Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Los Angeles Dodgers pitching great Clayton Kershaw, a two-time World Series champion and three-time Cy Young Award-winner, says he will retire after this Major League Baseball season. The Dodgers posted a statement on social media announcing Kershaw’s decision. The 37-year-old is scheduled to take the mound at Dodger Stadium on Friday for his final regular-season start when the Dodgers host the San Francisco Giants.
Kershaw’s decision comes after he contemplated walking away from the game after each of the past four seasons and ultimately opted to return. A future Hall-of-Famer, he will retire after 18 seasons, all with the Dodgers, and with at least 222 career wins and more than 3,000 strikeouts after becoming the 20th pitcher to reach that milestone in July. Hampered by injury for much of 2024, he has been resurgent this season. He is 10-2 in 20 starts with a 3.53 earned run average as the Dodgers chase a World Series title repeat.
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“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 all of his profound charitable endeavors,” said Dodgers owner Mark Walter. “His is a truly legendary career, one that we know will lead to his induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame.”
Kershaw was drafted seventh overall by the Dodgers out of Highland Park High School in Dallas, Texas, in 2008 and stamped himself a rising star the following season. In 2011, he earned his first All-Star selection and his first Cy Young Award as the National League’s top pitcher. Kershaw led the major leagues in earned-run-average each season from 2011-2014 and won the Cy Young again in 2013 and 2014 — when he became just the second pitcher to claim MVP honors.
But injuries hindered his career, starting with a bad back that sidelined him for part of 2016. He returned to help the Dodgers win their first NL title in 2017, and he finally tasted World Series success when he led the Dodgers to the crown in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. With that triumph, Kershaw laid to rest the narrative that he couldn’t come through in the postseason.
In 32 playoff appearances from 2008-2019, he was 9-11 with a 4.43 earned-run-average and the memory of some agonizing collapses. That included surrendering a 4-0 lead against the Houston Astros in game five of the 2017 World Series. In 2018, he took the loss against the Boston Red Sox in games one and five of the World Series. And in 2019, he gave up two homers as the Washington Nationals erased a two-run lead for a clinching victory over the Dodgers in the NL Division Series.
But in the 2020 playoffs, Kershaw went 4-1 with an earned-run-average of 2.93 and 37 strikeouts, and the Dodgers vanquished the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series. Injuries have continued to hamper him since. He had left shoulder surgery before the 2024 season and played just seven games for the Dodgers, who beat the New York Yankees in the World Series. He had knee and foot surgeries in November 2024 and returned to the Dodgers pitching rotation in May.
© 2024 AFP
