Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Here’s some news as the Dodgers play open up their final home series of the regular season:
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 18, 2025
It was only a matter of time, but Clayton Kershaw is set to retire after the 2025 season. It has been quite the run for the best pitcher many of us have ever seen.
Kershaw is in the midst of a pretty solid campaign for an 18-year veteran who is hanging up his spikes after the season: 3.53 ERA, 3.59 FIP and a 2.2 fWAR. He’s doing it armed with an 89 MPH fastball and a slider that doesn’t slide as much as it used to, but it hasn’t mattered much in terms of effectiveness.
The 38-year-old owns a career 2.54 ERA, 2.85 FIP, 20.7 K-BB% and a 78.7 fWAR. If there wasn’t a mandatory 5-year waiting period for Hall of Fame inductions, he’d go in the day the Dodgers’ season ends.
It’s been quite the ride over the past nearly two decades. He was the No. 7 overall selection in the 2006 MLB Draft, and he’s the best player the Dodgers have ever drafted — and likely will ever draft in our lifetimes. He owns three Cy Young Awards (2011, 2013-14; should be four), an MVP (2014) and two World Series Championships (2020, 2024; should be three). He threw a shoulda-been perfect game in 2014. He was an 11-time All-Star and crossed the 3,000 strikeout threshold earlier this season — the only Dodger to ever do so. He’s the most accomplished and decorated Dodger pitcher since Sandy Koufax, to whom he is compared to frequently.
And despite his perceived (and sometimes real) playoff struggles, Kershaw had some (good) memorable moments in October as well.
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Sure, he wasn’t perfect on or off the mound. His Pride Day cap bullshit earlier this year was dumb and regrettable. The “disagreement” with honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence was just as dumb. I think we all know he’s a pretty devout Christian from Texas, so it wasn’t necessarily unexpected. Some won’t be able to overlook or forgive him for the negatives — and that’s OK! It’s definitely a blemish on his résumé and should not be dismissed or forgotten.
At the same time, he has devoted time, effort and money to Kershaw’s Challenge, a foundation he and his wife Ellen started. He was outspoken (in a good way) when it came to addressing Black Lives Matter in the summer of 2020 and has been nothing but a solid citizen otherwise.
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Kershaw is likely the greatest Dodger most of us have ever seen. He’s supremely accomplished, and despite his flaws, I’m going to miss watching him. We were spoiled for 18 years. And while he’s a shell of his former self at the moment (and still having success), we should really remember the good memories (of which there were loads). And hey, maybe there’s one more special memory in that left arm of his to conclude the 2025 season.
