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Clayton Kershaw, one of the most dominant pitchers of the 2010s, has announced that the 2025 season will be his last in baseball.
The longtime Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers has announced he will retire from the sport at the end of the season.
Kershaw was drafted by the Dodgers in 2006 and has played with the team ever since - winning two World Series titles with the team in 2020.
Over the course of 18 seasons, Kershaw won three NL Cy Young Awards, the 2014 NL MVP Award, and had the best ERA in the National League five times.
He was also an eleven-time All-Star selection and is one of the rare pitchers to take baseball's Triple Crown (leading in wins, strikeouts, and ERA) - having done so in 2011.
Clayton Kershaw, one of the greatest pitchers in Dodgers history, announced his retirement
Kershaw (front, center) won the 2020 World Series with the Dodgers
Kershaw's crowning moment came in 2020 - when he won four games in the postseason, including Game 1 and Game 5 of the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Dodgers would go on to win that title in the midst of the pandemic to win their first title since 1988.
While he was a part of the team during their 2024 title run, Kershaw was injured and did not appear in the postseason.
Renowned for his 12-6 curveball, the lefty has the highest WAR (wins above replacement) in the history of the Dodgers franchise.
Kershaw also leads the franchise in strikeouts, has the sixth-best ERA, second-most wins, and started the third-most games in Dodgers history.
Earlier this season, Kershaw drew scrutiny after inscribing a Bible verse on a Pride-themed hat he wore during a game against the rival San Francisco Giants.
Kershaw, a Texas native, wrote Gen 9:12-16 next to the Dodgers logo which featured rainbow colors. That passage, which comes after the story of Noah's Ark and the flood reads: 'And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth."'
Many MLB fans took Kershaw's inscription as an anti-gay stance - as evidenced by the pitcher taking issue with the Dodgers promoting a prominent LGBTQ+ charity in the past.
Kershaw's final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium will take place this Friday. The Dodgers have a 74 percent chance of making the postseason.
