TORONTO \u2014 Standing with his back to the diamond, heart hammering as he warmed up for the final game of his career, Clayton Kershaw peered over his shoulder as Toronto Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk rolled into a double play in the 11th inning of Game 7 of the World Series. Inside the maelstrom of Rogers Centre, preparing for an emergency, Kershaw had lost track of the outs. He assumed he was about to enter the game when he caught the wild-eyed glare of Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen coach Josh Bard.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just won the World Series!\u201d Bard said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you sure?\u201d Kershaw said.<\/p>\n
Bard was. They did. And so Kershaw did not, exactly, ride off into the sunset. He sprinted into a dogpile, shouting as he lumbered in from the bullpen, thrilled to call himself a three-time champion. His eyes filled with tears afterward. Perhaps it was the sting of champagne. Or perhaps it was the perspective on how lucky he felt to retire on this note.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a sad feeling,\u201d Kershaw said inside the visitors\u2019 clubhouse after the game. \u201cBecause \u2026 how cool? I will forever, for the rest of my life, be able to say that we won Game 7 of the World Series in the last game I ever played. You can\u2019t script that. You can\u2019t write it up. Even if I wasn\u2019t throwing 88 mph, I still would be done. It\u2019s just the perfect way to end it.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the past six weeks, after he announced that he would retire at the end of the season after 18 seasons with the Dodgers, Kershaw had known this day would come. But his itinerary called for one more activity with the team. He would take part in the parade through downtown Los Angeles on Monday. Along the route, the people of his adopted city will get a chance to say goodbye and salute him.<\/p>\n
A few years before Kershaw decided to retire, I called his closest friend in baseball. A.J. Ellis spent seven seasons as Kershaw\u2019s catcher and confidant. They had shared untold hours talking about the game, their faith, their families. So I figured it was worth asking: What did Ellis still want to know about Kershaw?<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this point, it\u2019s like: What keeps driving him?\u201d Ellis said. \u201cAnd what keeps him coming back?\u201d<\/p>\n
By then, as I began reporting a book about Kershaw<\/a> in the months after the 2022 season, he had \u201caccomplished everything he can on a baseball field,\u201d Ellis said: Three National League Cy Young awards, the first pitcher to win the National League MVP since Bob Gibson, the annual invitations to the All-Star Game. A World Series championship in 2020 that ended his painful phase as the postseason\u2019s Hamlet<\/a>.<\/p>\n His children were getting older, and he felt himself torn between pitching in Los Angeles and being a parent at his home in Dallas. And then, Ellis mentioned, \u201cin the last decade, the physical toll on his body,\u201d the injuries to his back and his shoulder and his elbow.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat keeps bringing him back for the next year?\u201d Ellis said. \u201cWhat\u2019s the drive? I think that would be an interesting thing for him to verbalize.\u201d<\/p>\n During a conversation with Kershaw that next spring, I asked him if he had plotted out an endgame. There was one scenario that came to mind, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll tell you what, if we were to win another World Series, I think I can\u2019t imagine ending it any better than that,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t imagine just having that feeling one more time.\u201d<\/p>\n A year later, Kershaw got to experience that feeling, but it came from the periphery. He missed most of 2024 as he recovered from shoulder surgery and then injured his foot. He wasn\u2019t healthy enough to pitch in October. While he delighted in taking part in last year\u2019s parade, he felt he hadn\u2019t done enough to merit inclusion. \u201cI just want one more run,\u201d he told me during the 2024 postseason.<\/p>\n He got that this year. Kershaw managed to make 22 starts with a 3.36 ERA this season. Only Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw more innings for the Dodgers. Kershaw added to his case for being the best pitcher of his generation.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t imagine a better way to go out than to pop bottles with this group\u2026 BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPS!\u201d<\/p>\n Clayton Kershaw leads the champagne celebration for the @Dodgers<\/a> \ud83c\udf7e pic.twitter.com\/6fP7JqtDxh<\/a><\/p>\n