Dodgers’ Kershaw soaks in ovation in possible L.A. farewell

• Alden GonzalezSep 20, 2025, 12:07 AM ET

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  ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.

LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw’s pregame routine is famously intense and unwavering. Those who frequent Dodger Stadium, where it unfolded 227 times over the course of these past 18 years, know it almost by heart, many of them able to identify the minute he’ll walk toward the left-field line, jog out to center, stretch and play catch. But on Friday, in his 228th and final regular-season home start, something about it looked different. At one point Kershaw just sat on the grass, his arms resting on his knees, and looked around. His eyes welled up, almost as if the moment was hitting him.

“I take a couple minutes just to sit and try to breathe and, not take it in but just kind of focus a little bit,” Kershaw said. “Obviously a little bit harder tonight, a little bit harder to do that. But in a good way. In a good way.”

In what was probably the most emotionally charged outing of his career, Kershaw navigated spotty command and kept a game manageable, as he so often has these last few years, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat their longtime rival San Francisco Giants 6-3 and clinch a 13th consecutive playoff spot. Kershaw allowed two runs in the first four innings, then came out for the fifth, spotted a fastball on the lower edge of the zone, struck out Rafael Devers looking and departed to a standing ovation.

All of it seemed fitting.

“I don’t have enough gratitude and thanks and words,” Kershaw said. “I think I just need to write it all down or something. I can’t adequately express how thankful I am for tonight, this whole season, just my whole career. Just so thankful I’ve gotten to be a Dodger this long.”

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Kershaw had sent a text message to his teammates Thursday morning informing them he would be announcing his retirement later that afternoon, and Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy spent part of that day wondering whether they should stage something special for his next start. He thought about letting him come onto the field alone so the fans could salute him, then decided against it. “Nothing,” Muncy said, “would piss him off more.”

But then, moments before the 7:10 p.m. PT first pitch, seven of the Dodgers’ starting position players stayed back, letting Kershaw take the field alongside his catcher, Dalton Rushing, and soak in the applause from a sellout crowd of 53,037. Kershaw raised his left hand in the air, then playfully glared toward the third-base dugout and urged his teammates to join him.

“It was a great gesture,” Kershaw said. “I didn’t love it, but it was a great gesture.”

Three pitches in, Kershaw allowed his first leadoff home run in four years, this one to Heliot Ramos. He wound up throwing 23 pitches in that first inning, later working around a walk and an error. He did something similar in the second, issuing a couple of walks before inducing a couple of infield popups. And in the third, which featured a double by Matt Chapman and a run-scoring single by Wilmer Flores. And in the fourth, when he worked around a leadoff hit. But he limited damage.

“Wasn’t his best,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “but like he does, he just finds ways to compete, get outs and put us in a position to win a ballgame.”

Kershaw finished the top of the fourth by striking out Willy Adames, ending a nine-pitch at-bat and putting his pitch count at 86. Roberts ignored him as he came off the field, then found him in the dugout and told him he had one last hitter. It came in the form of Devers, one of the sport’s most dangerous sluggers. Kershaw retired him on his 91st pitch, resulting in his sixth strikeout of the night. Roberts spilled out of the dugout, and in that moment, Kershaw said, he felt relief.

Said second baseman Miguel Rojas: “He seemed at peace.”

Clayton Kershaw acknowledges the Dodger Stadium crowd after being removed in the fifth inning of his final regular-season home start. Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Enrique Hernandez, starting in place of Muncy at third base, congratulated him first. Rojas, Rushing, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman followed. Roberts waited at the third-base line, then shook Kershaw’s hand, gave him a hug and congratulated him on a Hall of Fame-worthy career that includes three Cy Young Awards, an MVP, 222 career victories and 3,045 career strikeouts, 1,651 of which — in the regular season, at least — have come at Dodger Stadium. Kershaw apologized for pitching poorly, then asked Roberts if he could keep the ball.

“You can do whatever you want,” Roberts recalled telling him. “It’s your night.'”

A “Ker-shaw!” chant ensued. “Bitter Sweet Symphony” played on the Dodger Stadium organ. Kershaw took a deep breath, saluted the crowd and wrapped himself in a hug as if embracing everybody else. He blew a kiss to his wife, Ellen, and their four children, made the rounds in the dugout, then came back out for a curtain call and patted his chest. He seemed to want to sit in that moment, but he couldn’t.

“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 possible feel.”

Shohei Ohtani and Betts followed with back-to-back home runs in a four-run bottom of the fifth, giving the Dodgers the lead and ultimately propelling them to a victory. Moments later, as players, coaches and staff members waited in the clubhouse for a celebratory champagne toast, Kershaw’s voice echoed throughout the ballpark as part of a postgame interview.

“I think the only thing I can say right now is just, ‘Thank you guys so much,'” he told the Dodger Stadium fans. “‘Thank you for 18 years. It hasn’t always been a smooth ride, but you guys have stuck with me.”

For parts of three different decades, Kershaw consistently thrilled those fans with dominance and frequently crushed them with postseason disappointment. About eight months ago, many of them gathered at Dodger Stadium for a World Series parade and watched as Kershaw choked up while hoisting the championship trophy. He wasn’t able to participate in the Dodgers’ title run that year, but he got to enjoy the type of celebration that had been denied to him after winning it all in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

Knee and toe surgery followed, after which Kershaw decided to return for one more season. So far, that season has seen him reach 3,000 strikeouts, attend his final All-Star Game, dominate the month of August and provide a fitting bookend to his Dodger Stadium career. The playoffs begin in a little over a week, and nobody seems to know what’s next for Kershaw.

At this point, he’s just grateful for what has already occurred.

“The Dodgers’ culture has been established long before me, and it’ll be established long after I’m gone,” he said. “That’s the cruel thing about baseball is that your career will be gone in an instant and the game keeps going. But that’s also the beautiful thing about it, too, is that this game doesn’t need anybody. I’m so grateful I got to be a small part of Dodger history for as long as I’ve been here.”