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MLB World Erupts After Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw Announces Retirement
Sep 12, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22) before the game against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

MLB World Erupts After Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw Announces Retirement

Originally posted on Fastball on SI  |  By Patrick McAvoy  |  Last updated Sep 18, 2025 4:34 PM ET

The Los Angeles Dodgers will be losing a legend at the end of the 2025 season.

Over the last few years, there have been questions left and right whether or not lefty legend Clayton Kershaw would retire. He has seemingly played it one year at a time but on Thursday he announced that the 2025 season will be his final one.

The Dodgers shared a graphic announcing the news with the following:

"Three-time NL Cy Young Award winner, 2024 NFL MVP, and 11-time All-Star Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers will announce today that he will retire as a player at the end of the 2025 season," the post read. "He will make his final Dodgers Stadium regular season start on Friday."

What a career

This is a seismic announcement. Over the last 18 years, Kershaw has been a pillar for the Dodgers. He has spent his entire career with one team -- which is very rare nowadays. He has an insane 2.54 career ERA in 452 career regular season big league appearances. He's just a legendary figure and potentially the very best pitcher of his generation. Years from now when people look back and tell the story of Major League Baseball, it will be hard to do so without mentioning the name Clayton Kershaw.

The same way that legends like Sandy Koufax, Greg Maddux, Cy Young, Nolan Ryan, Pedro Martínez, Bob Gibson, and many others are mentioned, so too, will be Kershaw's name. He'll be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when he is eligible. He has been the definition of a legendary pitcher throughout his time in Los Angeles. He's won everthing a pitcher could ever hope for, including the World Series. And will leave a massive hole not only in Los Angeles, but the baseworld world as a whole. Because of this, it's not shocking that social media erupted after the announcement hit social media.

It goes on and on. It's not every day a player of Kershaw's caliber comes around and definitely not every day that they hang up their cleats. Dodgers fans will have another chance to see him this week in the regular season and then likely again during the postseason. All in all, though, a tough day for baseball, for sure.

Kershaw was the pitcher of his generation. Now, he will attempt to go out with another World Series ring.

More MLB: Shohei Ohtani Report Will Boost Dodgers’ World Series Odds


This article first appeared on Fastball on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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