LOS ANGELES — “We Are Younger,” the pop-rock monitor that grew to become his entrance tune, blasted via the Dodger Stadium audio system one remaining time Monday afternoon, and Clayton Kershaw, with the sleeves already lower off his championship T-shirt, struggled to carry himself collectively.
“I instructed Freddie [Freeman] I am gonna attempt to not cry at the moment,” he stated to a crowd of 52,703 who had assembled for yet one more World Sequence parade, “however I do not know if that is going to work.”
The farewell season of Kershaw’s 18-year profession had performed out like a dream, from recording his 3,000th strikeout on the ultimate pitch of his outing on July 3 to successful his final residence begin on Sept. 19 to being topped champion — for a 3rd time in six years — on Nov. 2. Now it was over, and the one phrases he appeared to search out had been “thanks,” a phrase he uttered 10 occasions in a speech that lasted 105 seconds.
Over the course of three a long time, Kershaw, 37, had lifted the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise like nobody else, a lot in order that part-owner and Lakers legend Magic Johnson in contrast his influence, on the sphere and all through the L.A. group, to Kobe Bryant’s. He formed tradition, elevated expectations and served as a standard-bearer for an eventual dynasty, constructing a legacy that may endure lengthy after his pitching profession. However on this second, it was Kershaw who was grateful.
“Final yr, I stated I used to be a Dodger for all times,” stated Kershaw, who introduced his retirement on Sept. 18. “And at the moment, that is true. And at the moment, I get to say that I am a champion for all times. And that is by no means going away.”
KERSHAW IS NOT simply an icon for these Dodgers. He’s a bridge — the one participant who was there for the success of veteran-laden Dodgers groups within the early 2000s, noticed them via the ugliness of former proprietor Frank McCourt’s chapter within the years that adopted and remained a fixture as the present group advanced from one which regularly dissatisfied in October to 1 that now embodies the best period in franchise historical past.
Kershaw constructed the majority of his Corridor of Fame profession in his 20s, throughout a nine-year stretch from 2009 to 2017 when he gained 139 regular-season video games, put up a 2.25 ERA, threw 1,827⅓ innings, collected three Cy Younger Awards, claimed an MVP and collected 56.5 FanGraphs wins above substitute, greater than every other pitcher. However his legacy has been constructed on perseverance — on the years that adopted, when his fastball pale, the accidents piled up and the stress of throwing extra usually than anyone started to catch as much as him.
From 2020 to 2025, Kershaw absorbed accidents to his again, elbow, forearm, shoulder and toe. His fastball got here in 5 ticks slower than it did when he debuted. His ERA was nonetheless 2.90. Among the many 96 pitchers who compiled no less than 500 innings over the previous six years, solely three had a decrease mark.
“He is aware of the right way to do all of the little issues and reveals you he can nonetheless win ballgames, even with diminished stuff, which I like, as a result of it simply destroys all of the minds of all of the analytics and all of the individuals who say you’ll be able to’t pitch like this,” stated Max Scherzer, one in all few pitchers who can match Kershaw’s credentials. “He goes out and reveals you, you’ll be able to. We will not mannequin the whole lot about pitching. Analysts haven’t got all of the solutions. For me, after I see him go on the market and do his factor like that, I find it irresistible as a result of it will get to close up lots of people.”
When Kershaw signed his fourth consecutive one-year contract with the Dodgers in the midst of February, he was thought-about superfluous. By the point he rejoined the rotation three months later, and had absolutely recovered from the knee and toe accidents that plagued his earlier season, he had turn out to be a necessity.
Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow had been on the injured listing due to shoulder accidents that might pressure them to sit down out a mixed 27 turns via the rotation. Roki Sasaki had struggled mightily via his preliminary introduction to the most important leagues. Shohei Ohtani had solely begun to construct again up as a beginning pitcher. The bullpen had already been closely taxed in an effort to make up for all of it. By making aggressive begins, Kershaw helped preserve the Dodgers afloat.
“He pitched a number of innings for us that we actually wanted,” Snell stated. “He is an enormous motive we gained a number of video games.”
The typical four-seam-fastball velocity in MLB jumped for the fifth straight yr in 2025, as much as 94.4 mph. Kershaw’s averaged 88.9 mph. At occasions, it hovered round 87, whereas paired with a slider that always lacked its obligatory chew and backed by a crazy curveball that has turn out to be outdated within the fashionable sport. And but Kershaw succeeded. In 22 begins, he put up an 11-2 document and a 3.39 ERA.
“I did in addition to I might’ve hoped this yr, actually,” Kershaw stated.
That was by no means extra true than in August, when Kershaw gave up six runs in 28⅔ innings, throughout which he gave up just one residence run and issued three walks. At one level in that stretch, a distinguished member of the Dodgers acknowledged that Kershaw’s stuff was not even ok to be drafted as an newbie, and but he was rolling via a number of the greatest competitors on the planet.
“At a time when velocity is king in baseball and everyone’s chasing it,” 25-year-old fellow beginning pitcher Emmet Sheehan stated, “it reveals that with the ability to pitch and realizing what the hitter’s attempting to do and preserving him off steadiness — it really works.”
When September arrived, the Dodgers’ rotation had lastly rounded again into type. Their starters posted a 2.07 ERA that month, by far the bottom within the sport. And when the playoffs got here, it was clear that Snell, Yamamoto, Glasnow and Ohtani would make up the Dodgers’ rotation. Kershaw had lengthy accepted that.
“The writing was form of on the wall,” Kershaw stated. “Regardless of how effectively I pitched, or began, for the season, we’ve 4 wonderful starters. Clearly I’d’ve been prepared, however the way in which these guys are throwing the baseball, it is actually arduous to argue with that.”
Figuring out his on-field position within the postseason would change, Kershaw spent the ultimate month of his profession studying the right way to be a reliever — asking questions of those that know the commerce, experimenting with alternative ways to remain unfastened and in the end rising an appreciation for a job he’d by no means taken on for a sustained interval.
Kershaw was barely referred to as upon, however he was nonetheless helpful. In Recreation 3 of the Nationwide League Division Sequence, he got here again out for the highest of the eighth as a result of the Dodgers had been mainly left with no different choices and took his lumps for an inning, permitting different arms to remain contemporary for Recreation 4, which ended up being an 11-inning, series-clinching victory. Three weeks later, on Oct. 27, he recorded one of many greatest outs in what grew to become the second-longest sport in World Sequence historical past. Whereas making ready to test into that sport, Kershaw received as much as throw off the bullpen mound three separate occasions.
“He is dealt with this final month with class, professionalism,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “All of the whereas, he is at all times stated that he desires to do something he can to assist the workforce. He is adopted via on that. All of the stuff, ending out the season and the way the whole lot form of performed out, was lots on his plate. He dealt with it with grace. After which the form of uncertainty of position going to the pen, he is simply fallen in line.”
For years, Kershaw appeared to place a whole group on his again. By no means was that extra true than within the playoffs. He regularly took the ball on brief relaxation and pitched deeper into begins than he usually ought to have, all in an effort to make up for what was missing round him. His shortcomings — the four-inning begin with the Dodgers going through elimination in 2013, the eight-run seventh inning within the playoff opener in 2014, the squandered four-run lead in Recreation 5 of the 2017 World Sequence, the back-to-back residence runs in Recreation 5 of the 2019 NLDS — outlined him, till he lastly broke via as a champion in 2020. Since then, in what has felt like reparation, Kershaw has been the one held up by others.
It has given him gratitude. Additionally, closure.
“You need to be on one of the best workforce,” Kershaw stated. “Yeah, there could also be some alternatives the place I might’ve began someplace and been part of a postseason run as a starter, however I need to be right here, I need to be a Dodger, and which means being round one of the best group of men. It makes a number of sense to me that that is most likely the fitting time to be achieved, whenever you’re not top-of-the-line 4 whenever you’re completely wholesome. I am at peace with that, and I be ok with it.”
HIGH-RANKING DODGERS officers say they consider Kershaw’s competitiveness with subpar stuff helped the workforce’s different starters set up extra of an assault mentality. “If he can get outs like that,” the considering went, “I undoubtedly ought to.” His influence — the sort that may keep on with the Dodgers as they try a three-peat subsequent season — additionally confirmed up in different methods. Glasnow is one instance.
At occasions, Glasnow discovered himself carrying dangerous begins with him slightly longer than he’d like, to the purpose the place he felt it affecting his focus thereafter. Beginning pitchers observe a really stringent routine. The 4 to 5 days in between begins are essential, and no person made each minute of that window rely greater than Kershaw. His work ethic is famous, however consistency is his hallmark, and Glasnow wished to know the way he did not let tough outings interrupt it. Kershaw’s recommendation: discover a teammate who wants help.
“If I may help him,” Kershaw instructed him, “it makes me really feel higher.”
Glasnow referred to as Kershaw “probably the most selfless pitcher,” a rarity for somebody who has achieved a lot.
“I feel from different celebrity folks I’ve met, he is form of an anomaly in that sense,” Glasnow stated. “And I feel it is the religion he carries. He actually lives it. He actually lives a very selfless life.”
Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior stated he noticed Kershaw’s willingness to assist others present up at a time when the pitching workers round him started to skew youthful and when accidents started to make Kershaw ponder his longevity. It started with Walker Buehler, who arrived from a data-driven Vanderbilt program and opened Kershaw’s eyes to the significance of superior analytics, and continued to a present workers stuffed by younger pitchers comparable to Justin Wrobleski, Jack Dreyer and Sheehan.
Kershaw supplied recommendation largely on technique — the right way to get free strikes, when to assault the zone, the place to throw sure pitches in sure counts and, in Wrobleski’s case, the right way to make greatest use of the time between innings. However most of his affect got here via instance.
“The easiest way that I discovered rising up was not by a bunch of individuals yelling at me or speaking to me normally,” Kershaw stated. “It was simply by observing and watching, after which questions form of arised from that. That is what I began to do. I began to observe guys perhaps slightly bit extra.”
Early in his time with the Dodgers, Sheehan arrived within the clubhouse to search out Kershaw already drenched in sweat from a exercise. It made him need to arrive earlier. On highway journeys, he at all times made positive to catch the identical bus Kershaw did. In highschool, Dreyer, a 26-year-old left-hander from Iowa, created a side-by-side photograph of Kershaw’s supply and his and saved it in his digital camera roll to review. Since turning into his teammate, Dreyer has been struck by the quantity of element that goes into his preparation.
“It simply places into perspective what it takes to actually be nice and to final a very long time on this sport,” Dreyer stated.
Wrobleski, although, additionally famous its simplicity.
“It is not like he is doing something loopy or doing something tremendous outlandish,” he stated. “He is hammering the nail day-after-day, or ensuring he is hitting his checkpoints, by no means deviating from his factor and simply form of realizing what he must do to prepare for his subsequent begin and simply doing it.”
FREEMAN WORE THE PitchCom in his ear when Kershaw entered with the bases loaded, two outs and the rating nonetheless tied within the twelfth inning of Recreation 3 of the World Sequence. The primary pitch was a slider that got here in at 89.7 mph, and Freeman was shocked. Kershaw hadn’t thrown a slider that onerous all season. For six consecutive pitches, the robotic voice in Freeman’s ear saved saying “slider.”
“Come on!” Freeman recalled considering. “I wanna see how arduous this fastball is available in.”
When a fastball was lastly referred to as, Kershaw threw it 91.9 mph, his hardest for the reason that center of the earlier season. On the following pitch, one other slider, he received Nathan Lukes to floor out, preserving the rating tied. The Dodgers in the end gained on Freeman’s walk-off residence run within the 18th inning, and that sequence wound up being not simply the final time Kershaw pitched in a sport at Dodger Stadium, however the final time he would pitch in any sport ever.
“You possibly can’t script that,” Kershaw stated. “That is so cool.”
Six days later, within the wee hours of Sunday morning, after the finale of probably the most thrilling World Sequence in current reminiscence, Kershaw nonetheless could not consider his Dodgers had pulled via in Recreation 7 and defeated the Toronto Blue Jays to turn out to be the primary workforce in 1 / 4 century to repeat. He was nonetheless in shock, he stated.
“Nevertheless it’s simply wonderful. I could not ask for something extra.”
The Dodgers had one way or the other survived 18 innings in Recreation 3, using Will Klein — an unheralded, journeyman reliever who cracked the World Sequence roster solely after a household emergency saved Alex Vesia off of it — for the ultimate 12 outs. They later gained back-to-back video games in Toronto whereas going through elimination. When the Blue Jays put two on with one out whereas trailing by two runs within the ninth inning of Recreation 6, the Dodgers turned the primary game-ending, 7-4 double play in postseason historical past. In Recreation 7, they wanted a ninth-inning residence run from light-hitting Miguel Rojas, two unbelievable defensive performs and a herculean effort from each member of their beginning rotation to tug via.
As he watched all of it unfold, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman saved interested by Kershaw, and the way badly he wished this for him.
“We wished to win for everybody,” Friedman stated, “however for him particularly.”
Within the midst of their remaining champagne-and-beer celebration, Friedman mainly supplied Kershaw a job with no strings hooked up to it — only one that ensured he’d be round now and again. Kershaw has no real interest in teaching, he stated; in the intervening time, his focus is on being a father to what is going to quickly be 5 youngsters. However there’s a curiosity inside him that may not fade, one rooted within the present state of pitching.
“I feel on the finish of the day, everyone will get harm,” Kershaw stated. “All people throws tougher, everyone will get harm, and everyone’s not good for very lengthy. And people are all questions that all of us have about the right way to make the sport higher. It is a billion-dollar reply in case you can determine the right way to preserve guys wholesome and preserve guys good. So, yeah, I am interested in that.”
Kershaw had lengthy been at peace with retirement, a choice he felt extra conviction about as his remaining yr progressed. Having success through the common season made him really feel as if he had been leaving on his personal phrases; trying round and seeing how a lot better everyone else’s stuff is let him know, in his phrases, that it was “time for me to be achieved.”
After the Dodgers misplaced Recreation 5 of the World Sequence final week, Kershaw lingered on the Dodger Stadium infield along with his 4 children, pregnant spouse and different members of his prolonged household for a number of minutes, at one level snapping a photograph with members of the grounds crew. He was saying goodbye, simply in case. The Dodgers might have misplaced in Toronto, and Kershaw would have had his closure. That he returned days later for a extra correct goodbye left him virtually speechless.
“I do not know what the fitting phrase is,” Kershaw stated, “however I am simply grateful for it.”