Clayton Kershaw has been with the Los Angeles Dodgers for his entire career. While he won his first title with the franchise in 2020, it was during COVID-19, which means the team never truly enjoyed the celebrations.
But, their 2024 championship was much different. It was a full 162-game season, the pandemic is gone, and the Dodgers just beat the New York Yankees in five games. That's despite numerous injuries to key arms, including Kershaw, who didn't pitch at all in the postseason.
Regardless, this one was extremely special for the future Hall of Famer and he couldn't hold back his emotions while talking at the World Series parade on Friday.
Via Alden Gonzalez of ESPN:
“I'm at a loss for words,” Kershaw, his voice cracking, told a crowd of 42,448 people. “I didn't have anything to do with this championship, but it feels like I have the best feeling in the world — that I get to celebrate with you guys!”
The Dodgers southpaw also explained how being injured allowed him to sit back and just really take in how special of a journey this was for LA:
“I think in 2020 there was like a sense of relief almost,” Kershaw said. “And this one — especially because my role is pretty limited, just to be able to sit back and enjoy it, you know? I think there's just a lot more happiness, honestly. Just so happy to be able to celebrate finally. That parade was for this season, and I feel that this season was unique in its own, and we're gonna celebrate accordingly. But 2020, too — it's a long time coming. We had a long time coming for this parade. So to be able to finally do it — I think the build-up made it even sweeter, honestly.”
Kershaw was ruled out for the playoffs with a foot injury and said Friday that he'll have surgery next Wednesday to fix the issue. The Dodgers legend has two choices in the coming days — exercise his 2025 player option or ink a new deal to play an 18th season for the team that drafted him.
The lefty only made seven starts in '24, going 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA. But when healthy, Kershaw is still a force to be reckoned with and a guy who is a mainstay in the Dodgers rotation. He's not a three-time NL Cy Young winner for nothing.
The happiness he saw around the city and on his teammates' faces at the parade hit home with Kershaw. This is truly more than just a game:
“I knew it was gonna be a special day, all the stuff, but it was a little bit more emotional than I expected,” Kershaw said. “It's a day that I'll definitely never forget. You know, baseball is just a game. Everybody says that. But I don't know, man. You look around and you see how much it means to so many different people. It might be baseball, but it means a lot to a lot of different people. I'm no different.”
LA has now won eight World Series titles.
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