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Alden Gonzalez
clayton kershaw He may not have thrown his last pitch, after all. Major League Baseball announced Thursday that Kershaw has committed to pitch for Team USA in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, the international tournament that will ultimately serve as the final farewell to his Hall of Fame career. WBC starts on March 4.
“I just want to have an insurance policy,” Kershaw told MLB Network. “If somebody needs relief or they need me to pitch back-to-back-to-backs or if they don’t need me pitching at all, I’m just there to be there. I just want to be a part of this group. I’ve learned a long time ago, you just want to be a part of great things. This team seems to be a really fun, amazing group. All these coaches that I’ve played with are good teammates, good friends of mine, so it’ll be really fun.”
Kershaw, who will turn 38 in March, previously announced he would retire at the end of the 2025 season, which ended in a second consecutive championship for him Los Angeles Dodgers. His final appearance came in Game 3 of the World Series, when he came out of the bullpen in the 12th inning with two outs and the bases loaded and kept the save. toronto blue jays Scoreless, helping his Dodgers pick up the win after six innings.
Kershaw worked with extremely limited material in 2025, but was still effective, going 11–2 with a 3.36 ERA. As the postseason developed, he was essentially an emergency option if the Dodgers needed someone to absorb innings. This is also expected to be his role for Team USA, which has stocked its roster with some of the game’s most impressive starting pitchers.
fellow starter Paul Skenes, tariq skubal, logan webb, joe ryan, nolan mclean And Clay Homes Also committed to pitch for Team USA during the World Baseball Classic, although they will all be on a strict pitch count as the tournament takes place in the middle of spring training.
When Kershaw initially got the call from Team USA manager Mark DeRosa about the WBC, he thought it would be for a coaching role.
“I honestly had no interest in playing baseball again,” Kershaw told MLB Network. “But I started throwing up 10, 12 days ago, and it doesn’t feel terrible. So I think I’ll be OK.”
Kershaw was set to pitch in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, but had to opt out because he could not find anyone to insure his contract, possibly due to his long injury history.
