Los Angeles Dodgers star pitcher Clayton Kershaw will retire from MLB at the end of this season, he announced Thursday.
Kershaw, 37, is in his 18th MLB season, all with the Dodgers. He will retire as one of the most decorated pitchers in MLB history, having earned 11 All-Star selections, three Cy Young Awards, the 2014 National League MVP award, and winning two World Series with the Dodgers in 2020 and 2024.
“I’m gonna call it. I’m gonna retire,” Kershaw told reporters Thursday. “We’ve talked about it a lot … I’m at peace with it. I think it’s the right time.”
Kershaw will make his final regular-season home start at Dodger Stadium on Friday.
“I’m really not sad. I’m really not,” he said. “I’m really at peace with this. It’s just emotional.”
Kershaw said he first informed Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and his teammates in August that he planned to retire from MLB.
“Didn’t want to say anything in case I changed my mind,” Kershaw said. “But over the course of the season, just how grateful I am to have been healthy and be out on the mound and be able to pitch, I think it just made it obvious that this was a good sending-off point, and it is. I’ve had the best time this year. It’s been a blast.”
The Dodgers (86-67) currently lead the National League West Division by three games over the San Diego Padres with less than two weeks before the MLB postseason begins on Sept. 30.
For his career, Kershaw has a 222-96 record, 2.54 ERA and 3,039 strikeouts in 2,844.2 innings pitched in 452 games.
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