Not much to say than hasn’t already been said, including the fact(s) that it is extremely rare these days for a player, regardless of the position(s) they play, to put in 18 years and even rarer to do so with one team.
…unless you are future first-ballot Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw.That’s 18 Major League seasons without a single losing season – not one.
The Dallas, TX native and Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2006 out of Highland Park High School in Dallas made his Major League debut on May 25, 2008 as a 20-year-old. He made his final MLB appearance on Sunday, September 28, 2025 at 37 years old, in the Dodgers 6-1 win over the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park, where he did not allow a run and only four hits, while walking one and striking out seven, to earn his 11th win of the season and 223rd of his historic career.
“It was a great day. I mean, it was, you know, obviously the game didn’t matter for the team (to make the postseason), so, just to be able to go out there, try to enjoy it as best you can, and obviously pitching well helps, so, but honestly I have a lot of gratitude for the last ten days or however long it’s been, it’s been… it’s been super special to me, from the way the teammates, my teammates have handled it, coaches have, everybody,” Kershaw told SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson postgame. “The fans, honestly to me, have been just amazingly special,” the ever-humble southpaw added.
(SportsNet LA)
What was also “amazingly special” is that when removed from the game after striking out Mariners third baseman Eugenio Suárez for the first out of the bottom of the sixth inning on a filthy (and unhittable) 85.5-MPH slider, it wasn’t Dodgers manager Dave Roberts who walked out to the mound to pull him, it was his teammate and very close friend Freddie Freeman who did the honor – to a T-Mobile Park standing ovation. (Roberts had pulled Freeman from the game in the top of the fifth inning). The popular Dodgers first baseman gave Kershaw a huge hug and let him keep the “amazingly special” game ball.
(SportsNet LA)
“It was more of just the moment. I felt that I wanted Clayton to, you know, one last time get, you know, get his flowers with the fans, and so, he felt good about getting another hitter to start that sixth inning,” Roberts said postgame of his decision. “And, you know, it was very fitting that it ended on a strikeout,” added the Dodgers skipper.
“…fitting” Kershaw Gold, indeed.
The Dodgers will face the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Wild Card Series, which begins on Tuesday, September 30, 2025 at 6:08 PM at Dodger Stadium and will be carried live on ESPN.
Play Ball!
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