Clayton Kershaw announced that he will be calling it quits after this season.
Kershaw, 37, will make his final regular season start tomorrow for the Los Angeles Dodgers against their storied rivals the San Francisco Giants.
The Texas-born southpaw is a first ballot Hall of Famer. Entering action tomorrow night, Kershaw has a career record of 222-96 with a 2.54 ERA (more on that in a moment). Earlier this season, he collected his 3,000th career strikeout. Kershaw has K'd 3,039 against only 708 walks. Ferguson Jenkins and Curt Schilling are the only other pitchers with 3,000 plus strikeouts and fewer than 1000 bases on balls. Then there are 11 NL All-Star Team selections, 3 NL Cy Young Awards and a NL MVP along with a World Series ring in 2020 and a no-hitter in 2014 (the same year he won both the NL Cy Young & MVP honors).
For me, the most astonishing thing on Kershaw's resume is his career winning percentage of .698. This places him fourth on MLB's all-time list. Ahead of Kershaw on the list are Spud Chandler (.717), Ray Brown (.721) and Al Spalding (.794).
Now Spalding pitched in the 1870s under far different conditions then prevail today. One season Spalding logged 617.1 innings pitched recording 52 wins. Spalding pitched more innings in 7 seasons than Kershaw has in 18 seasons (2886.1 vs. 2844.2). Brown and Chandler, on the hand, pitched during the 1930s and the 1940s. Brown pitched most of his career with the Homestead Grays in the Negro National League while Chandler spent his entire 11-year MLB career with the New York Yankees earning 6 World Series rings and an AL MVP in 1943.
Both Brown and Chandler had over 100 career complete games whereas Kershaw recorded 25. However, Kershaw has logged nearly as many innings as Brown and Chandler have combined. That is what makes Kershaw's winning percentage so remarkable. He managed to sustain that level of success for nearly 20 years.
It remains to be seen if Kershaw will be on the Dodgers' post-season roster. Either way, I hope Kershaw makes his final regular season big league start a memorable one.
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