Clayton Kershaw, the iconic Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander who won three Cy Youngs with the franchise and left an indelible mark as perhaps the best pitcher of his generation, is retiring after 18 seasons.
The Dodgers announced Kershaw’s decision a day ahead of what will be his 228th and final home regular-season start at Dodger Stadium. The 37-year-old, who has been with the organization since being selected in the first round of the 2006 MLB Draft, became the 20th member of the 3,000-strikeout club in July and has been consistent about wanting to decide his playing future yearly. He has also been adamant over the past couple of seasons that he would only want to pitch for the Dodgers.
“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 Mark Walter, Owner and Chairman, Los Angeles Dodgers. “His is a truly legendary career, one that we know will lead to his induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame.”
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 18, 2025
“The Dodgers have stuck with me, too,” Kershaw said in July when he crossed the 3,000-strikeout mark. “It hasn’t been all roses, I know that…I’m super grateful now, looking back, to get to say that I spent my whole career here and I will spend my whole career here.”
Los Angeles is where he crafted a legacy, spanning multiple ownership groups and becoming the dramatic heart and face of years of close October misses and failures before the team broke through to win the 2020 World Series. When the Dodgers won again in 2024 and finally got a parade, the scene brought Kershaw to tears.
“This is the best thing I’ve ever been a part of,” Kershaw said then. October is what kept bringing him back. But with a postseason berth once again looming for the Dodgers, the rotation as currently constructed does not present Kershaw with a clear-cut path to starting a playoff game.
Over 18 seasons, Kershaw’s accomplishments put him in the same company as Sandy Koufax, Fernando Valenzuela, Orel Hershiser, Don Drysdale and Don Sutton. From the time he was a promising young prospect, Kershaw developed a relationship with Koufax that evolved into a lasting friendship. When a statue of Koufax was erected at Dodger Stadium in 2022, Kershaw was the man chosen to speak about Koufax’s legacy.
“Sandy,” Kershaw said at the dais that day, “one day, I hope I can impact someone the way you have championed me. You really have, left-handed pitcher or not, just in life.”
Kershaw now carries a similar legacy. No player in franchise history has recorded more strikeouts for the club. No pitcher has appeared in more seasons. Only Sutton has more wins (233) than Kershaw’s 222. Kershaw’s peak elevated him further, winning the Cy Young in 2011, 2013 and 2014 (he also won the NL MVP that season) to go with a pair of runner-up finishes.
His dominance puts him in a class with the game’s elite. His 154 ERA+, which takes into account era and offensive environment, is tied with Pedro Martinez for best for a pitcher who has thrown more than 2,000 career innings. His 2.54 career ERA is the lowest for a pitcher with 2,000 innings who threw his last pitch after 1972.
“Sure-fire Hall of Famer, right?” Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler said this summer. “That basically solidifies that.”
Kershaw has occupied a unique space in recent seasons for the Dodgers as the man who has seen so much. Injuries to his shoulder, knee and toe have limited him in recent seasons. However, he has carried the legacy of a walking, active Hall of Famer whose club president has already said Kershaw’s No. 22 will likely be retired even before Kershaw is done pitching. His fastball this season has averaged 89 mph. And yet, as part of a rotation that includes four different pitchers who have netted nine-figure contracts, including a two-time Cy Young winner in Blake Snell and a unicorn two-way player in Shohei Ohtani, Kershaw has remained productive. He’s endured.
When the Dodgers won the World Series in 2024 and finally got a parade, the scene brought Clayton Kershaw to tears. (Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
“I think that to get 3,000 strikeouts, that takes a long time,” manager Dave Roberts said when Kershaw reached the milestone in July. “A lot of trials, tribulations, surgeries, rehab, frustration, tears. To continue to fight back, come back, show up and post, that’s hard to do. … There was a lot of emotion for Clayton. I hope he enjoys this one, and now I think he can even say that every box for him has been checked.”
He was a “commissioner’s selection” at this summer’s All-Star Game in Atlanta, his 11th selection, and yet the title was not simply an honorific. Through 20 starts and 102 innings this season, Kershaw has carried a 3.53 ERA and 3.59 FIP, remaining an efficient and effective pitcher even as he’s had to evolve and craft his arsenal.
“Adapt or die,” Kershaw has long said. He’s done just that. For years, he pounded the bottom part of the plate, firing fastballs and sliders to his glove side with a combination of brute force and precision.
“When he was going good, he was so good at pitching on the inside corner and off the plate, and he had enough of an angle to where the pitch that ended up being a ball or two inside appeared to be a strike,” San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations and former NL MVP Buster Posey said this summer. “So for me, as much as anything, I tried to split the plate in half, but he had a way of making it feel bigger than it was.”
That recipe has shifted this season. His legendary curveball has become more important. He’s even picked up a splitter, a version of the changeup that Kershaw has fiddled with for years but never really thrown. He has company around with him now, too: his son, Charley (one of four kids he has with his wife, Ellen, who is expecting the couple’s fifth child), has a locker stall next to Kershaw’s in the Dodgers’ home clubhouse, and has been a regular presence by his father this summer in what wound up being his final major league season.
For 452 appearances and 449 starts, Kershaw has been synonymous with eras of Dodger baseball, from the club’s bankruptcy to the billions of dollars spent under current Guggenheim ownership. Through it all, there’s been No. 22, with his high leg kick and hitch in his iconic windup.
(Photo: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)