LOS ANGELES – Less than an hour before first pitch, Clayton Kershaw climbed the steps out of the home dugout at Dodger Stadium for what might be his last ever outing at the venue he has called home for the last 18 years.
He sauntered toward the home bullpen, where a crowd gathered and roared. He jogged from left field to center and stretched in front of the wall as fans took out their cell phones, trying to snap an image of a night they will one day tell their kids about.
The longest-tenured Dodgers pitcher of all time went about his normal pregame stretch routine, eventually settling on the grass in shallow left-center, where he usually takes a couple of minutes to sit, breathe and focus.
(Photo by Rob Leiter/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Only this night, his 228th and final regular season start at Dodger Stadium, was anything but normal.
“Obviously a little bit harder tonight, a little bit harder to do that,” Kershaw said. “But in a good way.”
As Kershaw sat down with his fingers locked in the outfield, he looked up and surveyed the scene. His eyes seemed to well up.
The Dodgers would go on to beat the Giants 6-3 and clinch a spot in the playoffs on Friday. Yet both accomplishments paled in comparison to the real reason 53,037 fans showed up to the ballpark in a final send-off for one of the game’s greatest left-handed pitchers.
“There’s no way I could try to soak it all in tonight,” Kershaw said. “Eighteen years of memories, you can’t just put into words in one night or feel all the feels that you can possibly feel.”
(Photo by Nicole Vasquez/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Before the Dodgers took the field, the position players stayed back near the dugout. Kershaw took the mound alone as “We Are Young” blared from the sound system. His teammates knew he wouldn’t like it, but they did it anyway to give the fans another chance to acknowledge him. They wanted that for him.
“He’s going to have a statue here pretty soon,” said Mookie Betts. “Somebody like that deserves any little moment he can get some shine.”
Kershaw grabbed the rosin bag and motioned for his teammates to join him, but they weren’t budging, save for 24-year-old rookie catcher Dalton Rushing.
“I went out there with him,” recalled Rushing, who described the night as the top moment of his baseball career. “I don’t know if I was supposed to or not. I didn’t get the memo. I just wanted to make sure when he was ready to throw the ball, I was there to catch it.”
(Photo by Nicole Vasquez/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Kershaw acknowledged the crowd and both dugouts, then dug in.
Three pitches in, the Dodgers trailed.
Leadoff hitter Heliot Ramos cared little for the pomp and circumstance, sending a 431-foot blast out to center. Consistent traffic followed for Kershaw, who nonetheless found a way to limit damage, as he has so often through the course of a career that includes the lowest ERA of any pitcher (minimum 2,500 innings pitched) over the last 100 years.
Kershaw stranded two runners in the first and two more in the second before Miguel Rojas evened the score with a home run.
“When you have the opportunity to play behind one of the greatest that ever takes the mound, you want to do the best that you can,” Rojas said.
The Giants jumped back ahead an inning later on an RBI base hit from Wilmer Flores. Kershaw needed 64 pitches to get through three innings. The fourth inning was cleaner, though still taxing. With two outs and two strikes, the crowd rose to its feet.
Chants of “Let’s go Ker-shaw” erupted, as if everyone was trying to will the physically and emotionally spent left-hander forward. Willy Adames fought off four straight two-strike pitches. Putting batters away isn’t as easy as it once was, but while his strikeout stuff has lessened, Kershaw’s persistence remains. He eventually got Adames to swing through a slider on the ninth pitch of the at-bat.
“You’re trying to focus on the night and getting outs, but it’s a special day,” Kershaw said. “It’s the last time here, potentially, and this place has meant so much to me for so long. I didn’t want to not think about it. I’m kind of mentally exhausted today, honestly, but it’s the best feeling in the world now.”
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
A few rows up, Magic Johnson cheered. One row ahead of the Dodgers part-owner, a contingent of Kershaw’s former Dodgers teammates — a group that included Andre Ethier, Russell Martin, AJ Pollock, Jimmy Rollins and longtime catcher Austin Barnes — also rose to its feet. Figures from throughout his sports journey, including childhood friend Matthew Stafford, made it out for the occasion.
“Just all facets of my life,” Kershaw said. “I had family, friends, neighbors, everybody from back home came too.”
Kershaw allowed eight baserunners in 4.1 innings but surrendered only two runs. He gave the Dodgers a chance, and they made it a night to remember.
The bottom of the inning was like a passing of the torch from one era of Dodger baseball to the next as Shohei Ohtani blasted a go-ahead three-run home run, shaking a stadium ready to erupt. The party continued one batter later when Betts made it back-to-back shots, breaking the game open.
“Obviously there were a lot of emotions out there, but we were able to hold those at bay and take care of business,” Betts said. “I think we gave him some memories that will last a lifetime.”
Kershaw’s final regular season performance at Dodger Stadium ended, fittingly, the same way it began with a strikeout on a fastball, albeit with a much different zip than it once possessed.
On May 25, 2008, a clean-shaven, 20-year-old embarked on a big-league journey that would eventually include three Cy Young Awards, an MVP trophy, 11 All-Star appearances and two World Series titles by striking out the first batter he ever faced, delivering an elevated 95-mph heater past the bat of Skip Schumaker. From the stands, his high school sweetheart, Ellen Melson, cheered heartily.
Seventeen years and four months later, Kershaw now wears a beard spotted with gray. His high school sweetheart, Ellen Melson, is now Ellen Kershaw, his wife and a mother of four. Kershaw’s fastball no longer has the same life it once did, yet he has adapted to find ways to produce.
Clayton Kershaw in 2025 and Clayton Kershaw in 2008 (Getty Images)
At the ballpark he still calls home, Kershaw delivered his 3,044th strikeout — and what might have been his last at Dodger Stadium — for the first out of the fifth inning on an 89-mph four-seamer that Rafael Devers watched go by.
Removing Kershaw from the game in the middle of the frame allowed the fans who had lived and died with all of his accomplishments and failures a chance to deliver a proper send-off.
“It’s almost like a relationship, right? You’ve been in it 18 years with them,” Kershaw said. “There’s some great times and then there’s some times where you probably want to break up for a minute. Just having them behind me the way they have been has been the icing on the cake.”
Over his lengthy career, the legendary left-hander has kept few mementos; the baseball from his final regular season strikeout is an exception. Rushing immediately threw the ball to third baseman Kiké Hernández, who placed it in Kershaw’s glove. Time seemed to freeze. Roberts stood stationary near the third-base line, allowing Kershaw to be embraced by his teammates, to absorb the adoration of the fans and to even receive applause from the rival team he had faced more times than any club in his career.
(Photo by Nicole Vasquez/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
“You had to just kind of be there to really feel the emotions,” Betts said. “I’m just happy I was a part of it and I can tell my kids that I got to play with Clayton Kershaw.”
Kershaw shook his manager’s hand and gave him a hug. Ellen smiled through tears from what she describes as her “perch” in the stands alongside her four kids. Kershaw began his walk back to the dugout and blew a kiss to his family before taking off his cap to the fans, who paid top dollar to be in attendance for a moment that they’ll talk about the rest of their lives.
“I think just being able to walk off the mound there, that’s probably what I’ll remember the most,” Kershaw said. “I told Doc, ‘I’m not trying to be disrespectful, but I’m keeping this ball.’ To be able to do that, look up and see my family, see the fans, the ovations and all that stuff, I think once you’re out of the game, that’s when you can start to actually appreciate it a little bit more.”
Kershaw hugged Max Muncy, the longest-tenured Dodger position player, at the top step of the dugout before making the round of embraces. When the fans beckoned for more, Kershaw emerged for a curtain call.
The night, however, was not yet a triumph. He left trailing 2-1.
For most of his 18 seasons, Kershaw shouldered a heavy burden, taking on a load far greater than would be asked of the typical player. He pitched on short rest. He came in out of the bullpen when called upon. Every extra October inning invited disaster. Along with euphoric highs came devastating lows. But he earned respect by never ducking the challenge.
“There’s always been accountability,” Roberts said. “When you look back at the circumstances at some of the things that happened — whether it’s the 240 innings or pitching on very short rest multiple times in a postseason — and never running from that, that responsibility as the ace, with that, you’ve got to take on a lot of scrutiny or potential failures. Everything wasn’t optimal for him. But he never complained about it, never made an excuse for it.”
In the final regular season start of an unprecedented career, his team returned the favor for his 18 years of service by rallying for a 6-3 comeback win.
Afterward, the Dodgers opened seven bottles of Verve Cliquot for a postgame toast to Kershaw.
Many of his teammates still can’t come to terms with the end.
“For as long as I’ve been here,” Muncy said, “it’s been 22.”
Roberts knew for a couple weeks that Kershaw’s retirement was coming. Freddie Freeman knew for more than a month but was sworn to secrecy. The first baseman figured Kershaw would keep his decision under wraps, but he’s glad Kershaw decided to go out with one last hurrah for the fans at home.
“Perfect night,” Kershaw said. “It really was.”
Only one more start is guaranteed for Kershaw, next weekend in Seattle. The Dodgers will have decisions to make in October, with their full stable of starters — Ohtani, Kershaw, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Emmet Sheehan — all healthy and available.
However involved he is, winning one more championship for Kershaw is sure to serve as an added incentive this October.
“I can do the math,” Kershaw said. “I know there’s only so many spots. I’m just going to try to continue to pitch well. Pitch well in Seattle, and then we’ll see what happens.”
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
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