Clayton Kershaw rules out return to Dodgers despite WBC stint, explains spring absence

Former Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw is returning to the mound during the 2026 World Baseball Classic for Team USA. The exact plans for Kershaw on Team USA's pitching staff have yet to be revealed, but regardless of how often he pitches or the success he has, a return to the Dodgers isn't happening.

Kershaw announced his retirement last September and had a storybook ending to his career. The Dodgers won the World Series, Kershaw made an important cameo, and then he was able to ride off into the sunset.

His inclusion on Team USA's roster is more tied to the fact that he wasn't able to do so in 2023. As has become a thing this time around, Kershaw didn't receive contract insurance from the Dodgers ahead of the last World Baseball Classic.

As Kershaw told the California Post's Dylan Hernández, pitching in the World Baseball Classic this time around is checking off an item from his bucket list.

Clayton Kershaw is pitching for Team USA, but there's a clear reason why he won't go back on his Dodgers' retirement

It's not meant to set the stage for a potential return to the Dodgers, as Kershaw reassured Hernández that he has embraced the retirement lifestyle. Specifically, Kershaw doesn't miss the stress of waking up and feeling something off with his body.

Along those lines, the three-time Cy Young Award winner did admit to missing his Dodgers teammates. Considering his plans to pitch in March, there was hope that Kershaw might have made a visit or two to the Dodgers during spring training. While he does miss the conversations that take place during camp, he wasn't ready for the idea of visiting his former team now that he is retired.

“I haven’t been over to CBR,” Kershaw told the Post. “I just thought about it. I miss it, I miss the guys. So I think it’s probably just better, at least this first year, for me, like mentally, to just kind of stay away for a full year, just for spring training. I’ll go out to L.A. at some point, for sure. I think just the mental side of it, for me, to really break away, it would be hard to go.”

Kershaw will be on-site for the World Series ring ceremony on Opening Day, but there are no plans for him to make a return as a player. Perhaps in a year or two, Kershaw does come around more often as a visitor (or coach?), but for now, the man has little worries.