The Los Angeles Dodgers finished the 2025 regular season with Clayton Kershaw on the mound for what potentially was the final start of his illustrious career.
Prior to the series finale against the Seattle Mariners, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts revealed Kershaw was not going to be included on the club’s postseason roster for the Wild Card Series. Of course, the Dodgers have visions of winning the World Series, and it’s possible — perhaps even likely — Kershaw gets added onto a playoff roster if the team advances.
But in the meantime, focus was on the mound at T-Mobile Park. Fans treated Kershaw to multiple standing ovations and he was removed from the game by Freddie Freeman making the pitching change. Freeman and Kershaw shared a hug on the mound, and the left-hander embraced other teammates who had gathered around the mound.
Following the Dodgers’ win, Kershaw reiterated how thankful he’s been for the overwhelming response to news of his retirement, as seen on SportsNet LA
“Honestly, I just have a lot of gratitude for the last 10 days or so, or however long it’s been. It’s super special to me, from the way my teammates have handled it, coaching staff, everybody, the fans. It’s just been amazingly special. I’m just very grateful for it all and now excited to have everybody focus toward winning the last game of the season, which will be great.”
Sunday’s start saw Kershaw’s wife, Ellen, and their two oldest children, Cali Ann and Charley in attendance. So too were former Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt and former teammate and close friend A.J. Ellis. That evoked some emotions from Kershaw at various points during the afternoon:
“It was hard. I hadn’t seen my family in a minute. Ellen and the older two kids flew in today just to see this game. To see them over there, and AJ and Honey were there too. So just the people that I kind of grew up with here, having them here was really special. So that was hard. That was hard to see them, and hard in a good way. Just emotional. But after that, you don’t want to embarrass yourself. You want to get people out, so try to compete as best you can. Thankfully it worked out today.”
Kershaw greeted his wife and children upon walking into the dugout after his pregame routine, and again once he came out of the game.
Despite some of the emotional challenges, Kershaw completed 5.1 scoreless innings and finished with seven strikeouts.
Clayton Kershaw career stats
Kershaw pitched in 455 games (451 starts) for the Dodgers over his 18-year career. He went 223-96 with a 2.53 ERA and 1.02 WHIP during that span. The future Hall of Famer threw 2,855.1 innings and collected 3,052 strikeouts for the Dodgers.
Kershaw ranks first in Dodgers franchise history in strikeouts and WAR (77.8), and second in wins, innings and WHIP.
At Dodger Stadium, Kershaw finished 117-42 with a 2.26 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in 228 career starts during the regular season. He recorded 1,651 strikeouts and held opponents to a .207 batting average.
Kershaw pitched nine shutouts at Dodger Stadium, which includes a no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies on June 18, 2014. Kershaw also made his only All-Star Game start at Dodger Stadium in 2022, which saw him throw a scoreless first inning.
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