Friday night was an emotional one for the Los Angeles Dodgers, as legendary southpaw and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw was making his final career start in the regular season, against division rival San Francisco Giants, no less, after he announced earlier this week that he would be retiring at season's end.
Kershaw has been in the middle of a resurgent year, and he certainly had the quality left to pitch another year if he wanted. But the Dodgers legend is calling it quits come the end of the year, and there's no better way for him to go out in the regular season than to bring his team to the postseason yet again for the 13th consecutive season and the 15th time in his illustrious career.
The Dodgers sealed a 6-3 win over the Giants on Friday, moving their record to 87-67 on the season, officially clinching a playoff spot in the process. The Cincinnati Reds, currently the team that's closest to the New York Mets in the NL Wild Card race, own a record of 78-76 at the moment, so even if the Dodgers lose out, they will still be in the postseason.
Kershaw's workload has been managed by the Dodgers all year, so there's no surprises whatsoever that he pitched only 4.1 innings before Dave Roberts decided to go to the bullpen. This start was not very good for Kershaw's usual lofty standards, as he allowed two runs on four hits while striking out six (against four walks). But considering how much mileage Kershaw has on his arm at age 37, him being able to pitch at this high of a level is nothing short of impressive.
Now, with a postseason berth locked up, Kershaw will now look to help the Dodgers end his career on the highest of notes — winning another World Series title, which would be his third.
Clayton Kershaw's Dodgers legacy is everlasting
No one can rag on Kershaw's legacy now that he's a two-time World Series champion. He did have his fair share of nightmare postseason outings, especially in the mid-2010s. But there may not be a greater model of consistency from the mound than him in his 18 years in the big leagues, and he deserves to be remembered for his elite play that spanned over a decade.
Kershaw ended the season with a win-loss record of 10-2 in 21 starts (106.1 innings) with a pristine ERA of 3.55. He struck out just 77 batters this year, with his strikeout rate being the lowest of his career, but the Dodgers veteran is getting the job done every which way — making his legacy with the team that much more everlasting when he never suffered such a precipitous drop-off in his level of production.
