{"id":629003,"date":"2026-03-17T23:35:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T23:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/629003\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T23:35:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T23:35:27","slug":"clayton-kershaw-leaves-the-door-open-on-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/629003\/","title":{"rendered":"Clayton Kershaw Leaves the Door Open on Return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Dodgers great Clayton Kershaw hung up his spikes after the 2025 season \u2014 or did he?<\/p>\n

Kershaw suited up for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, although in a very limited capacity.<\/p>\n

So when he was removed from the team\u2019s roster<\/a> after the quarterfinal round, was that the last time he suits up as a player?<\/p>\n

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He seems to think so, but when speaking with Dodgers Nation\u2019s Doug McKain, he left some wiggle room.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is it, this is the last time i\u2019m putting on baseball pants unless something weird happens, but yeah,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

What Kind of Legacy Has Clayton Kershaw Left?<\/p>\n

Kershaw is a surefire Hall of Famer, retiring with three World Series titles, three Cy Young Awards, a National League MVP and more than 3,000 career strikeouts.<\/p>\n

The lefty also threw a no-hitter and won the pitching triple crown in 2011. He led the National League in some combination of strikeouts, ERA and wins in multiple other seasons.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a historic career, and if Team USA defeats Team Venezuela Tuesday night, Kershaw will walk away with not one but two championships. That is, \u201cunless something weird happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"United<\/p>\n

Mar 4, 2026; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; United States pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22) throws against the Colorado Rockies in the third inning at Salt River Fields. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Will Team USA Win the WBC Tuesday night?<\/p>\n

The game should be a competitive one, with the Americans supplying plenty of star power.<\/p>\n

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Kershaw\u2019s no longer on the active roster, but current Dodger Will Smith will be starting behind the plate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll be catching for\u00a0New York Mets pitcher Nolan McLean<\/a>, who will start the game on the mound.<\/p>\n

Team Venezuela features stars like Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Atlanta Braves and Eugenio Suarez of the Cincinnati Reds.<\/p>\n

On the mound will be 10-year MLB veteran Eduardo Rodriguez of the Arizona Diamondbacks, an interesting contrast to the rookie American pitcher McLean.<\/p>\n

As explained by\u00a0Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com<\/a>, Rodriguez is experienced at 32 years old, but that experience hasn\u2019t always translated to success, both in the MLB and in the WBC.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn large part because of a declining strikeout rate, E-Rod has an ERA over 5 since joining the Diamondbacks prior to 2024, and in this tournament he was roughed up by that deep Dominican Republic lineup for three runs with two homers in only 2 2\/3 innings,\u201d Castrovince wrote.<\/p>\n

Do you think Team Venezuela will beat Team USA on Tuesday night, or will the Americans bring home the WBC title?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Dodgers great Clayton Kershaw hung up his spikes after the 2025 season \u2014 or did he?…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2404],"tags":[146,22,4314,46,5,80690,50,1147,52,38,64683,756,92,57,4,61,2517,921,4819,37145,1535,4820],"class_list":["post-629003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-arizona","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-arizonadiamondbacks","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-baseball","tag-baseball-pants","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-clayton-kershaw","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-diamondbacks","tag-doug-mckain","tag-eduardo-rodriguez","tag-eugenio-suarez","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-mets","tag-nolan-mclean","tag-ronald-acuna-jr","tag-team-usa","tag-team-venezuela","tag-will-smith","tag-world-baseball-classic"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116247144103500421","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629003","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=629003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}