Shaikin: How the Dodgers’ new minor league team in Ontario came up with its name

On Thursday, the Dodgers’ new minor league affiliate in Ontario revealed its name: the Tower Buzzers, a nod to the film “Top Gun” and with the mascot named for Tom Cruise’s character, Maverick. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

You can say you are building a ballpark, but the anticipation accelerates when the community sees what the ballpark might look like. For the city of Ontario and its architects, the rendering of its minor league ballpark included a team name.

A placeholder, that is. The new team owners did not yet own the team. The name would come later. The Dodgers’ California League team would not move in until 2026.

On that drawing last year: the Ontario Sky Mules, with a whimsical logo of a grinning donkey wearing sunglasses and flying a prop plane. It was, frankly, awesome.

It was the essence of the minor leagues. Don’t know what a sky mule is? Hardly anyone knew what a trash panda was, either, and the Trash Pandas are one of the hottest brands in the minors.

This year, the newly hired team staff dropped hints about the actual name, about the buzz in town. On the walls of the team offices: “Cleared for Takeoff.” The city referenced ballpark fan zones nicknamed “The Airfield” and “The Tarmac.”

And, just last week, the biggest hint of all: the announcement of a naming rights deal with Ontario International Airport, close enough to the ballpark that you’ll be able to see flights take off. The ballpark name: ONT Field (spell it out: O-N-T, like LAX).

On Thursday, eight months in advance of its first game, the team finally revealed its name: the Ontario Tower Buzzers.

It’s an homage to the movie “Top Gun,” and to the defiant line uttered by the pilot played by Tom Cruise: “It’s time to buzz the tower.” The Tower Buzzers’ mascot, a bee called Maverick, is named after Cruise’s character.

The team name balances heritage and whimsy. The city is paying for the ballpark and wants to promote its airport, which was used as a World War II air base before reverting to civilian use and expanding into an Inland Empire transportation hub.

“We want to honor that legacy and have fun with it,” Tower Buzzers general manager Allan Benavides said. “We found something we think is a fun minor league name, rather than just, say, Pilots or Aviators.”

“We want to honor that legacy and have fun with it,” Tower Buzzers general manager Allan Benavides, standing in front of a rendering of the team’s new stadium, said of the name. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The Aviators? Already in use in Las Vegas. The Pilots? The name of a failed California League team in Riverside (the college landlord wouldn’t allow beer sales, which is akin to a death sentence in the minor leagues).

The Tower Buzzers should fare better, in a ballpark that figures to be the second-best place to see a ballgame in Southern California, behind Petco Park and ahead of Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium.

The city’s latest cost estimate is $120 million, for a Class A ballpark. The stadium that opened this year for the Angels’ triple-A affiliate in Salt Lake City cost $140 million and holds 8,000.

ONT Field is expected to hold 6,500 — but with 3,200 seats between the foul poles, and the rest wherever you prefer: in the outfield, on the grass, in picnic areas, on a playground, or in bars, clubs and suites, including a couple where you can converse with the players.

There’s an ice cream parlor, a food hall, and a bar shaped like a luggage carousel. After a home run, the splash pad will erupt, and propellers will whirl in a bar. A runway will light up, and so will the antennas on the mascot.

The scoreboard is a hexagon, just like the one at Dodger Stadium. Soon to appear: a mural of Fernando Valenzuela. All fans, not just the ones in the fancy seats, can watch players in the batting cage.

On the afternoon I visited, the temperature was 108 degrees. The seating area will not have mist machines, as the Angels’ old California League stadium in Palm Springs did.

“It won’t be 108 at 7 o’clock,” Benavides said.

His target audience: the “30-year-old moms” that he said control the calendar and the spending for the family.

“Not everybody is a baseball fan, but they want to have time,” he said. “They want to be away from their cellphones and the TV and be outside, not spend a ton of money, and not have to drive to L.A. or San Diego.”

Crews work on the construction of ONT Field in Ontario last month. The team last week announced a naming rights deal with Ontario International Airport.

Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

The Angels’ California League affiliate will play in Rancho Cucamonga, eight miles away. Another California League team plays in San Bernardino, 25 miles away. The Angels themselves are 35 miles away.

“We’re going to fight for dollars, certainly, but I think our affiliation with the Dodgers is huge,” Benavides said. “They’re the hottest brand in baseball, depending on who you ask. I’m a Dodger fan, so I think they are.

“And I think this will be the nicest minor league stadium in the country, regardless of classification.”

If the Tower Buzzers do not win that fight for dollars, Ontario’s investment in the ballpark could turn out to be a poor one.

The ballpark is the anchor of what the city is modestly calling the Ontario Sports Empire, a 200-acre facility for training and competition billed by the city as the “largest sports complex of its kind west of the Rocky Mountains.”

There absolutely is a market for sports tourism, for all those kids and all their parents shuttling to weekend tournaments in baseball, softball, football, soccer, tennis and more. But that market can be tapped without a nine-figure investment in a minor league ballpark. (The naming rights payments come from airport revenues, not city taxpayers; the airport is administered jointly by the city and San Bernardino County.)

That ballpark investment is more about a local entertainment option for residents, with so many homes in the pipeline that the population could double from close to 200,000 to about 400,000 within two decades. The NHL’s Kings already have a minor league affiliate playing in the city’s arena, and city officials plan for restaurants, hotels and shops to surround the ballpark and sports complex.

Dan Bell, a city spokesman, said Ontario is adding about 1,200 new homes every year.

“And they’re reasonable,” Bell said. “You can’t afford the L.A. market anymore.”

On Thursday, at the moment the team announced the Tower Buzzers name, the team merchandise went on sale. The home jerseys say Buzzers.

So is it Buzzers or Tower Buzzers? It’s like Blazers or Trail Blazers.

“We’ll let fans decide,” Benavides said.

I still wondered about the homage. When the Tower Buzzers take the field next year, “Top Gun” will turn 40. To a fan of a certain age, the reference is obvious. It would be like opening a pizza delivery service and calling it Spicoli’s.

To a younger generation, “Top Gun” might mean a blank stare. No worries, Benavides said. You’ll be able to enjoy a night at the ballpark all the same.

“We’re not going to 100% lean into that film,” he said. “This isn’t going to be a ‘Top Gun’ museum.”

Well, then, Tower Buzzers: You are cleared for takeoff.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Mets’ Kodai Senga struggles in second start with Triple-A Syracuse since demotion

Kodai Senga made his second start with Triple-A Syracuse since being demoted and was effective until he wasn’t. The Mets‘ right-hander pitched against Lehigh Valley.

In the first inning, Senga allowed a leadoff single to Johan Rojas before getting back-to-back pop outs. Rojas stole second, but Senga did not let it deter him, as he got Christian Arroyo to fly out to end the inning.

Senga’s second inning of work was the opposite, as he got the first two batters out (strikeout, lineout) before Rodolfo Castro hit a two-out single. Senga got through the frame by striking out Payton Henry swinging on five pitches, the last being a forkball in the dirt. The third was an uneven inning for Senga, who hit the first batter he faced but got a double play to erase the runner before allowing his third single of the game. Senga would get an inning-ending lineout to get him through three.

The fourth inning is where Senga really struggled. After the first two runners got on base (single, walk), Senga struck out the next batter, but Castro hit a ground-rule double that knotted the game at 1-1. He bounced back, getting Henry swinging at a curveball, but a wild pitch allowed Lehigh Valley’s second run to score and Erick Brito singled to put the IronPigs ahead, 3-1.

A five-pitch walk later, Senga was pulled after 81 pitches (46 strikes). Douglas Orellana, the pitcher in relief of Senga, walked the next two batters to push across the fourth run charged to the Mets hurler.

It was an up-and-down start for Senga, who could not get out of the fourth inning. His final line saw him pitch 3.2 innings, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks while striking out four batters.

It’s a far cry from his first start with Syracuse on Sept. 12, when Senga allowed one run on three hits over 6.0 innings (74 pitches) with eight strikeouts and no walks.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza praised Senga’s lack of walks in his first start before the big league club’s series finale against the Padres on Thursday. But he didn’t say he was a lock to be a part of the playoff roster.

“I wouldn’t say definitely,” Mendoza said. “I think we’ll have the conversations and we’ll take the best 13 guys that we feel are going to give us the best chance to win baseball games in October. In the meantime, we got ten more and we’ll continue to treat it that way.

“I like the fact that there was no walks last time when he pitched in Triple-A,” Mendoza said. “Getting ahead, using all of his pitches. He got swing and misses with the split. I think it starts with him throwing strike one and then staying on the attack.”

Plaschke: Clayton Kershaw’s Dodgers greatness will forever make him an L.A. icon

Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw celebrates after striking out Tommy Pham during a game against the New York Mets in April 2023. Kershaw announced he will retire at the end of the season. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

He came to town as a quiet Texas kid charged with carrying Hollywood’s team.

For 18 years, in greatness and in grief, through sweet dreams and bitter despair, he did exactly that.

He was splendid. He was awful. He set records. He ruined seasons. He was passionately embraced. He was loudly booed.

For 18 years, Clayton Kershaw pitched through the gamut of emotions as both a hero and a villain, moments of euphoria addled with spells of despair, picturesque summers disappearing into the wicked wilds of October.

But carry the Dodgers he did, with courage and dignity and grace, and in the end, he will be surrounded only by love, a deep and abiding roar of affection from a city to a simple man who willed himself into legend.

Clayton Kershaw announced Thursday he is retiring at the end of this season.

The greatest Los Angeles Dodger ever is leaving the building.

He is more enduring than Sandy Koufax, more accomplished than Fernando Valenzuela, more impactful than any hitter in the team’s 67-year history in Los Angeles.

He is not only the greatest Dodger, but also resides at the top of a list of the greatest athletes in Los Angeles history, joining Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant as Hall of Famers who spent their entire careers with one Los Angeles team and left behind a legacy that indelibly altered their franchise’s culture.

The golden era of Dodger baseball, 11 West Division titles in 12 years, two World Series championships? It is a glory that carries the shade of one man, his teammates following Kershaw’s daily leadership into a place that looks and feels like his unrelenting glare.

The Dodgers are unselfish? That’s Kershaw. The Dodgers are accountable? That’s Kershaw. The Dodgers have the strength to rise out of what seems like constant adversity? That’s Kershaw.

That he is retiring now is not a surprise. He’s been talking about it for several years. He’s 37, his beard has turned gray, he’s battled all sorts of injuries, and he’s no longer a cornerstone of the rotation.

But that he is ending his career while pitching so well is a huge surprise. His fastball crosses the plate in slow motion, but he is still able to junk it up enough to go 10-2 with a 3.53 ERA including going 5-0 with a 1.88 ERA in August.

He can still battle. He can still compete. And while there will be much emotion surrounding his final home start Friday against the San Francisco Giants, he could pitch again during the postseason, making an emergency start or even pitching out of the bullpen.

How great would it be to see him finish strong in October? It is his resilience in October that has defined his career here. Although he has one MVP award, three Cy Young awards, 222 wins and 3,039 strikeouts, those aren’t the numbers that many people will remember.

A 4.49 ERA in 39 postseason appearances, those are the numbers.

That’s the failure that Kershaw endured, that’s the stain that he once felt, those are the results that actually certify his greatness.

Clayton Kershaw receives a standing ovation from fans during a game against the Milwaukee Brewers on July 20. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The St. Louis Cardinals shelled him. The Houston Astros cheated him. The Washington Nationals rocked him. And two years ago, in his most recent postseason start, gritting through a severely injured shoulder that should have kept him off the mound, the Arizona Diamondbacks shelled him for six runs before he could get two outs.

Yet he never complained about the injury. He never made excuses for anything. He never griped that he was pitching on short rest, or pitching with a bum arm, or pitching with a terrible offense and an untrustworthy bullpen.

He kept imploding in the postseason, yet he kept coming back, year after year after year. He never let his failures own him, he never let them even slow him, until he finally overcame his curses by going 4-1 with a 2.93 ERA in a 2020 World Series run that ended with a championship win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

When the Dodgers clinched that title, Kershaw was seen staring up into the heavens, thankful that redemption was finally his. He was injured last year and didn’t pitch in the postseason, but he was part of that team nonetheless, giving him two titles that all but fulfilled his career.

He had one more personal goal, though, and he reached it this summer by becoming only the 20th player to record 3,000 strikeouts.

After that game, a win over the Chicago White Sox in early July, the stoic Kershaw finally acknowledged the chills of spending his entire career with one team, and the impact of his journey.

“I don’t know if I put a ton of stock in being with one team early on,” Kershaw said that night. “It’s just kind of something that happened. Over time, I think as you get older, and you appreciate one organization a little bit more — the Dodgers have stuck with me too. It hasn’t been all roses. I know that. There’s just a lot of mutual respect, I think. I’m super grateful now, looking back. To say that I’ve spent my whole career here and I will spend my whole career here — I have a lot more appreciation for it now.”

The appreciation is mutual, and Kershaw will surely hear it in these final days.

The greatest Los Angeles Dodger ever is leaving the building amid a farewell roar that will live here forever.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Mets vs. Nationals: 5 things to watch and series predictions | Sept. 19-21

Here are five things to watch and predictions as the Mets and Nationals play a three-game series at Citi Field starting on Friday at 7:10 p.m. on SNY.

5 things to watch

Is this an audition for Brandon Sproat?

Sproat, who gets the start on Friday night, has been impressive over his first two big league starts, allowing just three runs in 12.0 innings while walking four and striking out 10.

And he was unscored upon in his last outing, when he fired 6.0 innings of shutout ball against the Rangers at Citi Field.

If the Mets reach the postseason, the expectation is that Nolan McLean will be a lock to start one of the games in the Wild Card Series. The other start or two? That’s up in the air.

Kodai Senga could possibly make a start, but he could also be left off a potential postseason roster. Meanwhile, David Peterson — who was touched up for six runs on Wednesday — has a 5.23 ERA in 65.1 innings spanning 12 starts in the second half of the season.

That potentially leaves a possible piggyback outing from Clay Holmes and Sean Manaea, and a start for Sproat as the other most sensible options in the Wild Card Series.

There’s also the possibility Sproat could be used as a late-inning reliever, with the club badly in need of a reliable righty to help bridge the gap to Tyler Rogers and Edwin Diaz.

The Nolan McLean Show

McLean has been phenomenal since debuting, with a 1.19 ERA and 0.98 WHIP in 37.2 innings over six starts. He has allowed just 25 hits while walking 12 and striking out 40.

And what’s been just as impressive as McLean’s filthy arsenal has been his poise on the mound, his ability to pitch deep into games, and how he has quickly righted the ship and battled through outings where he doesn’t have his best stuff.

He enters Saturday’s start with a groundball rate of 62.9 percent and having allowed just one home run.

If things stay on track, McLean would possibly be lined up to pitch again next Thursday against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, which could theoretically set him up to pitch Game 1 of the Wild Card Series the following Tuesday — should the Mets be there.

The Mets’ offense should feast

The Nationals are a very bad baseball team.

They have the third-most losses in baseball (ahead of just the Rockies and White Sox), and have allowed the second-most runs in the majors (ahead of only the Rockies). The Nats also have the second-worst run differential in the sport, ahead of just the Rockies.

New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the second inning against the San Diego Padres at Citi Field. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Put it all together and this should be a field day for a Mets offense that has been hit and miss this season — but has looked better lately.

Cade Cavalli and Mitchell Parker are expected to get starts in this series, while MacKenzie Gore is not.

What’s the plan for Sunday?

Manaea was placed on paternity leave before Thursday’s game, meaning it’s possible he won’t be able to pitch on Sunday.

The expectation had been that he and Holmes would again piggyback.

Asked before Wednesday’s game if Manaea could still pitch on Sunday, Carlos Mendoza was unsure, noting that if Manaea is able to throw while he’s on leave that he could potentially be ready.

In a world where Manaea can’t go on Sunday, the Mets might have to lean heavily on the bullpen behind Holmes.

The out-of-town scoreboard

The Mets will enter play on Friday still leading the Diamondbacks, Giants, and Reds in the race for the third and final wild card spot in the National League.

As the Mets battle the Nats, here’s what their closest competitors will be doing:

Diamondbacks: vs. Phillies for three games
Reds: vs. Cubs for four games
Giants: at Dodgers for four games

Predictions

Who will the MVP of the series be?

Pete Alonso

Alonso has been heating up power-wise

Which Mets pitcher will have the best start?

Nolan McLean

It’s McLean until proven otherwise

Which Nats player will be a thorn in the Mets’ side?

CJ Abrams

Abrams is Washington’s most formidable threat

Lakers star LeBron James ‘not hinting’ at retirement just yet, despite picking up a new hobby

As LeBron James prepares for his 23rd season in the NBA, whispers of him walking away from the game and into retirement have become louder.

James set the record straight recently on “360 With Speedy,” during his tour of China for Nike. He was asked about retirement and hinted at calling it a career soon after fans noticed him picking up a new hobby, playing golf.

“I’m not hinting at anything,” James said. “Obviously, I know I’m on the other side of the hump, for sure. Come on now, I’m not about to play another 23 years, that’s for damn sure, and I’m not about to play another 10. I’m definitely gearing up to where the end is, I’m not there yet.”

At 40 years old, James has played more NBA seasons than anyone in the history of the league other than Hall of Famer Vince Carter, who also played 22 years. If James plays the 2025-26 season as expected, he’ll have played longer (23 seasons) than any other player to ever step on an NBA court.

The number 23 has been an important part of James’ career. It’s the number James has worn for most of his time in the NBA; he’s entering season No. 23, and the reason he’s currently touring China as part of the “Forever King” promotional campaign is to celebrate James’ soon-to-be-released 23rd Nike sneaker.

While the four-time NBA champion and MVP has picked up new hobbies, he doesn’t sound like a guy who’s ready to hang up the sneakers.

“Listen guys, every time I pick up something new, it does not mean retirement,” James explained. “It’s just something I want to do, just a little hobby. But retirement is coming, it is coming. It’s just not here just yet.”

Even at 40 years of age, James is still one of the best players and most recognizable faces in the NBA. Last season, James averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game on 51.3% shooting from the field. James also made nearly 37.6% of his 3-point attempts last year, which is the fourth best of his career, and played in 70 games. James even finished sixth in MVP voting last season.

Although the clock is running down on the LeBron James era in the NBA, he’ll get his shot at making a few more great moments as the league calendar gets started later this month with the opening of training camps.

Lakers star LeBron James ‘not hinting’ at retirement just yet, despite picking up a new hobby

As LeBron James prepares for his 23rd season in the NBA, whispers of him walking away from the game and into retirement have become louder.

While the four-time NBA champion and MVP has picked up new hobbies, he doesn’t sound like a guy who’s ready to hang up the sneakers.

Mets’ Pete Alonso ‘locked in’ after fourth straight game with home run sets tone in series-deciding win

Mets first baseman Pete Alonso‘s fourth straight game with a home run set the tone for New York in Thursday’s 6-1 victory against the Padres, a series-deciding result that saw manager Carlos Mendoza‘s group (79-74) take 2 of 3 from San Diego (83-70) and hold the NL wild card’s third spot by at least two games with nine regular-season contests left.

“He’s locked in,” Mendoza said of Alonso, whose two-out solo shot to center field off Randy Vásquez in the first inning put the Mets on the board at 1-0. “And when he’s doing things like that, he can carry a team. We know he’s a streaky hitter. We’ve seen it when he gets cold. And then when he gets hot, man, he gets on one of those streaks that he’s pretty dangerous. And right now, where we’re at — if we get that type of Pete Alonso, our offense obviously will benefit from it, of course.”

Alonso, whose 1-for-2 afternoon at Citi Field included a third-inning walk and seventh-inning sacrifice fly that capped the Mets’ 6-1 lead, is slashing .270/.345/.526 with 37 home runs and 121 RBI through 153 games.

“I mean, I’m just happy that I’m seeing stuff to hit in the middle of the zone,” Alonso said. “With that being said, getting those pitches in the heart of the plate, not missing them, is big. I just want to keep having quality at-bats and stay in every pitch and just capitalize on mistakes.”

With a trio of three-game series left on the regular-season schedule, led by this weekend’s set against the Washington Nationals and Friday’s 7:10 p.m. opener on SNY, Alonso appears to be rounding into form for the Mets’ postseason push.

“You always want to play your best baseball at the end of the year,” Alonso said. “And if we can continue to do that — it’s not about how you start, it’s not about how things happen in the middle, it’s about how you finish. If we keep continuing to stay within ourselves and do the best we can and execute, then we’re going to be in a really good spot.”

Mets Notes: Piggyback game saves bullpen for series clincher; Brandon Nimmo’s home run

The Mets picked up a crucial 6-1 win over the San Diego Padres on Thursday, clinching a series victory and getting them closer to stamping their spot in the postseason.

While young starter Jonah Tong was dominant and the offense — led by Brandon Nimmo‘s three-run homer — led the way, it was the bullpen that stood out and helped seal the win and the series.

Often maligned for its inconsistencies, outside of closer Edwin Diaz, four arms — including Diaz — shut down a high-powered Padres lineup to just two hits in four shutout innings. Tyler Rogers, Brooks Raley, Gregory Soto and Diaz each pitched an inning with the closer — having not pitched since Sunday — picking up two strikeouts in a ho-hum 1-2-3 ninth.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was asked about the bullpen and whether the piggyback situation on Tuesday, which saw Clay Holmes start and pitch four innings and Sean Manaea finish off their win, pitching the final five innings, helped save the bullpen for Thursday’s series finale.

“It always helps,” he said. “When I’m trying to be aggressive, taking the ball from the starters, when you know you’re set up with the guys, you’re trying to piece it together. But it was good to see those guys get the job done. Rogers against the top of the lineup in the sixth, Raley, Soto, and then Sugar finishing it there. It was good to see.

“We’re going to continue to rely on those guys, but yes, having the piggyback situation on Tuesday, not having to use any of those guys, puts you in situations like this where you’re able to win series.”

Sep 18, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets left fielder Brandon Nimmo (9) hits a three run home run against the San Diego Padres during the third inning at Citi Field. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Nimmo for three

The Padres had just tied the game at 1-1 when the Mets came up to bat in the bottom of the third. A Juan Soto groundout pushed across Francisco Lindor to give back the lead for the Mets. After Pete Alonso walked to put runners at the corners with one out, Padres manager Mike Shildt pulled starter Randy Vasquez for southpaw Wandy Peralta to face Nimmo.

Peralta got ahead of Nimmo in the count, 1-2, when he threw an 87 mph changeup that rode in on the Mets outfielder. However, Nimmo pulled his hands in and got the barrel of the bat on the ball and launched it over the right-center field wall for a three-run shot. That blast put the Mets up for good and after the game, he spoke about his approach in that at-bat.

“[Peralta’s] very tough on lefties, great relief pitcher for a long time now,” Nimmo said. “Just trying to get a job done, find the barrel to the ball and usually the way you do that is by getting him in the strike zone, and I was able to do that there and get the job done with two strikes. Just trying to keep things simple…sometimes you come through, sometimes you don’t.

“You miss all the shots you don’t take. Trying to go up there with a good plan, and we were able to execute and do something big there and get more done than I went up there hoping for.”

Nimmo’s blast in the third was the 24th of the season, tying a career-high he set back in 2023. It’s the seventh game this season that Nimmo has driven in three or more runs in a game and he has now hit safely in 25 of his last 31 starts.

Nimmo’s outfield assist

Before his heroics at the plate, Nimmo made a pretty big play in the outfield.

Tong found himself in some early trouble in the first inning, giving up back-to-back one-out singles to Luis Arraez and Manny Machado. However, on Machado’s hit, Nimmo threw to Lindor, who quickly pitched the ball to Jeff McNeil at second base to apply the tag on Machado, who was trying to stretch the hit into a double.

“Able to get Manny at second and putting the pressure back on them and not make it so easy with second and third there, it definitely does change momentum in a game,” he said. “Glad to be a part of that, Francisco and Jeff executing the play, glad we can help out there.”

Tong was able to get out of that jam by striking out Jackson Merrill to leave Arraez stranded at third base. The young right-hander was able to coast from there, allowing one unearned run through five innings and striking out a career-high eight batters.

Clayton Kershaw to retire, will make final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium on Friday

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw will retire at the end of this season, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced Thursday.

The 37-year-old left-hander who got his 3,000th strikeout in July will make his final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium on Friday night against the San Francisco Giants.

The 11-time All-Star and 2014 NL MVP is in his 18th major league season, all with the Dodgers, which ties him with Zack Wheat and Bill Russell for the most years in franchise history. Kershaw won World Series championships in 2020 and 2024.

“On behalf of the Dodgers, I congratulate Clayton on a fabulous career and thank him for the many moments he gave to Dodger fans and baseball fans everywhere, as well as for all of his profound charitable endeavors,” Mark Walter, team owner and chairman, said in a statement. “His is a truly legendary career, one that we know will lead to his induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame.”

Kershaw has a career record of 222-96 and 15 shutouts, which lead active major league players.

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’s decision was not unexpected. He has struggled with injuries in recent years and began this season on the IL while recovering from offseason surgery. He didn’t pitch until May, but proved to be a stalwart when the rotation was hard-hit by injuries.

In 2024, Kershaw was forced to end his season in August because of a toe injury that limited him to seven starts and just 30 innings with a 2-2 record and a 4.50 ERA, all career lows.

Kershaw is one of three active pitchers with 3,000 strikeouts, along with former teammate Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. Kershaw could be the last pitcher for a while to reach the milestone — often considered a surefire ticket for Hall of Fame enshrinement. Kershaw would be eligible for Cooperstown in 2031.

He missed the entire postseason, including the Dodgers’ World Series win over the New York Yankees. That spurred him to return this year for what many had speculated would be his final season.

As great as he’s been during the regular season, he’s endured his share of heartache in October. He has a 4.22 ERA in the postseason.

His teammates often cite his work ethic between starts as inspirational, and he is a commanding, if quiet, presence in the clubhouse.

Frequently tabbed as one of the greatest pitchers of his generation, 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.

As his velocity diminished in recent years, he found ways to compensate by adapting his approach.

Kershaw is one of the better fielding pitchers and before the National League added a designated hitter, he was known as a decent hitter, too.

He made his big league debut on May 25, 2008.

Kershaw won’t be bored away from the field. He and his wife, Ellen, have four children, with a fifth on the way. His oldest son, Charley, has a locker in the Dodgers clubhouse next to his father. The couple has done humanitarian work in Africa and Los Angeles.

He spends the offseason in his native Dallas, where he and Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford were teammates on their high school football team.

How Bryan Woo has emerged as the Mariners’ anchor with the help of his superpower: a nearly unhittable four-seam fastball

It took some time for Bryan Woo to discover his superpower.

Today, Woo’s outlier skill — a four-seam fastball that consistently flummoxes hitters — is on full display every time the right-hander takes the mound for the Seattle Mariners. It’s a pitch that is amplified by his impeccable command, a level of precision enabled in part by perhaps the smoothest delivery in the sport.

“First time I saw him in a game was in Double-A, and nobody could figure out the fastball,” teammate Bryce Miller said. “And they still can’t.”

Miller is correct: Opponents are hitting just .152 against the pitch in 2025, the lowest mark for any starting pitcher’s four-seamer in MLB. Its 28.6% whiff rate ranks behind only the heaters of Garrett Crochet, Zack Wheeler and Hunter Brown among qualified starters.

On a staff loaded with accomplished arms, Woo has emerged this season as the Mariners’ most dependable starter as they try to claim the franchise’s first division title since 2001. His streak to begin this season of 25 starts with at least six innings pitched and two or fewer walks was an MLB record, surpassing a mark set by Hall of Famer Juan Marichal in 1968.

Now fully actualized, Woo’s special fastball has done wonders for the 25-year-old in just his third major-league season. But the development of this singular heater was a relatively slow burn.

‘I had one-and-a-half pitches in college’

A pitcher and infielder at Alameda High School just outside of Oakland, Woo matriculated a few hours south to Cal Poly with hopes of continuing to play both ways in college. But the Mustangs’ coaching staff had other ideas.

“I didn’t want to pitch only,” Woo recalled. “I wanted to be an infielder or two-way player. I tried to ask, like, ‘Hey, can I take some reps in the fall?’ and they kind of gave me the ‘Yeah, we’ll figure something out.’ You get to school, and of course, you don’t get anything.”

Upon accepting his fate as a full-time pitcher, Woo bounced between the bullpen and rotation with Cal Poly. A couple of summers in the Alaska Baseball League drew a modicum of scouting interest. He began to stand out somewhat relative to his peers, but the results were poor.

“I wasn’t very good,” he said. “I had one-and-a-half pitches in college: four-seam, no two-seam. My slider was not great.”

Indeed, Woo’s ERA was 6.49 in 69⅓ innings across three seasons at Cal Poly.

“Everything was very old-school — pitch down in the zone, to the corners … and get ground balls,” he remembered. “And so I thought that my stuff just wasn’t that good, and I just had to really spot up to get outs.”

The shoddy run prevention provided Woo minimal confidence about his pro prospects. And with an elbow injury cutting short his junior season and necessitating Tommy John surgery, the chances of his being selected early in the 2021 draft felt slim.

The Mariners, however, were intrigued. They saw Woo as a potential hidden gem. Bloated ERA be damned, Seattle wasn’t just willing to invest in Woo at the early stages of his rehab; the Mariners were ecstatic to do so. Trent Blank, the team’s director of pitching strategy and a key part of the pitching infrastructure, was insistent Seattle select Woo, going as far as to say he would draft the unproven mid-major pitcher who just had elbow surgery first overall.

What now looks to be spectacularly prescient seemed absurd at the time. But Blank saw a pitcher whose uncommon athleticism and silky-smooth movement on the mound could portend massive improvement once he was fully healthy and under the tutelage of Seattle’s renowned pitching development apparatus. And so, when Woo was still on the board in the sixth round, Seattle pounced at pick No. 174, giving him a $318,200 bonus to sign.

‘It doesn’t look like he’s even trying to throw hard’

Even before he was healthy enough to pitch again, Woo started to learn why the Mariners were so enthralled by his potential.

“They have a presentation for you about your stuff and how it plays and what they wanted me to work on,” he recalled. “They’re like, actually, your fastball plays like this, your slider does this … and I didn’t know, like, metrics and analytics and stuff. I had to kind of learn that stuff after getting drafted, too. All of it was a little bit of a learning curve.”

Once finally back on the mound, Woo began to realize that his approach to pitching in college had been completely obscuring his greatest strength. With an unusually low release height and the unique mobility to move down the mound with ease, Woo’s four-seam fastball was a nightmare for hitters specifically when thrown at or near the top of the zone, but he’d been aiming for lower targets in search of grounders.

It helped, too, that the rehab process prioritized throwing fastballs as he built back up before reintroducing secondary offerings into the mix. As a result, Woo was able to remaster his four-seamer fairly quickly, especially with the new knowledge of how and where best to deploy it.

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“That was the one I learned the fastest how it was going to play. I was still trying to figure out slider shapes and the changeup and how I wanted those to look and to work,” he said. “But the fastball was the one that kind of came to fruition clearly the quickest, of like, ‘OK, I know that this is going to play at the top of the zone.’”

As Woo quickly climbed the ranks, teammates and coaches in the organization were exposed to his aesthetically pleasing mechanics and notably impactful fastball. Woo and Bryce Miller, who was selected by Seattle two rounds earlier in 2021, became fast friends. But because of Woo’s rehab timeline, the two weren’t teammates until they opened the 2023 season with Double-A Arkansas.

“I didn’t realize he threw like he did until he got to Arkansas,” Miller said. “That’s the first time I’ve seen a guy that has that low of release height, with the [vertical movement] on the fastball. It’s really smooth. And you watch him from the side, it doesn’t look like he’s even trying to throw hard. [But] it’s still 95-98 [mph].”

Arkansas is also where Woo introduced a new co-star to his arsenal: a fastball of the two-seam variety, also known as a sinker. He had proven his ability to rack up whiffs with his four-seamer and improved slider, but as the quality of the opponent improved, he was in search of another weapon to induce weak contact and enable quicker, more efficient innings. The sinker did just that — and gave Woo the necessary boost to earn his first major-league call-up after just nine Double-A starts, skipping Triple-A entirely.

Blank’s optimistic outlook turned out to be spot-on. Less than one year after his first professional outing in the Arizona Complex League, Woo was in the big leagues, debuting on June 3, 2023.

‘It was heater or bust’

Pitching coach Pete Woodworth likes to stand in the batter’s box during bullpen sessions to get an up-close perspective on how his pupil’s pitches are performing. The first time he stepped in to get a better look at Woo was eye-opening.

“Standing in on Woo’s four and then two … the difference in those two pitches, how much they moved and how well he can tunnel them — I had never really seen that before,” Woodworth said. “Luis [Castillo] is similar, but Woo’s just this really easy, smooth delivery, and then just an absolute cannonball shot — and one went this way, and one went that way.”

While throwing both variations of fastball is currently en vogue across the league, Woo takes it to an extreme. Four-seamers (47.5%) and sinkers (25.5%) account for 73% of his total pitches thrown in 2025, by far the highest rate of such offerings in tandem of any MLB starting pitcher.

The fastballs will likely always be Woo’s core competency, but his recent progress with the rest of his arsenal has fueled his breakout this season. With him having just about mastered his fastball usage in games, the days between his starts are focused on everything else.

“He just threw a pen, and it was probably 75% secondaries,” Woodworth said. “He practices those pitches and builds the confidence in those in between starts. In the game … you lean on the heaters, but he’s shown the ability to go to his secondaries in big situations and make big pitches, which he hasn’t really been able to do in years past. It was heater or bust.”

Added Woo: “[It’s about] knowing my strengths and pitching to my strengths always, but raising the floor of the secondary pitches and consistency with those so that I can use them when I want and use them in the areas and the spots that I want … so that it allows me to come back to what I do well with the fastballs.”

Rotation-mate Logan Gilbert has watched as Woo’s gains made in practice settings manifest in games.

“The breaking balls have gotten better,” he said. “He’s working on the changeup, too. It’s always been pretty good, but I feel like he’s making some progress there this year. The fastball has always been elite … and he’s using both of them really well this year. And I feel like he knows situations that are good for two-seams, four-seams, how to mix them together, keep hitters off-track, on that kind of stuff.

“I’ve noticed him purposely finding times to take those shots, which I think is really useful, especially heading into the playoffs, heading into teams that can game-plan really well or eventually get to the heater, even if it’s really, really good. I think that really helps second, third time through, [when] you need to make a pitch at the end of the game and not having thrown five sliders all game and then you need to put one under the zone. He’s finding those times to take those shots when he hasn’t had to — because he could always go to the heater.”

‘It’s created a lot of angry hitters’

To Gilbert’s point, as Woo continues to round out his repertoire, the four-seamer remains the moneymaker.

“It looks like he’s just throwing BP out there, and it comes out 96-97 [mph],” shortstop JP Crawford said. “I’m sure everyone who faces him is like, ‘Dude, how am I missing this?’ It just makes everyone frustrated.”

“He has some good deception in the sense of, you know, he’s so smooth, and it comes out so easy that you don’t think it would get on you like that, and it does,” said catcher Cal Raleigh, who has been behind the plate for 51 of Woo’s 69 major-league starts. “You can just tell by swings — guys feel like they’re seeing it, and they’re not. It’s created a lot of angry hitters.”

Woo’s combination of a lower release height and a fastball that carries as much as his does gives the illusion to hitters that the ball is rising as it approaches home plate.

“It looked like it was here, but it was, like, up here every single time,” an astonished Mookie Betts said on his podcast last season after facing Woo for the first time. “I knew he was good, but seeing it … whew, golly.”

Said Gilbert: “Even if they’re seemingly on time, they’re swinging in the wrong spot, just because it stays up so long.”

Given such unusual characteristics, Woo’s four-seamer was a difference-maker even before its velocity was above-average. But the added tick this season has taken the pitch to a new level.

“The difference between draft day and today is it’s much harder,” Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said. “When he first joined the organization, it would settle around 93-94 and have the same impact, but now he’s doing it at [95-97], and it just makes it that much harder to catch up with. He’s always had precision with his fastball. He can hit any one of the four quadrants from a low angle, and when you can dot up-away, up-in from that lower slot, it’s almost an impossible pitch to track.”

Empowered by the knowledge that his stuff is plenty good enough to get pro hitters out, Woo has embraced the Mariners’ mantra of dominating the zone, as epitomized by his record-setting streak of lengthy outings with so few free passes.

“The efficiency in the strike zone that’s required to do that … from start one to 25, he never got off the throttle,” Dipoto remarked of Woo’s streak. “And even in the inning where it would get away from him … an inning where it gets away from Woo is like a 22-pitch inning. He only has it every now and then. And when he has that 22-pitch inning, you know, there’s a two-inning stretch coming that’s going to be about 22 pitches and gets him back on track.”

Indeed, Woo’s 4% walk rate since the beginning of last season is tied with teammate George Kirby for the lowest mark among pitchers with at least 300 innings thrown over that span. And Woo’s 57.9% zone rate is the highest among qualified starting pitchers in 2025.

“I think it also says something about his self-confidence,” Dipoto said. “He’s so brave in the strike zone. He’ll just attack. We preach this as a philosophy to incoming pitchers for all the time he’s been a Mariner. Same with Logan, same with George, same with Bryce. And [Woo] is the one who just said, ‘I’m in.’”

Woodworth echoed that sentiment.

“Confidence,” he said of the key to Woo leveling up in 2025. “Just knowing that you not only belong but you can be a monster in this game.”