Author: rincon

Clayton Kershaw ended his illustrious 18-year career unaware that he’d just won the World Series again.

At least at first.

The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 in 11 innings in Game 7 on Saturday night to become the first team in a quarter century to win consecutive championships.

But that was news to Kershaw initially.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner was warming up in the bullpen and had lost track of the outs when Alejandro Kirk grounded into a game-ending double play with runners at the corners.

“When he hit the double play, I thought the run scored and it was tied. I had no idea. I thought I had the next batter,” Kershaw said, laughing.

It was left to Dodgers bullpen catcher Josh Bard to let Kershaw know the game was over and they had won.

“Bardo was there and he looked at me, he said, `We just won the World Series’ and I was like, `Are you sure?’”

The 37-year-old left-hander announced in September his plans to retire after this season.

He said at his locker Saturday night that he couldn’t have asked for anything more. Kershaw spent his entire career with the Dodgers and won three World Series rings. He became one of the greatest pitchers of his generation and one of Los Angeles’ most beloved athletes of the 21st century.

“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.”

The three-time Cy Young Award winner made a clutch appearance out of the bullpen in the 12th inning of Game 3, a 6-5 victory that stretched 18 tense innings.

“You can’t script that, either. I’m thankful to get out there and get that last out,” he said. “That’s so cool.”

In his prime from 2010-15, Kershaw led the National League in ERA five times, in strikeouts three times and wins twice.

He has already earned a place alongside Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Don Newcombe and Fernando Valenzuela among the greatest pitchers to wear Dodger Blue.

Kershaw had one of the best pitching seasons ever in 2014, when he finished 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA and 233 strikeouts to win both the Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards in the NL.

Kershaw built his reputation with a pitching style that relies on deception, movement and velocity changes. He has said he modeled his mechanics after his favorite childhood pitcher, Roger Clemens.

The 11-time All-Star is tied with Zack Wheat and Bill Russell for the most years playing with the Dodgers. Kershaw also won World Series championships in 2020 and 2024.

He has a career record of 222-96 and 15 shutouts, most among active major leaguers. He threw his only no-hitter in June 2014 against Colorado.

His 2.54 ERA is the lowest of any pitcher in the live-ball era since 1920, and his winning percentage tops all pitchers with at least 200 victories since 1900.

Kershaw said he’s been offered a job by Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman.

“He mentioned something where I can hang out,” Kershaw said. “I don’t know what that looks like, but this is a special organization and they don’t need me to win World Series — that’s obvious. But if there’s anything that I can do in the future to be a part of it, I hope that’s the case.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Before Freddie Freeman joined his teammates in the Dodgers‘ clubhouse to celebrate winning his second consecutive World Series, he stopped to talk to FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal about all the emotions he was feeling after an electric Game 7.

The prevailing feeling? Joy — not for himself, but for his teammate.

“I’m just so happy Clayton Kershaw is a three-time champ,” Freeman, a three-time champion himself, said.

Ever since Kershaw announced his intention to retire at the end of the season in September, the Dodgers have had hopes of sending the 37-year-old ace off on a high note as a champion. Not only did they deliver on that goal, but they did it in dramatic fashion.

“How can I script it any better?” Kershaw told the MLB on FOX desk. “That’s the last time I’ll ever play a baseball game. Game 7; extra innings; I get to be out there, run on the field and celebrate with my teammates. I’m just so thankful, man. My cup is overflowing.”

Kershaw didn’t make an appearance in Saturday’s series-deciding Game 7, but there was a moment he thought might have to step out onto the mound one last time.

“I had my back turned to it, I had no idea we had one out,” Kershaw said. “I was warming up and then, sure enough, double-play-turned-game-over. But I think I might have had the next batter right there.”

Thanks to some extra-innings heroics from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, it didn’t come to that. Instead, Kershaw got to watch from the dugout as his teammates closed out the series.

“For it to end tonight like this, I don’t really have words for it,” Kerhsaw said. “I’m just so honored. It’s unbelievable.”

Kershaw was able to get his World Series sendoff, however. In the 12th inning of Game 3, Kershaw came out of the bullpen with the bases loaded and the score even at five runs a piece. Kershaw got the save, and the Dodgers went on to win in the 15th inning, 6-5.

“To win a third World Series with this group of guys, to get the last out of an inning in the 12th inning was just stuff that you couldn’t even script.”

Of course, Kershaw won’t look back on some of his other postseason outings with the same fondness, but as he looked back at his career one final time from behind the MLB on FOX desk, one word came to mind: grateful.

“I’m grateful for all of it,” Kershaw said while being serenaded with “Hall of Fame” chants from the visiting fans at Rogers Centre. “Good times, bad times, injuries, bad starts, bad postseasons … this is beyond my wildest expectations for a baseball career.

“What a way to end it.”

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One person who further established their Dodgers legacy during this postseason: Dave Roberts.

The Dodgers manager won his third World Series championship on Saturday night, and he drew plenty of praise from his players and the former players on the MLB on FOX broadcast desk.

“You know what makes a great manager?” Derek Jeter said. “Someone who trusts their players. Even when the outside world doesn’t, they trust their players. He knows. He takes the temperature of the clubhouse, he knows how players feel, he has more information than everyone else, and what Doc does is, he puts his players in a position to be successful.”

Roberts had to push more buttons than ever this postseason because of the struggles that the Dodgers bullpen has had.

The Dodgers had six pitchers appear in Game 7, and four of those were their starting pitchers from this series. Roberts had to lean heavily on those four, as well as new closer Roki Sasaki.

“Ultimately,” Jeter said, “it’s up to the players to do the job, but he puts them in a position to be successful and he pushed all of the right buttons.”

Jeter wasn’t the only former player on the desk who had high praise for Roberts. Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz both agreed with him, and there was also high praise that came from Freddie Freeman and Clayton Kershaw.

“You’ve got to give it to Doc Roberts,” A-Rod said. “Now, he’s a three-time World Champion, and it now cements him as a Hall of Fame manager.”

“Put him in Cooperstown,” Rodriguez added.

Roberts just finished his 10th season as Dodgers manager, and he is about to get his third World Series ring. He has a career win percentage of .621 in the regular season and has won 100 games five times.

Roberts signed a four-year extension with the Dodgers before this past season that made him the highest-paid manager on an annual basis in MLB. According to Ortiz, the team needs to make that deal longer.

“If I’m the Dodgers ownership, I would give Dave Roberts a very long-term deal,” Papi said. “He knows that ball club better than anybody that I’ve ever seen. He moves his players in a type of way that it seems like he knows the future … that’s why they’re the world champions today.

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Shohei Ohtani has done just about everything in baseball now. That includes two World Series titles and likely on his way to his fourth MVP of his impressive career.

But the two-way superstar is still amazed by his Dodgers teammate and Japanese compatriot Yoshinobu Yamamoto. 

After Saturday’s Game 7 win over the Blue Jays, Ohanti had high praise for Yamamoto and his incredible performances that earned him the 2025 World Series MVP. Yamamoto won both of his starts during the Fall Classic: a stellar six-inning showing in Game 6 that came after a complete-game masterpiece in Game 2.

Yamamoto followed it up with an amazing 2 2/3 innings of one-hit ball in Game 7 of the World Series, which the Dodgers won 4-3 in 11 innings.

“I have no idea how he pulled it off … I really believe this. I think he is the No. 1 pitcher in the whole world,” Ohtani told the MLB on FOX crew through his interpreter.

But Ohtani’s performances throughout the series shouldn’t be discounted. Along with starting Game 7, he had two hits in the win. After getting on base nine times with two home runs in the 18-inning Game 3 win, he turned right around the very next day and started Game 4 on the mound.

“The 18-inning game was tough because I wasn’t able to sleep, and I was on base a lot. That was a tougher one,” Ohtani said. 

In all, an amazing postseason run that had MLB on FOX analyst Alex Rodriguez asking for Ohtani’s autograph.

“Everything was so fun … Both sides, their team, our team. I think we had an amazing game. It was something I can only image,” Ohtani said. 

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