The Major League Baseball career for Clayton Kershaw is complete. He retired after winning the 2025 World Series with the Dodgers, his third ring. He does have one last box to check off and that’s winning the championship with Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. He’s on the 2026 roster for his swan song.
“Feels good,” he told the Los Angeles Times Monday. “I wouldn’t put on a uniform for anything else. This is a special thing.
“It’s a bucket list thing for me.”
Could that bucket list include facing his former teammate, Japan’s Shohei Ohtani? Not if everything’s going according to plan.
“I can’t imagine, if it comes down to USA versus Japan, with the arms that we have, that I’ll be needed,” the southpaw said. “But I’ll be ready.”
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He’s right. The Team USA rotation means it’s likely either Paul Skenes or Logan Webb starting that hypothetical game, while the relief corps features David Bednar, Griffin Jax and Mason Miller at the back end.
Of course, Kershaw also mixed in some humility and humor on the question as well.
“I think, for our country’s sake, it’s probably better if I don’t,” Kershaw said on possibly facing Ohtani, one of the best hitters in the world.
Kershaw retired with a no-doubt Hall of Fame résumé. Across 18 seasons, he went 223-96 with a 2.53 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 3,052 strikeouts in 2,855 ⅓ innings. He won three Cy Youngs, an MVP, five ERA titles and three rings. He was an 11-time All-Star. He’s also just about to turn 38 years old with all sorts of tread on that body. He appeared to run out of gas down the stretch last season with a 6.00 ERA in a four-start stretch in September and his stuff is greatly diminished from his all-time great prime.
I agree with Kershaw. Let’s not see that matchup against Ohtani.
