Clayton Kershaw is having the best send-off you could possibly imagine.
After having announced in September that he would be retiring from baseball at the end of the 2025 season, he and his Dodgers won the 2025 World Series in an extra-innings Game 7, perhaps the most thrilling and exciting way to go out.
Then, on Monday, he and L.A. got to celebrate their second consecutive ring with a huge championship parade that culminated in a massive rally at Dodger Stadium, where Kershaw, a Dodger his whole career, took a moment to address a massive and rabid crowd of fans. Given the significance of both the moment and the win, it was, of course, an emotional appearance.
"I'm gonna try not to cry today," the pitcher started, really setting the tone. "But I don't know if that's going to work. I'll try not to make it weird. Thank you. Thank you for 18 years. Thank you for showing up and watching us play for the last 18 years. And thank you for being here for me and my family and supporting us," he said to the crowd, before turning to his team.
"And thank you, my teammates, you guys are the best in the world. You guys are the best team in the world, and you've been the best team in the world for as long as I remember. Last year, I said I was a Dodger for life. And today, that's true. And today, I get to say that I'm a champion for life. And that's never going away."
"So thank you for this moment. Thank you to my teammates for this moment. Thank you to this organization for this moment right here. I will remember it for the rest of my life."
Kersh soon ended things on an anticipatory note for next season: "I know they're gonna get one more next year, " he said, to cheers, "and I'm gonna watch just like all of you."
Watch those full comments below:
Clayton Kershaw is a champ for life 🫶 pic.twitter.com/EMReUsEmno
— MLB (@MLB) November 3, 2025
Speaking after Game 7 on Saturday, the three-time Cy Young Award winner, 11-time All-Star and now two-time World Series champion made clear that this fairytale ending wasn't lost on him.
“It’s not a sad feeling. It really isn’t,” Kershaw said. “I mean, how cool is this? I will forever for the rest of my life be able to say we won Game 7 of the World Series in the last game I ever played. You can’t script that. You can’t write it up. Even if I was not throwing 88 (mph), I still would be done. It’s just the perfect way to end it.”
Kershaw recorded his final out during the 12th inning of the series' marathon Game 3, at which point the Dodgers called upon him with two outs, the score tied, and the bases loaded. It was then that he did what he did best and induced a crucial groundout to keep things going.
You really couldn't draw it up any better; Kershaw knows that. And we're glad he got another chance back at Dodger Stadium on Monday to more appropriately say his goodbyes.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as An Emotional Clayton Kershaw Held Back Tears Addressing Dodgers Fans, Teammates at Rally.
