Clayton Kershaw absolutely, positively won’t pitch for the Rangers, Dodgers or anyone else next year, meaning locals will no longer be tempted by what had become a semi-annual rite of winter:
Can Chris Young talk his Highland Park neighbor into coming home?
The fact that Kershaw — a certain first-ballot Hall of Famer and the lone rival to Ernie Banks as the best player ever from the Dallas area — remained loyal to the Dodgers right up to the announcement of his retirement Thursday wasn’t an indictment of the Ranger president’s negotiating skills. Kershaw listened but never leveraged one club against the other. He simply loved pitching for a historic franchise in a bucolic setting. Can’t blame him for that.
The feeling for a few years was that the three-time Cy Young Award winner and 2014 National League MVP could give the Rangers the kind of credibility another Texan did in 1989. Nolan Ryan’s powerful presence wasn’t enough to lift the club from the constraints of its dubious history, but he became a franchise icon, nonetheless.
Rangers
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw signs autographs before the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. the Texas Rangers major league baseball game at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, on Monday, June 15, 2015.
Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer
Helps when you throw a couple no-hitters in your 40s, win your 300th game and collect your 5,000th strikeout, all as a Ranger. Ryan’s status remains unassailable. Even a pitcher of Kershaw’s rank couldn’t have challenged him. But it’d have been fun to watch him try.
Turns out the Rangers didn’t need him to win a World Series. The Dodgers may not, either, but it’s not like they don’t owe him one.
According to baseballreference.com’s WAR, or wins above replacement, Kershaw ranks No. 1 in Dodgers history. Better than Drysdale, better than Koufax, better than Robinson or Reese or Snider.
Probably better that the greatest Dodger ever goes out as one. Privilege enough to know their best is our own.
On Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN
Aside from praying, what can Rangers do to salvage severely damaged playoff hopes?Highland Park’s Clayton Kershaw to retire after 2025 season, Dodgers announce
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