SEATTLE — It was one final batter. One final strikeout. One final ovation for a future Corridor of Famer.
And it ended, fittingly, on one final swing-and-miss.
Within the high of the sixth inning on Sunday afternoon, within the closing regular-season outing of his illustrious 18-year profession, Clayton Kershaw snapped off a trademark slider that ducked under the zone. Eugenio Suárez helplessly waved at it like so many others earlier than him.
With that, Kershaw had his seventh strikeout of the day and the three,052nd of his profession. He had accomplished 5 ⅓ scoreless innings en path to his 223rd profession win, reducing his profession ERA to 2.53 — the perfect amongst any beginning pitcher with 1,000 profession innings within the dwell ball period (since 1920).
Within the dugout, supervisor Dave Roberts shortly motioned to veteran first baseman Freddie Freeman. As Kershaw’s final profession begin got here to an finish, Roberts wished certainly one of his fellow celebrity teammates to be the one to take away him.
“To have the ability to take, for my part, the best pitcher of our technology out of his final regular-season begin,” Freeman mentioned, “I feel that is likely to be up there as certainly one of my favourite baseball moments that I’ve had.”
When Freeman acquired to the mound, he exchanged an embrace with Kershaw, who additionally hugged the remainder of his infield teammates. He jokingly requested for the ball, a request Kershaw declined as he stored it in his grasp.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw embraces his teammates as he will get lifted from Sunday’s recreation in opposition to the Seattle Mariners.
(John Froschauer / Related Press)
Then, the 37-year-old walked off the sphere for maybe the ultimate time; donning his cap to a cheering T-Cellular Park crowd, providing a grateful wave as he disappeared into the dugout, and taking a second for himself on the bench on the finish of his 445th MLB outing.
“I’m so grateful for all of it,” Kershaw mentioned of the receptions he has gotten since asserting his retirement two weeks in the past. “Dodger Stadium final week was fairly superb. To have the ability to stroll off that mound to that ovation is one thing I’ll always remember. And right now was actually particular, too. So I couldn’t ask for something extra. It’s been a tremendous 10 days, two weeks.”
“Now,” he added, forward of what is going to be his closing postseason, “we are able to all flip our focus to beating the Reds.”
Whereas the Dodgers accomplished their common season with a 6-1 win in opposition to the Seattle Mariners — which included Shohei Ohtani setting a brand new personal-best and single-season membership file along with his fifty fifth dwelling run, breaking the excessive marks he set final 12 months — the Cincinnati Reds snatched the Nationwide League’s closing wild-card spot, setting a best-of-three wild card collection at Dodger Stadium beginning on Tuesday.
Kershaw is not going to be a part of the crew’s roster for that collection, Roberts introduced earlier than the sport.
Thus, the Dodgers (who completed the season 93-69) should win at the least two extra video games for Kershaw to doubtlessly pitch on a significant league mound once more.
“I nonetheless really feel like I can get individuals out this subsequent month if I have to,” Kershaw mentioned, earlier than cracking a smile: “After which, I don’t have to do this anymore.”
The choice to go away Kershaw off the wild card roster isn’t stunning.
He was not going to characteristic within the beginning rotation for the collection, with Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Ohtani lined up for the three video games (Roberts mentioned Snell is a “good wager” to pitch Recreation 1). And although Kershaw may have been an choice within the bullpen, the Dodgers have already got an abundance of left-handed relievers.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw and catcher Ben Rortvedt, heart left, stroll to the dugout after working the fifth inning in opposition to the Seattle Mariners.
(John Froschauer / Related Press)
If the Dodgers do advance, Roberts famous, Kershaw will stay in consideration for a roster spot in subsequent rounds and will assist out in any capability.
“I can see him beginning a recreation. I can see him coming in for a brief burst. I can see him in lengthy aid,” Roberts mentioned. “I don’t suppose anybody can predict how that’s gonna play out. We gotta get by means of the wild card collection, and see who’s standing after that.”
If that is the top of the road for Kershaw, nonetheless, he’s going out on his personal phrases.
After being restricted by accidents for a lot of the previous three seasons — together with lacking all of final 12 months’s World Sequence run with toe and knee accidents that finally required offseason surgical procedure — the three-time Cy Younger Award winner determined to return to the Dodgers this season for one final crack at a championship chase.
Even within the twilight of his profession, he wound up delivering certainly one of his most impactful performances. Over 23 outings, he posted an 11-2 file, a 3.36 ERA, and offered a gentle veteran presence that helped the Dodgers overcome early-season rotation accidents and survive a second-half stoop that almost value them the division.
“Being wholesome, making each begin, that’s what I wished to do,” Kershaw mentioned. “I didn’t need it to be due to an damage that I ended enjoying, or to be as a result of I simply couldn’t get anyone out anymore. This was good. It actually was. It was the right strategy to do it.”
