s Most Valuable Player.
He is widely regarded by fans and analysts as one of the greatest pitchers of all time, arguably the greatest Dodger ever and almost certainly on the team’s Mount Rushmore.
Born in Dallas, Texas on March 18, 1988, Kershaw was drafted by the Dodgers with the seventh overall pick in the first round of the 2006 MLB draft.
He will finish his Major League Baseball career having never suited up for any other team, and he will retire as the club’s all-time leader in strikeouts and WHIP. He’s second all-time in wins and opponent batting average, and third all-time in earned run average.
The left-hander is known for his supreme mound psychology and meticulous game-planning. For nearly two decades he’s befuddled batters with his devastating array of pitches: a four-seam fastball, curveball and his go-to slider, which has become more important as age has diminished his velocity.
Kershaw led the National League in earned run average in five separate seasons, and thrice led the league in wins and strikeouts. In 2011, possibly his finest season, he earned the MLB Triple Crown, leading the league in all three of those categories, while also winning his first and only Gold Glove.
Earlier this season, Kershaw became the 19th person in the game’s history to notch 3,000 career strikeouts. He is third overall among active pitchers in strikeouts, trailing only his fellow future Hall-of-Famers in Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.
Kershaw currently boasts a 10-2 record this season, second on the team, with a 3.53 ERA. He made his 11th and final All-Star game appearance back in July.
His final regular season start at Dodger Stadium will take place this Friday against the team’s NL West rival San Francisco Giants.
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