LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in May 2008 as a tantalizing 20-year-old left-hander who soon showed the considerable hype around him was quite justified.
He will leave Chavez Ravine this fall with an overstuffed awards case, a massive list of statistical superlatives and a future appointment in Cooperstown, New York.
During the 18 California summers in between, Kershaw became one of the greatest MLB pitchers of his generation and one of Los Angeles’ most beloved athletes of the 21st century. The shaggy-haired, 6-foot-4 Texan with a high leg kick and a delightful hitch in his delivery has won 222 games, three National League Cy Young Awards, an NL MVP trophy and two World Series rings during an epic career that is more than enough to ensure a place in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Kershaw announced his impending retirement Thursday, and he was set to make his final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium in Friday night’s game against the rival San Francisco Giants. After a dominant first decade in his MLB career — his Cy Young Awards came in 2011, ’13 and ’14, with the latter joined by his MVP honor — he has remained an enduring fixture throughout the Dodgers’ current renaissance, overcoming numerous injuries in his 30s to contribute to the team’s annual success.
“I’m at peace with it,” Kershaw said Thursday in a teary news conference attended by his pregnant wife and their four children. “I think it’s the right time. It’s been a fun year. I’ve had such a blast with this group.”
With a diabolical curveball and a fluent mastery of control, deception and pitch selection in an era of 102 mph fastballs and shredded elbow ligaments, Kershaw crafted an enduring legacy in the sport long ago.
His fans still worried that his achievements would forever be colored by the postseason struggles he went through early in his career and the Dodgers’ repeated failure to win a World Series — until he went 4-1 with a 2.93 ERA as the team won it all in the pandemic-affected 2020 postseason.
After bone spurs prevented him from contributing much to another championship run last fall, Kershaw has been a vital rotation member down the stretch of the regular season this year. He’s 10-2 with a 3.53 ERA and 71 strikeouts, including the 3,000th of his MLB career in June.
Kershaw has already earned a place alongside Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, Don Newcombe and Fernando Valenzuela as the greatest pitchers ever to wear Dodger blue. While he still hopes to finish his tenure with a third World Series trophy and one last parade, Kershaw’s fans and baseball as a whole now have a chance to say farewell to a throwback star.
Here’s a look at Kershaw’s prolific career by the numbers.
2.54: His career ERA. It’s not only the lowest among active veteran pitchers, it’s the lowest posted by any pitcher who threw more than 2,000 innings and finished his career after 1972.
.698: His career winning percentage (222-96). That’s the highest for any pitcher with 200 victories since 1900.
1.02: His career average for walks and hits per inning pitched. Yep, it’s also the best by any pitcher with 2,000 innings in the live ball era since 1920.
2: His number of runner-up finishes in the NL Cy Young Award balloting to go along with his three wins, which are tied for the fifth most in MLB history.
4: The number of left-handers in MLB history with 3,000 strikeouts after Kershaw joined the club in July. Only 20 total pitchers have done it.
18: His total seasons with the Dodgers, tying him with Bill Russell and Zack Wheat for the most in franchise history.
6/18/2014: The date of Kershaw’s only no-hitter, in which he struck out 15 batters in an 8-0 win against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium, when the only baserunner for the visitors reached in the seventh inning on a two-base throwing error at shortstop. It’s considered one of the most impressive no-hitters in MLB history.
113: His total base hits as an above-average NL pitcher at the plate. Kershaw even hit a homer in 2013 — a season in which he also drove in 10 runs — but the NL’s adoption of the designated hitter rule ahead of the 2022 season took the bat out of his hands.
11: His total MLB All-Star Game selections, the fourth most for a pitcher. He appeared in this year’s Midsummer Classic at Atlanta’s Truist Park game as a commissioner’s special pick, and he retired Home Run Derby champions Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Cal Raleigh.
6,326: Days between Kershaw’s first regular-season start at Dodger Stadium and his last on Friday.
22: His uniform number since his second MLB start, after he wore 54 for his debut. It’s almost certainly the next number to be retired by the Dodgers, who already have a dozen displayed in Chavez Ravine.