Cody Bellinger's comments on Clayton Kershaw retirement hit Dodgers fans in the feels

The final regular season start of Clayton Kershaw's career is scheduled for Friday when the Los Angeles Dodgers play the Seattle Mariners. After announcing his retirement last week, Kershaw made his final start at Dodger Stadium last weekend in a moment that still doesn't feel real for Dodgers fans.

As the Dodgers contemplate what role Kershaw may have on their playoff roster, many of Kershaw's former teammates have shared their thoughts on his retirement. Now with the New York Yankees, Cody Bellinger's take on Kershaw calling it a career is a pure nostalgia trip. Bellinger and Kershaw were at the center of the last Dodgers' contending core that didn't include Shohei Ohtani, and those are teams that many fans still hold close to their heart.

“He was a big part of that team and all our teams,’’ Bellinger told reporters over the weekend. “The way he carries himself. I sat back, watched and learned: This is what it’s supposed to look like. When he took the ball every fifth day, he had a presence. He was the hardest working dude in the room. He had an unmatched work ethic.”

Cody Bellinger’s Kershaw tribute is exactly what Dodgers fans needed to hear

After missing the playoffs with the Chicago Cubs in 2023 and 2024, Bellinger is on track to be playing in October this season with the Yankees. The Yankees enter play on Tuesday as the top team in the American League Wild Card race. Bellinger, of course, is no stranger to postseason play, and credits Kershaw for helping him establish a work ethic that has stayed with him throughout his career, even after he left LA.

There likely will be more tributes headed Kershaw's way over the next several weeks, but Bellinger's comments should take Dodgers fans down memory lane. Over the course of his 18-year career, Kershaw has been the anchor in the Dodgers' clubhouse. The All-Star-studded roster the Dodgers currently have wasn't always the way of life in Los Angeles, and no matter the names that walked through the team's clubhouse, the veteran starting pitcher certainly left a positive impression on almost all of them.

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