It appeared Clayton Kershaw’s last competitive pitch in his storied career was an 88-mph slider that Nathan Lukes squibbed to second base for the final out of the 12th inning of World Series Game 3, his lone contribution but a crucial moment in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ back-to-back championships.
Not exactly. Kershaw, USA Baseball announced Jan. 16, will pitch for the stars and stripes in March’s World Baseball Classic, extending his career perhaps another appearance or two.
Kershaw, who turns 38 in March, announced in September that the 2025 season would be his 18th and last campaign with the Dodgers. His Hall of Fame resume is more than filled out: Three Cy Young Awards and one MVP, a 2.53 ERA that’s the lowest among starting pitchers in history, and 3,052 strikeouts, a milestone he passed in his final trip around the majors one year ago.
He was the last man in the bullpen for the Dodgers in their World Series run, recording that crucial out against Lukes in the Dodgers’ eventual 18-inning victory in Game 3. He was warming up to come in to the decisive Game 7 when starter-turned-reliever Yoshinobu Yamamoto induced a Series-clinching double-play ground ball, and Kershaw was perhaps the last Dodger to find out they’d won it all.
Yet he’ll get one more turn in the spotlight, on a WBC squad that features reigning Cy Young Award winners Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal. To be sure, Kershaw’s role will be more gravitas than getting outs: HIs four-seam fastball averaged 89 mph in his final season, leaving him to rely almost exclusively on his slider.
But the WBC is more than just packed-house showdowns against other global baseball powers like Japan, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. Team USA will begin play in Pool B, with round-robin games against Great Britain, Italy and Mexico. Surely there’s an inning or two in there for Old Man Kersh.
After that, presumably, it will be back to dad life in suburban Dallas, where his wife, Ellen, gave birth last month to their fifth child. Before that, though, Dad apparently has a few more pitches to serve up.