{"id":522151,"date":"2026-01-15T19:43:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T19:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/522151\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T19:43:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T19:43:13","slug":"clayton-kershaw-reveals-motivation-behind-joining-team-usa-at-wbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/522151\/","title":{"rendered":"Clayton Kershaw reveals motivation behind joining Team USA at WBC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last September, longtime <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/mlb\/los-angeles-dodgers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> pitcher <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/mlb\/players\/b0a80966\/clayton-kershaw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Clayton Kershaw<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/mlb\/los-angeles-dodgers\/dodgers-news-clayton-kershaw-retire-after-2025-season\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">announced his retirement after 18 seasons<\/a>. Then, the Dodgers <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/mlb\/los-angeles-dodgers\/dodgers-news-magic-johnson-drops-18-championship-bar-world-series-win\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">won their second consecutive World Series title<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, no better way for Kershaw to go out. However, he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6974467\/2026\/01\/15\/clayton-kershaw-world-baseball-classic-dodgers-retired\/?source=emp_shared_article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">surprised many<\/a> by announcing in March that he would compete in the 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/tag\/world-baseball-classic\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">World Baseball Classic<\/a>, per Andy McCullough of The Athletic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy not?\u201d Kershaw told The Athletic on Thursday morning after Team USA announced his participation in the upcoming event. Presently, Kershaw is going through the throes of a lighter-than-usual preparation, with pool play set to begin in Houston in early March.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am throwing just enough to make it for 10 days,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not pitching this season \u2014 so I figured this is the perfect time to try the WBC. I really want to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The World Baseball Classic is scheduled from March 5 to 17. Japan comes in as the defending champions from 2023. In 2017, Team USA won the WBC over Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, Kershaw missed out on playing in the WBC due to insurance issues. Essentially, he was unable to secure protection for his $20 million contract with the Dodgers.<\/p>\n<p>Altogether, Kershaw accumulated 3,052 strikeouts during his career. Additionally, he was a three-time Cy Young Award winner (2011, 2013, 2014). Plus, Kershaw was a three-time World Series winner (2020, 2024, 2025).<\/p>\n<p>He played his entire career with the Dodgers. In the WBC, he <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/mlb\/mlb-stories\/world-baseball-classic-news-team-usas-pitching-gets-another-boost\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">will be playing alongside<\/a> the likes of Aaron Judge, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Paul Skenes. Furthermore, new Chicago Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/mlb\/chicago-cubs\/cubs-news-alex-bregman-joining-star-studded-team-usa-wbc-roster\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">will join the roster<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last September, longtime Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw announced his retirement after 18 seasons. Then, the Dodgers&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[5,1147,39,1165,4332,4333,774,57,3224,4331,4,4820],"class_list":{"0":"post-522151","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-world-baseball-classic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115900829121612627","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522151","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=522151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}