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Dodgers cap Clayton Kershaw’s farewell with a win, clinch postseason spot – San Bernardino Sun

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Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw shows the game ball to Manager Dave Roberts before being removed during the fifth inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025, at Dodger Stadium. It was the final regular-season appearance for Kershaw, who said he will retire at the end of the season. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

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LOS ANGELES — Don’t make it weird.

That was Clayton Kershaw’s demand from his teammates, leading into his final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium. They didn’t – though Kershaw might have thought otherwise when they hung back in the dugout at the start of the game, leaving Kershaw alone on the mound to soak up one of many ovations Friday night.

But they did make it memorable.

Displaying the vulnerability of his final seasons but also the competitive will that will carry him to Cooperstown, Kershaw took the mound at Dodger Stadium for the last time – for now, perhaps forever – and gave up a leadoff home run, struck out six and survived into the fifth inning only so that Manager Dave Roberts could give him the proper exit, taking the ball from him and sending him out to a standing ovation followed by a curtain call.

That’s when his teammates did him a real solid. Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run home run followed immediately by a Mookie Betts home run in the bottom of the fifth inning as the Dodgers came from behind to beat the San Francisco Giants, 6-3.

“It was a great gesture. I didn’t love it. But it was a great gesture,” Kershaw said of his solitary moment on the field. “The guys have gone above and beyond the last few days for me. I never wanna take away from – be a distraction to the game or anything like that because obviously winning is the most important thing for us, especially right now. But that was special.

“The whole night was just special. Obviously it was a little harder than I wanted it to be. I was grinding out there, working way too hard to get people out. But thankful that I made it through what I did and kept us in the game a little bit and bullpen stepped up. Shohei’s homer, just incredible. Mookie’s homer right after, just amazing.

“It was perfect. I would’ve liked to go seven innings. But other than that it was perfect.”

Kershaw didn’t get the win, but the Dodgers did and clinched a playoff spot for the 13th consecutive season (and 15th in Kershaw’s 18-year career). They celebrated the playoff berth and Kershaw’s moment with a champagne toast, saving the spray for the division title. Coupled with a San Diego Padres loss earlier in the day, the Dodgers’ magic number to clinch the National League West division title outright is four. They also hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Padres.

“It never gets old. You never take it for granted,” Roberts said of clinching a postseason spot. “It takes a lot of hard work to get there. … That’s one step. The next step is to win this division, so we still got some work to do. And then once we do that, then we can focus on the postseason. But just to know that we earned a ticket, an opportunity, is great.”

Kershaw will make his final regular season start next weekend in Seattle and then wait to see how the Dodgers set up their postseason pitching staff.

But Kershaw’s announcement Thursday that he would retire following this season made Friday’s game crackle with the feel of a celebratory sendoff. Former teammates Austin Barnes, Andre Ethier, Russell Martin, Trayce Thompson, Jimmy Rollins, A.J. Pollock – and Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (his high school teammate) – were all on hand for the game, wearing No. 22 Dodgers jerseys. Only the balloons and sheet cake were missing from the retirement party.

“Guys from every generation of Dodger that I got to play with – from Russell to ’Dre to Barnsey, J-Roll and Trayce. And A.J. was here. Even Matthew came tonight. Just all facets of my life,” Kershaw said.

“I can’t adequately express how thankful I am for tonight, this whole season, just my whole career. Just so thankful I’ve gotten to be a Dodger this long.”

Heliot Ramos didn’t read the room.

He clubbed an 0-and-2 slider from Kershaw into the left-field pavilion to start the game. Things stayed less than storybook through four innings. Kershaw walked four batters, gave up three more hits – but only one more run.

Baserunners in every inning pushed his pitch count to 84 after four innings, more than he had been asked to throw in 14 of his previous 20 starts this season.

“I was battling, not throwing very many strikes, having a tough time getting the ball where I wanted it to go,” Kershaw said.

But Roberts sent him back out for the fifth inning, using the Giants’ next scheduled hitter, left-handed Rafael Devers, as pretext to get Kershaw to the mound one more time. Kershaw got a favorable strike three to retire Devers – the 3,045th strikeout victim of his career – and was surrounded by his teammates on the mound, Roberts pausing near the third-base line to let the moment breathe.

As Kershaw headed to the dugout, the ovation swelled and he gestured toward his family’s box, sending them hugs and kisses by pantomime. Moments later, he emerged from the dugout for a curtain call, tapping his chest and waving his hat to the crowd.

“It was cool. It was super dope, kind of unexplainable,” Betts said. “For those who weren’t there, you had to just kind of be there to really feel the emotions. I’m just happy I was a part of it and I can tell my kids that I got to play with Clayton Kershaw.”

It was an early exit from his own party, but Kershaw’s teammates sent him off with a parting gift in the bottom of the inning, a four-run burst via the Ohtani and Betts homers. Miguel Rojas – a rookie third baseman on the field for Kershaw’s no-hitter 11 years ago – added a double to his second-inning home run and scored on Andy Pages’ double in the sixth.

“It makes me remember my first start with him,” Rojas said. “It was in Colorado. It was a shorter game because it started raining. But I got my first hit, my first RBI with him on the mound pitching. I made a couple good plays at third base for him. It kind of makes me reflect on a few games that I’ve played behind him that I always got that extra motivation to kind of help him. Because he’s the best in the game.

“When the best in the game is on the mound, you kind of want to raise you level of intensity to that same level. It is pretty special, man. When you have the opportunity to play behind one of the greatest that ever takes the mound, you want to do the best that you can.”

Having ruined enough moments recently, the Dodgers’ bullpen didn’t mess with this one, allowing one run over the final four innings.

“There’s no way I could try to soak it all in tonight,” Kershaw said. “Eighteen years of memories you can’t just put into words in one night, or feel all the feels that you can possibly feel. Thankful it was a little less emotional today than it was yesterday; I think yesterday was really hard. But today was more about the game, which I was thankful for.

“I couldn’t ask for anything more. Just a great night.”



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