LOS ANGELES — For the 228th and final time during the regular season at Dodger Stadium, on Friday Clayton Kershaw will make one more start in front of the home fans, pitching for the Dodgers against the Giants.
The decision to retire wasn’t sudden, but rather the product of conversations between Kershaw and his wife Ellen, who is pregnant with the couple’s fifth child.
“Usually we wait until the offseason to make a final call, but I think almost going into the season we kind of knew that this was going to be
it. I didn’t want to say anything, unless I changed my mind,” Kershaw said Thursday at Dodger Stadium. “Over the course of the season, how grateful I am to have been healthy, be out on the mound, and be able to pitch, I think it just made it obvious this was a good sending-off point.”
Despite what his pre-start song asserts, Kershaw isn’t as young anymore, now 37 years old but still pitching well, and is healthy after surgeries in the last two offseasons. He enters Friday with a 3.53 ERA and 3.83 xERA, is second on the team in starts this season, and will end up second in innings pitched as well.
“You can never count him out. Looking where we were at as a starting staff earlier this year and he stepped up. Days he didn’t have is best stuff, willing himself to go five, six, seven innings, just on guile and heart,” manager Dave Roberts said. “That’s something I know Emmet has learned from. Blake Snell has been waiting to play with Clayton. Tyler. He just makes everybody better, and obviously he’s been a huge part of this year. We certainly wouldn’t be in this position in the standings if it weren’t for him.”
“I just wanted to be in the moment this season, and it’s been a great year. So I think we made the right call,” Kershaw said. “You don’t ever want to pitch bad. Pitching well is important, and that’s how I would want to do it.”
Pitching well has been the norm for Kershaw, who is one of 11 pitchers to win at least three Cy Young Awards. He’s an 11-time All-Star, an MVP, and five-time ERA champion.
“Everyone’s known for the last 10 years that he’s going to be a Hall of Famer,” said third baseman Max Muncy. “But there’s no one in this clubhouse who’s worked harder than he has. There’s no one who has had more fun that he has. To me he’s always been the guy who set the example.”
“I think he’s the greatest pitcher in this generation,” Roberts said. “I’ve never been around a greater competitor.”
Kershaw got choked up a few times during his press conference on Thursday at Dodger Stadium, which was attended by most of the roster and several coaches.
“I think we all play this game for the respect of our teammates,” Kershaw said. “Having these guys here is pretty special. I’m proud of that.”
Making the announcement now gives time for Kershaw to have one final, official send-off at Dodger Stadium. Which begs the question of what the Dodgers might have planned for Friday.
“In the past you’ve seen guys in their last game, they take the field and the dugout stays back,” Muncy said. “When it comes to Clayton, I think nothing would piss him off more if we did something like that. For us it’s going to be, we’re going to take the field like normal, we’re going to play as hard as we can and get him a W.”
Friday is also important because there are a lot of unknowns going forward. The Dodgers are in a dogfight for the division, and even if they win the National League West are almost certainly going to be playing in the wild card round.
But there’s also figuring out where Kershaw fits into the postseason equation.
“Obviously we have another month to play, and we have a lot of great pitchers,” Kershaw said. “Everybody’s role is kind of up in the air at this point.”
That’s not just lip service from Kershaw, who is on a Dodgers team with a stacked starting rotation, with at least Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Blake Snell ahead of him on the depth chart, and likely Shohei Ohtani too unless the Dodgers decide to deploy Ohtani in relief.
“I think the person, the experience, whatever role he’s willing to take on is a positive,” Roberts said of Kershaw. “I don’t know what role, but I just feel there’s a spot for him.”
Whatever Kershaw’s role is in October, he still has two more regular season starts remaining.
“I haven’t had a better time than with this group, this year. It’s been a blast,” Kershaw said. “I’m looking forward to a little bit longer with them.”
