Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw announced Thursday that the 2025 season would be the last of his 18-year career. As he approaches his last regular-season start at Dodger Stadium Friday night, let’s look back on the career of a surefire Hall of Famer and legendary postseason pitcher.
2009: Kershaw reached the playoffs for the first time at the young age of 21, when the Los Angeles Dodgers made it to the National League Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. Kershaw was so promising in his second major league season that Dodgers manager Joe Torre tapped Kershaw to start Game 1 of that series. And for four innings, he was great.
Carlos Ruiz hit a three-run homer, Ryan Howard had a two-run double, and the Phillies won 8-6, on the way to the World Series. Torre didn’t want Kershaw to get too over-confident, so he didn’t have him make another start in the series.
It was another four years before Kershaw and the Dodgers would return to the playoffs. It was 2013. Kershaw had just won his second Cy Young award, the San Francisco Giants were the defending champions, and America was going crazy for a singer-songwriter from New Zealand named Lorde. Kershaw lost a heartbreaker in Game 2 of the NLCS, dropping a 1-0 decision to Michael Wacha of the St. Louis Cardinals. But in Game 6, down 3-2, Kershaw took the mound hoping to keep the Dodgers alive.
The Dodgers lost 9-0, but only seven of those runs were credited to Kershaw.
But you can’t keep a clutch performer down. Kershaw roared back with a stellar 2014 where he won the Cy Young and National League MVP after a 21-3 regular season, putting up a 1.77 ERA. His first playoff game? A chance at revenge against the Cardinals in Game 1 of the Division Series, and his teammates cooperated by staking the MVP to a 6-1 lead against Adam Wainwright. Then, Kershaw gave up 7 runs in the 7th inning.
He got a chance to redeem himself in Game 4, and shut out the Cardinals for six innings. Then that darned 7th inning came around again, and Matt Adams took Kershaw deep.
The Cardinals would advance to the NLCS to face the San Francisco Giants, where Travis Ishikawa did this:
It was an amazing run early in the previous decade for Kershaw, who won the same number of Cy Young awards as the Giants won World Series trophies. That’s a Cy Young dynasty!
Kershaw pitched very well in the 2015 playoffs, losing a tough 3-1 decision in Game 1 (he had a rough 7th inning) and winning Game 4. It was not his fault that the Dodgers let Daniel Murphy go from first to third on a walk because no one covered third base.
In 2016, Kershaw won the first game of the Division Series against the Washington Nationals, started the Dodgers’ Game 4 win, and got the last two out of Game 5 for a save. The greatest lefty of his generation was finally over the playoff hump! Until Game 6 of the NLCS, when Anthony Rizzo’s home run off Kershaw was the final blow in a 5-0 win that sent the Chicago Cubs to their first World Series in 71 years. Speaking of over the hump!
In 2017, Kershaw and the Dodgers finally made it to the World Series, and Kershaw outdueled Dallas Keuchel in the first game at Dodger Stadium. In Game 5, he returned to the mound in Houston, and the Astros teed off on him in the 4th inning, scoring four runs while Yuli Gurriel’s homer did the most damage. It was almost like the Astros knew what pitches Kershaw was going to throw!
Things were different in 2018, because in the NLCS, Kershaw gave up a home run to an opposing pitcher for the first time in his postseason career when Brandon Woodruff took him deep in a Game 1 loss.
It’s rare for any lefty to hit a home run off Kershaw, let alone a pitcher. Right?
Kershaw and the Dodgers returned to the World Series, where their ace took the loss in Games 1 and 5, thanks in part to a very rude home run from future teammate Mookie Betts.
In the 2019 NLDS, Kershaw lost a tough Game 2 against Stephen Strasburg, so he was available to pitch in relief of Walker Buehler in the deciding Game 5. Protecting a 3-1 lead, Kershaw started the 8th inning against Washington Nationals stars Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto.
Two homers tied the game, and the Nationals won the game in extra innings and went on to win the World Series.
In 2020, we’re pretty sure the baseball playoffs were cancelled because of Covid-19, and any attempt to play during a deadly global pandemic would never have been considered a legitimate way to determine a championship. In fact, such a competition would clearly designated with something like an asterisk to distinguish it from real baseball playoffs.
Kershaw missed the 2021 playoffs with an injury, got a no-decision in his lone 2022 playoff start, then led started Game 1 of the 2023 NLDS against the Arizona Diamondbacks, healthy and well-rested from the Dodgers’ first-round bye. His defense didn’t help him out, but Kershaw gave up six runs while recording only a single out, and the Dodgers were swept.
Kershaw couldn’t pitch in last year’s playoffs due to a myriad of injuries including a torn meniscus, a bone spur in his toe, and a ruptured plantar plate. Purely coincidentally, the Dodgers won it all without him throwing a single pitch.
So here’s to a special career from a special pitcher who will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the finest (regular-season) pitchers to ever step on the mound.
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