Peak Clayton Kershaw inspired awe
Clayton Kershaw has turned to face the sunset, and in a few short weeks, he will walk into it, the greatest pitcher of his generation retiring a lifelong Dodger.
The silky southpaw announced his decision – to hang ‘em up after the 2025 season – last week. At 37, and with 18 seasons in the tank, Kershaw then made one last regular season home start – a Dodger win over San Francisco, naturally – en route to the playoff lottery.
This day has been coming, of course. Kershaw has gone year-by-year with the Dodgers since 2021, with injuries and family commitments factoring into annual appraisals of retirement. Nevertheless, to see the wily old fox confirm it – to conclude a stellar and storied career – still put a lump in the throat.
To watch peak Clayton Kershaw, you see, was to participate in an awe-inspiring phenomenon. Like all the great ones, when Kersh took the ball, that game became an event, appointment viewing for a masterclass in craftsmanship.
There was a golden glow to those prime Kershaw outings – a visceral sense, while watching, that the finest pitcher of his time, perhaps of any time, was entering a flow state.
Clayton Kershaw was Sandy Koufax for younger millennials. An enchanted poetry enveloped his left arm.
There was a spell, between 2011 and 2015, when Kershaw levitated on another plane. In that five-year span, Clayton went 88-33 with a 2.11 ERA and a microscopic 0.933 WHIP while winning three Cy Young Awards and a rare pitcher MVP. It was a treat to watch Kershaw pitch back then. (1)
At his best, in those sepia days of yore, there was a metronomic quality to Clayton’s domination. The repeatability of his cashmere-coated stuff, and the consistency of his elite performance, evoked an aura reserved for a chosen few.
The curveball was sumptuous, the fastball crisp. The rhythm was lyrical, the snarl gutsy. The fire was irresistible, the guile poetic.
Few pitchers ever made desperate hunger seem easier to satiate.
Few pitchers ever found more varied ways to win.
Few pitchers ever struck a finer equipoise between power and finesse.
Kershaw was reared in the power pitching panhandle, his Texas roots tethered to the hallowed lineage of Ryan and Clemens. Kershaw once had enough sizzle on his fastball to honour that heritage, and at 6-foot-4, he cut an imposing figure. But from the start, Clayton was an artist, weaving eloquent patterns that kept batters off-balance.
Technically, Greg Maddux was also born in the Lone Star State, though he grew up in Madrid, Spain and Las Vegas, Nevada. I mention Maddux because, to me, Kershaw shared a kingship – if not an outright style – with The Professor. They were both strikeout pitchers of a cerebral ilk. And if ‘a Maddux’ is colloquially defined as a complete-game shutout in fewer than 100 pitches, perhaps ‘a Kershaw’ should describe seven scoreless innings with less than five hits – Clayton’s early trademark.
All told, Kershaw finishes with 222 regular season wins against just 96 losses, a 2.54 ERA, a 1.018 WHIP, and 3,045 strikeouts in 2,849 innings. He has two World Series rings, a pitching Triple Crown and a no-hitter on his resumé. Twice, he topped 20 wins in a season, and on seven occasions, he breached the 200-strikeout plateau. (1)
Among pitchers with 2,500 career innings, Kershaw ranks fourth in K/9 ratio, second in WHIP, and 24th in WAR. By ERA+, Clayton is the greatest pitcher of all-time among those with at least 1,500 innings pitched. Ryan, Clemens, Young, Pedro Martínez and Walter Johnson lie in his wake. (2)
Kershaw debuted in 2008 and is almost peerless among pitchers who have mustered 1,000 innings since then. Only Justin Verlander has more wins in that stretch, and only Jacob deGrom has a better WHIP. Kershaw leads that cohort in WAR and ERA – credentials that support his bid to be considered the greatest pitcher of a generation. (2)
Sure, there have been other historic pitchers in the past two decades, in addition to Kershaw, Verlander and deGrom. Max Scherzer rates highly, as do Zack Greinke, Gerrit Cole and Chris Sale. But Kershaw’s claim to generational supremacy is burnished – at least sentimentally – by his singular association with the Dodgers. And besides, Kershaw would probably get the ball before all those contemporaries in a hypothetical do-or-die contest.
Statistically, there may be no greater Dodger, in fact. Kershaw leads the marquee franchise in career WAR, ahead of luminaries like Koufax, Don Sutton, Don Drysdale and Duke Snider. Jackie Robinson rightly transcends mere metrics, but Kershaw is at least in the conversation regarding the finest player to ever don one of baseball’s most prestigious uniforms. (2)
Naturally, the Koufax comparisons followed Kershaw throughout his career. The similarities were tantalising, from the lefty lilt and Cy Youngs to the MVPs and no-hitters. Koufax famously retired at his zenith, aged just 30, so his counting stats fall adrift of the all-time greats, but rarely has baseball encountered a more spellbinding pitcher. And while Kershaw may struggle to match the cultural mythology of Koufax, Clayton will soon join Sandy in the Hall of Fame – immortal Dodgers, both, cut from the very same cloth.
Undoubtedly, the second half of Kershaw’s career was upended by nagging ailments, and the lustre on his name faded with each absence. With time, many grew tired of his annual deliberation on retirement, returning to the Dodgers, or playing for his hometown Rangers in some kind of incongruous coda. But he always found his way back to Chavez Ravine. Always found his way back to relevance. We can only admire such fortitude.
Some accused Kershaw of curmudgeonly conservatism as he aged, and there is a stubborn stoicism to his worldview – on and off the mound. We saw that as he scolded teammates for forcing him to take an ovation before the Giants game. A fierce competitor, Kershaw is a superstitious sort who hates to deviate from his chosen path. That old school orthodoxy extends to his devout Christian faith, which has often informed controversial stances on LGBTQIA+ matters – the only stain on his legacy, in my opinion. (3)
Kershaw has worked tirelessly to develop a prolific charitable foundation that has raised over $23 million for at-risk children around the globe. Still, as a fan, I was personally disappointed by Kershaw’s decision to scrawl a bible verse on his cap during Pride Night in June – his citing of Genesis 9:12-16 alluding to hardline Christian attempts to ‘reclaim the rainbow’ from the LGBTQIA+ community. (4) (5)
While everyone has a right to their own faith-based opinions, I thought Kershaw was better than that, and it certainly sullied his character in my eyes. While making that point is important, I choose to remember – and to celebrate – Clayton Kershaw, the pitcher. I can count on one hand better aces in my lifetime, and few in his mould will so thoroughly dominate again.
In this addled age of high-octane velocity, the craft of pitching is an endangered art. Young pitchers today are more inclined to rear back and pump a 98-mph fastball down the middle than attempt to bob and weave, mix and match, or baffle a hitter with a prolonged premeditated sequence. Kershaw heads the final vanguard of that pitching craft, and his departure trails a certain sadness.
To the very end, indeed, Kershaw remained highly competitive. Yes, he struggled to reach the seventh inning, once his minimal basecamp. And sure, the fastball became pedestrian, the schemes easier to decode. This season, though, Kershaw is 10-2 with a 3.55 ERA and a 1.241 WHIP. In a crumbling Dodgers rotation ravaged by injury, Clayton has posted with regularity, and that revival informed his decision to retire. It felt like the right time, on the right terms, with just enough left in the tank to power a classy crescendo.
And so, attention now turns to October, as it always does for the Dodgers. Kershaw has a complicated relationship with the postseason – frequent big-game slip-ups and a 4.49 ERA offset by that 2020 World Series run. Clayton sat out as Los Angeles won another title last year, further clouding his playoff legacy. However, if he can ride off into that sunset with three glistening rings, that legacy will have a different sheen. Kersh is heading to Cooperstown, no matter what, but to do so with another championship would be icing on the Dodger cake.
Sources
1. Baseball-Reference. [Online] https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kershcl01.shtml.
2. FanGraphs. [Online] https://www.fangraphs.com/.
3. Salt, Oliver. Daily Mail. [Online] June 14, 2025. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/mlb/article-14813047/la-dodgers-clayton-kershaw-pride-lgbtq-rainbow-christian-mlb.html.
4. Kershaw Challenge. [Online] https://www.kershawschallenge.com/.
5. Cooper, Dr Kody W. Word on Fire. [Online] June 12, 2025. https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/reclaim-the-rainbow/.