the k is for kershaw kountdown continues - nattys iced edition!

clayton kershaw made his seventh appearance of the 2025 season friday night against the nationals at dodger stadium, so i am pleased to be able to post another edition of the k is for kershaw kountdown as we track his progress to the 3,000 strikeout milestone.

coming off his best start of the season, kershaw went five innings, allowing two runs and striking out four nats in the process. those 4 k's he recorded bring his season strikeout total to 24, and his career total to 2,992.

in honor of his performance, here are four cards (not seen on this blog before) from my collection to represent strikeouts number 2,989 through 2,992.

2,989 - 2023 topps chrome refractor

2,990 - 2023 topps chrome pink refractor

2,991 - 2023 topps chrome prism refractor

2,992 - 2023 topps chrome sepia refractor

yes, i was waiting for a four-strikeout game so i could show these four refractor parallels in the same post.

kershaw's night included allowing two solo homers to account for the nationals' runs against him, and he allowed three other hits and walked a pair to go with his four strikeouts. one of the home runs was hit by old friend (two-time old freind) amed rosario who is hitting .385 when facing kershaw. regardless, the dodger bullpen was able to hold on to the lead, and kershaw was credited with his third win of the season, and third in his last three starts.

here is a non-kershaw cards - it's a 2023 topps miguel rojas royal blue parallel

rojas and kershaw have history - rojas made a nice defensive play during his first stint as a dodger to preserve kershaw's only career no-hitter back in 2014. on friday, rojas doubled and homered behind kershaw, with his home run accounting for the game winning rbi as the nationals were able to give the dodgers a scare before falling 6-5.

kershaw is still in 20th place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there unless he passes john smoltz (or is himself passed). smoltz has a career strikeout total of 3,084 and so kershaw is now 92 k's behind smoltz, but just 8 away from the 3,000 milestone. for what it's worth, he now has 215 career wins, which puts him in a tie for 91st place overall with jim perry and stan coveleski.

kershaw should be back on the mound next week against the royals, assuming the dodgers stay with a six man rotation now that ohtani is back. otherwise, it's possible that kershaw will close out the series against the rockies before the dodgers head to kc. know that when he makes his next start, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!