LOS ANGELES — An emotional Clayton Kershaw said Thursday he will retire at the end of this season, having spent his entire 18-year MLB career with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Wiping his eyes, his voice choking at times, the 6-foot-4 pitcher said he knew going into the season that it was likely going to be his last, but Kershaw didn’t want to say anything in case he changed his mind.
“I’m really not sad. I’m really at peace with this. It’s just emotional and I tried to hold it together,” the 37-year-old left-hander said during a news conference at Dodger Stadium. “I told our guys not to make it weird today because I was going to get weird if you make it weird, and here I am making it weird.”
The three-time National League Cy Young Award winner had his wife, Ellen, and their four children with him in the room crowded with his teammates, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and members of the media.
“I’ve just never been around a greater competitor,” Roberts said. “Very accountable, very consistent. He’s made me better, and I think we’ve both grown together, so I feel fortunate to have been able to manage him and be around him for 10 years.”
Kershaw, who got his 3,000th career strikeout in July, will make his final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium on Friday night against the San Francisco Giants, an NL West Division rival.
“The game in and of itself I’m going to miss a lot, but I’ll be OK without that,” Kershaw said. “The hard thing will be the feeling after a win. That’s pretty special.”
The 11-time MLB All-Star and 2014 NL MVP is tied with Bill Russell and Zack Wheat for the most years with the Dodgers in franchise history. Kershaw was part of World Series championship teams in 2020 and 2024, and Los Angeles is currently chasing its fourth straight division title and 12th in a 13-year span. The Dodgers (86-67) have a three-game lead over the San Diego Padres with a little more than a week left in the regular season.
“I love being here. I wouldn’t change that for anything,” the Texas native said. “My kids have grown up here. We’ve all grown up here.”
Kershaw has a career record of 222-96 and 15 shutouts, which lead active MLB players, and he threw a no-hitter in June 2014 against the Colorado Rockies. His 2.54 ERA is the lowest of any pitcher in the live-ball era since 1920, and his winning percentage tops all pitchers with at least 200 victories since 1900.
Kershaw’s decision to give up the game was not unexpected. He has struggled with injuries in recent years and began this season on the injured list while recovering from offseason surgery. He didn’t pitch until May, but Kershaw proved to be a stalwart when the rotation was hit hard by injuries.
“Not a lot of people get this opportunity,” he said, “so I’m just super grateful for it.”
In 2024, Kershaw was forced to end his season in August because of a toe injury that limited him to seven starts and just 30 innings with a 2-2 record and a 4.50 ERA, all career lows.
Kershaw is one of three active pitchers with 3,000 strikeouts, along with former teammate Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. Kershaw could be the last pitcher for a while to reach the milestone — often considered a surefire ticket for National Baseball Hall of Fame enshrinement. Kershaw would be eligible in 2031 for election to the shrine in Cooperstown, New York.
He missed the entire postseason, including the Dodgers beating the New York Yankees to win a World Series that went five games. That spurred him to return this year for what many had speculated would be his final season.
“I appreciate everything that he’s meant to the game, meant to the Dodgers, meant to myself,” Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts said.
As great as Kershaw has been during the regular season, he has endured his share of heartache in October. He has a 4.22 ERA in the postseason.
His teammates often cite his work ethic between starts as inspirational, and he is a commanding, if quiet, presence in the clubhouse.
“It’s sad day, but it’s an exciting day for him,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “He gets to finally move on to the next chapter.”
Frequently tabbed as one of the greatest arms of his generation, Kershaw built his reputation with a pitching style that relies on deception, movement and velocity changes. He has said he modeled his mechanics after his favorite childhood pitcher, Roger Clemens.
As his velocity diminished in recent years, he found ways to compensate by adapting his approach.
Kershaw is one of the better fielding pitchers in the game — he won a Gold Glove in 2011 — and before the NL adopted the designated hitter rule ahead of the 2022 season, he was known as a decent batter, too.
Kershaw, who made his MLB debut on May 25, 2008, won’t be bored away from the field. His wife is expecting their fifth child. His oldest son, Charley, has a locker in the clubhouse next to his father. The couple has done humanitarian work in Africa and Los Angeles.
He spends the offseason in his native Dallas, where he and Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford — the No. 1 pick of the 2009 NFL draft — were high school football teammates.