{"id":521855,"date":"2026-01-15T16:15:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T16:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/521855\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T16:15:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T16:15:16","slug":"recently-retired-dodgers-star-clayton-kershaw-to-represent-team-usa-in-world-baseball-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/521855\/","title":{"rendered":"Recently-Retired Dodgers Star Clayton Kershaw to Represent Team USA in World Baseball Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Los Angeles Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw retired at the end of the 2025 season, but it seems he isn\u2019t quite done yet.<\/p>\n<p>Kershaw will represent Team USA in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. He joins several other stars, including Dodgers catcher Will Smith and two-time Detroit Tigers Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal.<\/p>\n<p>More news: <a href=\"https:\/\/dodgersnation.com\/dodgers-offer-kyle-tucker-huge-short-term-deal\/2026\/01\/14\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dodgers Offer Kyle Tucker \u2018Huge Short-Term Deal\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The 37-year-old future Hall of Famer will give it one more go, and he will represent his country for the first time in the World Baseball Classic. He was slated to pitch in 2023, but withdrew due to insurance complications.<\/p>\n<p>A few weeks after the 2025 World Series victory, <a href=\"https:\/\/dodgersnation.com\/dodgers-clayton-kershaw-reveals-post-retirement-plans\/2025\/11\/16\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kershaw shared he had no plans to enter a coaching or managing career<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the biggest thing is I have zero motivation to workout at all. Zero. I just don\u2019t want to do anything,\u201d Kershaw said. \u201cAnd that usually happens after the season, but slowly but surely you\u2019re like, \u2018Alright, I\u2019ve gotta do this to get ready for next season.\u2019 But with no next season, it\u2019s like, I guess I need to start working out because this body can get out of hand really fast. But, right now, no motivation to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Dodgers legend also added that he knew he was calling his career quits all of last season before he officially announced it in mid-September.<\/p>\n<p>More news: <a href=\"https:\/\/dodgersnation.com\/dodgers-announce-key-spring-training-dates-pitchers-and-catchers-report-full-squad-workout\/2026\/01\/14\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dodgers Announce Key Spring Training Dates: Pitchers and Catchers Report, Full Squad Workout<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew I was done basically the whole season,\u201d Kershaw said. I kind of went into this year thinking it was going to be my last one and didn\u2019t really say anything until the end and then going into the postseason definitely knowing it was my last one. What a way to end it, man, it was so special. I couldn\u2019t script it any better than that. It was just time, it was time to be done and I\u2019m at peace with that and I don\u2019t have to try to keep up anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Kershaw had no intention of continuing his MLB career or stepping into a coaching or front-office role, there was no mention of representing his country. The Texas native will look to lead Team USA to their first Gold medal since 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sab-icon\" src=\"https:\/\/dodgersnation.com\/path\/to\/app-icon.png\" alt=\"App icon\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\"\/><\/p>\n<p>LA Baseball Report<\/p>\n<p>Get the app for faster news<\/p>\n<p> <a id=\"sab-cta\" class=\"sab-cta\" href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">GET<\/a> \u00d7    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw retired at the end of the 2025 season, but it seems he&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[5,1147,39,1165,4332,4333,774,57,3224,4331,4,558],"class_list":{"0":"post-521855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-dodgers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-clayton-kershaw","10":"tag-dodgers","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-dodgers","13":"tag-ladodgers","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-losangelesdodgers","18":"tag-mlb","19":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115900012022417283","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}