In mid-February, Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers agreed to a one-year deal. Without doubt, lots of fans expected to see Kershaw back to the Dodgers. And he did agree to a contract with the Dodgers.
It will be Kershaw’s 18th season with the Dodgers. He has done a lot of great things so far in his career. However, he only made 7 starts and tossed 30 innings in 2024. In 2025, he might not be on the Opening Day roster since he underwent toe and knee surgeries during the offseason. Nonetheless, for the Dodgers fans, there is still something to expect in the 2025 season.
Firstly, Kershaw already threw 2742.2 innings so far in his career. Hall of Famer Roy Halladay tossed 2749.1 innings. Kershaw only needs 7 innings to surpass Roy Halladay’s number. Additionally, Dazzy Vance tossed 2757.2 innings for the Dodgers, which ranked 4th most in franchise history. Kershaw needs 15 innings to reach Vance’s number. Moreover, if he throws at least 57.1 innings this season, he will reach 2800 innings.
In addition, Kershaw already threw 2968 strikeouts in his career. He’s the all-time strikeout leader in the Dodgers franchise history. He needs 32 strikeouts to join the 3000-strikeout club. At the same time, CC Sabathia threw 3093 strikeouts in his career and Sabathia’s 3093 strikeouts rank 3rd most by a left-handed pitcher. If Kershaw throws more than 125 strikeouts in 2025, he will surpass CC Sabathia to move up to the top 3 in most strikeouts by a LHP in MLB history.
Thirdly, Kershaw now has 212 wins in his career. In the Dodgers franchise history, Don Sutton earned 233 wins for the team. The 22 needs 22 wins to surpass Sutton. Well, Kershaw never earned 22 wins in a single season by far in his career. So, in the short-term, he might not reach this milestone.
Finally, let’s take a look at games played by a pitcher in franchise history. Kershaw threw in 432 games thus far in his career. In the Dodgers franchise history, Ron Perranoski tossed in 457 games. Kershaw needs to pitch 25 games to reach Ron Perranski. Well, Kershaw is a starter and the last he made more than 25 starts in a single season was in 2019. Back then, he made 29 starts.
The 2024 season wasn’t an easy one for Kershaw. He only tossed 30 innings. Looking at his career, there are only 2 times that he didn’t throw at least 100 innings in a single season. The first time was in 2020, which was a shortened one, and the other time was the last season. In the 2025 season, it’s still unknown when Kershaw will be back on the mound. Nevertheless, the most important thing for him is to stay healthy. If he’s able to make 10+ starts and throw 100+ innings, it will be possible to see him join the 3000-strikeout club, which lots of Dodgers fans are looking forward to seeing. Also, there shouldn’t be a huge problem to see him surpass Hall of Famer Roy Halladay in innings pitched.
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