clayton kershaw made his ninth appearance of the 2025 season wednesday night against the white sox at dodger stadium, just three strikeouts shy of the 3,000 mark. i am pleased to be able to post the final edition of the k is for kershaw kountdown as he recorded his 3,000th strikeout on his 100th (and last) pitch of the night in front of a hometown crowd filled with dodger faithful!
in honor of his performance and achievement, here are three cards (not seen on this blog before) from my collection to represent strikeouts number 2,998 through 3,000.
2,998 - 2021 topps museum collection single player primary pieces quad relics copper parallel #/75
this is actually the newest kershaw card in my collection, as i picked it up at one of the local card shops on monday. i had noticed it when i stopped in a couple of days prior but didn't pull the trigger. but, since the shop is close to my work, i made a pit stop to grab it because of the red patch and the comparatively low price.
2,999 - 2022 panini chronicles spectra colorgraphs auto
i bought this card at that same lcs during my weekend stop. it is the least amount of money i have paid for any kershaw autograph, and that is because the design and execution of the card is terrible. the paint pen that kershaw was given to use is too dark against the faux brick background and so the signature is difficult to see. still, it's an on card auto and the price was more than right.
3,000 - 2025 topps k-zone insert
i had figured that strikeout number 3,000 would come against old friend miguel vargas the second time through the lineup. instead, kershaw struck out vargas the second time around for his first k of the night, then got lenyn sosa swinging to end the fifth and vinny capra looking to become the 20th pitcher (and fourth lefty) to reach 3,000 regular season strikeouts in a career.
the broadcast made a big deal about kershaw being the "third" pitcher to do it with one team (walter johnson and bob gibson - the first two to reach 3,000) are the others they were referencing. however, john smoltz recorded the first 3,011 strikeouts of his career with the braves before splitting his final season with the red sox and cardinals (and no, i don't consider smoltz's minor league time in the tigers' organization to have any bearing on his major league career in this regard). if kershaw does, in fact, remain a "dodger for life", then he will join johnson and gibson as the only members of the 3,000 strikeout club to have only pitched for one franchise in their career, but let's not cheat braves fans of their 3,000 strikeout guy.
as for the game itself, the first thing i noticed was how full the stadium was for the first pitch. it was packed which is rarely the case at the start of a game at dodger stadium. everyone knew what was likely going to happen, and they knew that it could happen as quickly as the first inning, even though it wound up taking six. kershaw allowed four runs in those six innings of work, but he didn't figure in the decision as the dodgers mounted a 9th inning comeback to walk off the white sox 5-4. he walked one, and allowed nine hits - one of which was a two-run homer by austin slater. his next start should come on the road in milwaukee, and if he hadn't reached 3,000 on wednesday, i would have definitely made the trip into wisconsin to be there in person.
as it is, i am happy to have been able to see him pitch in person a couple of times, including one of the best performances of his career. what a time it has been to be a dodger fan, even though neither the franchise nor the personnel structure of the game are the same as it was when i first started following the club.
here are some more kershaw cards because it's his achievement that this post in the kountdown is all about, and these particular cards seemed appropriate.
2015 topps tribute relic
2015 topps stadium club gold foil parallel
certainly worth a tip of the cap!
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 84 k's behind smoltz, with exactly 3,000 for his career.
what an achievement, and what a career. thanks for kounting down with me and congratulations to clayton kershaw!
Enjoy it.
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