Clayton Kershaw’s Retiring, Relive His Career By The Numbers

Clayton Kershaw is one of the best pitchers Major League Baseball has ever seen. 

On Thursday, the long-time Dodgers starter announced he will be retiring at the end of the 2025 season. He will make his final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium on Friday when the Dodgers host the San Francisco Giants. 

Here’s a look at the numbers behind Kershaw’s legendary career.

1a: Kershaw is No. 1 on the Dodgers’ all-time strikeouts list. He has 3,039 Ks, and will presumably increase that amount with two regular-season starts remaining. He led the MLB in strikeouts in 2014 with 301, the one season he surpassed 300. 

1b: Kershaw has won one MVP award. It came the same season he won his third Cy Young, in 2014. In that season, he had an unfathomable 21-3 record, and led MLB with a 1.77 earned run average and six complete games.  

1c: Kershaw has one career no-hitter, coming on June 18, 2014 against the Colorado Rockies. He struck out 15 batters in the game, which remains his career-high (he duplicated that feat on Sept. 15, 2015 in a win over the Giants). 

2: Kershaw has two World Series rings (2020, 2024) even though he is only credited with being on the 2020 squad. The Dodgers awarded him a ring for the 2024 campaign despite sitting out the second part of the regular season and the entire postseason with a toe injury.

3: Kershaw won three Cy Young Awards — in 2011, 2013, and 2014. That was one of the most dominant stretches in his career as he had the best ERA in MLB for four straight seasons. He also won 21 games in both the 2011 and 2014 seasons, leading the National League in wins both those years.

4. Kershaw led the majors in ERA four times, and it came in consecutive seasons — in 2011 (2.28), 2012 (2.53), 2013 (1.83), and 2014 (1.77). In 2014, he allowed just 39 earned runs over 27 starts. 

11: Kershaw earned 11 All-Star nods, including an appearance in 2025. 

222: Kershaw recorded 222 wins in his career, and could add to that number with two starts remaining this season. That ranks second among current MLB starters, behind just Justin Verlander. 

301: Kershaw’s season-high in strikeouts is 301. He reached that mark in 2014 when he won both the Cy Young and MVP, and it was the only season that he surpassed the 300-mark. 

3,039: Kershaw’s career strikeouts, which puts him at 20th on the all-time list. Among active players, Kershaw trails Justin Verlander (3,543 K’s) and Max Scherzer (3,483 K’s). 

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