The air at Dodger Stadium was electric last night, charged with the energy of a sellout crowd of 53,037. It was a night that felt less like a baseball game and more like a collective farewell to a legend who had defined an era. The crowd, many were wearing his No. 22 jersey, was there to witness Clayton Kershaw’s final regular-season home start. The cheers began with his longtime warm-up song, We Are Young by Fun, and continued with prolonged standing ovations that followed his every move. This was the culmination of a career marked by unwavering loyalty, an 18-year journey spent entirely with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Just a day prior, at a crowded press conference, Kershaw had announced his retirement at the end of the season. His voice choked and he wiped away tears, but he maintained that he was really at peace with his decision. His family, including his tearful wife Ellen and four children, were present to share the profound moment. His legacy was about more than statistics; it was about the man who had become the heart of the franchise. As manager Dave Roberts noted, in a world where players take the easy way out, Kershaw’s loyalty to a single uniform was a rare and highly respected value.
On the field, his statistics place him among the greatest to ever play the game. He won three Cy Young Awards, was named the 2014 NL MVP, and secured two World Series championships. His career 2.54 ERA is the lowest of any pitcher in the live-ball era since 1920, and his 3,000 career strikeouts are considered a surefire ticket for Hall of Fame enshrinement. His storied career stood in stark contrast to his final performance, where he gave up a home run to the very first batter. His final line was far from a storybook ending, but it highlighted a veteran who, even with his velocity dipped in recent years, still possessed a fierce competitive fire that drove him to compete and get outs.
While the night belonged to the retiring legend, the victory that clinched the Dodgers’ 13th consecutive postseason berth was secured by the breathtaking talent of a different kind of legend. Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani hit a towering three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth, providing the Dodgers’ first lead of the night and a crucial part of the team’s 6-3 victory.
Ohtani’s season has been an unending highlight reel of historic accomplishments. He achieved a feat that has no precedent in MLB history: a 50-homer, 50-strikeout season. Just a week away from the end of the regular season with 52 home runs and 54 strikeouts as a pitcher, an unheard-of combination of power and pitching prowess. He also became the first player to join a different and equally improbable 50-50 club: 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases. This is particularly remarkable because, as baseball analysts explain, home runs and stolen bases are negatively correlating attributes, meaning a player who is great at one is typically not great at the other.
The narrative of these two pitching legends — Kershaw, the seasoned veteran, and Ohtani, the dynamic superstar — converges through a shared history of physical vulnerability. Both have battled significant pitching injuries that have complicated their careers. For Kershaw, a toe injury limited him to just seven starts and a career-low 30 innings pitched in 2024. For Ohtani, his path has been even more physically demanding, marked by two Tommy John surgeries and other recurring ailments. It is this shared thread of physical fragility that makes a speculative postseason strategy both a logical and emotionally compelling possibility: the idea of using Kershaw in relief of Ohtani in the playoffs.
This concept is born out of a very real and pressing problem for the Dodgers: their unstable bullpen. The Dodgers’ relievers have thrown more innings than any other team in baseball, and their collective ERA ranks a pedestrian 19th in the league. This weakness has led manager Dave Roberts to openly consider unorthodox solutions. Ohtani, who has struggled with arm health and has been limited to shorter starts since returning from surgery, has publicly stated that he is willing to pitch out of the bullpen in the postseason to help his team.
He has already proven his mettle in a high-leverage relief situation, closing out the World Baseball Classic championship game with a strikeout of his former Angels teammate, Mike Trout. This willingness to set aside personal preferences frames his story as one of profound humility, a trait he shares with Kershaw, who has consistently demonstrated a willingness to do “whatever it takes to have us win the World Series again”.
Here’s the thing, folks: The most significant hurdle to this plan, however, is the DH Rule. This rule allows a two-way player to serve as both a starting pitcher and a designated hitter without forfeiting the DH spot. However, if Ohtani were to enter a game as a relief pitcher, he would have to finish the game on the mound, or the Dodgers would forfeit their designated hitter and lose his bat for the remainder of the contest. This logistical puzzle adds a high-stakes layer of risk and turns the idea into a dramatic tactical gamble.
With that… The night of Kershaw’s final home start was more than just a farewell; it was a potent symbol of a team in transition. The game, which clinched the team’s postseason berth, provided a poetic microcosm of the past, present, and future. It began with the legendary pitcher, visibly struggling with the physical limitations of age. He fought through his start, but ultimately, the new generation had to take over to secure the victory.
If you cannot play with them, then root for them!