LOS ANGELES (AP) — Clayton Kershaw takes the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night needing three strikeouts to reach 3,000 for the only team he’s played for during his 18-year career.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner is expected to achieve the milestone in front of his home fans at Dodger Stadium — where he has 1,627 Ks — when he faces the Chicago White Sox.
Kershaw will become the 20th pitcher in major league history to reach the vaunted mark. He’ll join Justin Verlander of San Francisco (3,468) and Max Scherzer of Toronto (3,412) as the only active pitchers with that many. Kershaw will be just the fourth left-hander in the club.
Teammate Freddie Freeman has been reminding Kershaw daily how many Ks he needs to reach the milestone even as Kershaw remains focused on trying to give the team chances to win.
The White Sox have the eighth-most strikeouts in baseball with 707, and average about nine per game.
Kershaw is making history at a time when he’s provided much-needed stability for the Dodgers’ pitching staff, which has been decimated by injuries this season.
The NL West-leading Dodgers have won his past five starts.
He is 4-0 with a 3.03 ERA going into his ninth start — two more than he made in an injury-shortened 2024 season — of the year.
Kershaw faces the White Sox seeking his 217th career victory, which would break a tie with Scherzer for second among active players behind Verlander’s 262.
The 37-year-old left-hander struggled in his first start of the season when he allowed five runs over four innings in his first start after returning from knee and foot surgeries last offseason. Since then, he has held opposing batters to a .222 average.
Age and less dominant stuff has changed the way Kershaw does his job. He knows his consistency isn’t the same but with the depth of the team’s staff, he doesn’t need to be perfect every outing.
Kershaw no longer overpowers hitters the way he did during the height of his career, but he remains stubbornly determined and possesses a craftiness honed over 18 seasons as well as a slider that can still fool.
In his prime from 2010 to 2015, he led the National League in ERA five times, in strikeouts three times and wins twice.
Kershaw had one of the best seasons ever in 2014, when he finished with a 21-3 record, 1.77 ERA and 233 strikeouts to win both the Cy Young and Most Valuable Player in the National League.
This season, the Texas-born Kershaw tied the franchise record for most seasons in Dodger blue, joining outfielder Zack Wheat and shortstop Bill Russell.
Kershaw’s wife, Ellen, and their children Cali, Charley, Cooper and Chance will be on hand. The couple recently announced she is expecting their fifth child.
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