Kershaw to retire after 2025 season with Dodgers

Clayton Kershaw, the Los Angeles Dodgers' longtime ace and three-time National League Cy Young Award winner, announced on Thursday that he will retire at the end of the 2025 season. The Dodgers said Kershaw, 37, will make his final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium on Friday against the San Francisco Giants and will address reporters at a televised press conference Thursday evening at the ballpark.

The announcement caps an 18-year major league career spent entirely with the Dodgers, who selected Kershaw with the No. 7 pick in the 2006 draft. On behalf of the team, owner Mark Walter praised Kershaw for "a fabulous career" and his charitable work, saying the left-hander's "truly legendary career" will lead to induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Kershaw is widely expected to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when he becomes eligible in six years.

Kershaw leaves as the Dodgers' career leader in strikeouts and among the franchise leaders in longevity. He finished the regular season with a career record of 222-96 and a lifetime ERA of 2.54, with more than 3,000 career strikeouts after reaching the milestone earlier this year. This season he has been a key contributor despite...