by Megan Garcia
Clayton Kershaw’s 11th All-Star selection now goes down as one of the most memorable of his special career. His six pitches, earning two outs, were enough for a standing ovation from the crowd at Truist Park in Atlanta on Tuesday.
After Cal Raleigh lined out sharply to left, Kershaw fired five pitches to get Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to strike out looking. The future Hall of Famer’s final line consisted of 2/3 innings pitch, zero hits, zero walks, one strikeout and two batters faced.
“It’s a very awesome, special thing to get to come to All-Star games. So, I remember the first one, how special that was,” Kershaw said. “I don’t think a lot’s changed for me over the years to get to come to these things. So, I don’t take that for granted. I think it’s really awesome.”
The National League beat the American League by a 4–3 tiebreaker after the AL tied the game 6–6 in the ninth. This was the first time in the Midsummer Classic to incorporate a home run swing-off, where three players from each team had three swings to hit a homer to decide the final score.
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Kershaw was a “Legends Pick” by Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred for the All-Star Game. It was recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the game. Though his night was quick, his contributions were felt in this All-Star Game. Kershaw was also selected by Dodgers and National League All-Star manager Dave Roberts to give pregame speech to his NL teammates.
“My initial response (on the Legends Pick) was you don’t ever want to take somebody’s spot or you don’t ever want to be like a sideshow. You just want to be a part of it if you deserve it,” Kershaw said. “And once I kind of understood that I wasn’t taking anybody’s spot and that it was just whatever they call, legend, whatever, it was a little uncomfortable. But now that I’m done with it, it was awesome. I’m so glad I got to come and share with family and kiddos and all the stuff. It was a great thing.
“And Doc even let me say a couple things during the team meeting, which was awesome. Things that I would never volunteer for, but I also realize that the opportunity is there, and so I don’t want to pass that stuff up. So I think all of it was pretty cool.”
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For a second consecutive year, Shohei Ohtani made Dodger history at the All-Star Game.
Ohtani became the first Dodger with a leadoff hit in an All-Star Game when he singled against American League starter Tarik Skubal. He later scored to give the National League an early 2–0 lead on a Ketel Marte double in the first.
Special moments continued for the Dodgers throughout the night.
It was Freddie Freeman’s turn in the third. The Truist Park crowd stood on its feet and applauded the veteran as he exited the game with two outs in the frame. He tipped his hat to them in his emotional return to Atlanta, the city he called home for 12 years.
He went 0-for-1 at the plate.
Will Smith was the final Dodger to exit. He was behind the plate for the first four innings in his first career All-Star Game start. He went 0-for-2 from the sixth spot in the lineup.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto didn’t appear in his first All-Star selection, as he pitched in the Dodgers’ 5–2 win on Sunday.
Kershaw and the Dodgers have shining moments in 2025 All-Star Game was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.