A fresh milestone for Clayton Kershaw tonight? Plus, Ken Rosenthal's All-Star picks

New York Times

16 hours ago

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Clayton Kershaw is on the doorstep of an exclusive club — will he close the door behind him?
Plus: Ken's All-Star squad, our Trade Deadline Urgency Index moves to version 2.0, and I sure hope those 24 baseballs were worth it, man. I'm Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to The Windup!
As old men of the game go, Clayton Kershaw is hardly in Rich Hill territory — Hill is 45 and on a minor-league deal with the Royals. But while time is the most inevitable source of wear and tear, there are others.
How about innings pitched? Kershaw, 37, has pitched 2,781 1/3 (Hill is at 1,409). That total trails only Justin Verlander (3,483 1/3, 42 years old) and Max Scherzer (2,891, 40).
It's the same order for active strikeout leaders — Verlander has 3,471 and Scherzer has 3,419. Kershaw, who will start tonight's game against the White Sox, currently sits at 2,997. Barring some catastrophe, No. 3,000 should come tonight.
Sure, strikeout rates are significantly higher now than they were in the days of Nolan Ryan, Bob Gibson and others. But among the retired members of the 3,000-K club, here are some pertinent averages:
Seasons: 21.53
Innings per season: 212.43
Last year, not a single big-league pitcher threw 212 innings — only four reached 200. And that's to say nothing of the fact that it's now borderline routine for starting pitchers to lose a full season to Tommy John surgery at some point in their career.
Sure, it's a different game (more strikeouts) now. It's also a different game (fewer innings pitched). Is Kershaw *ahem* the last of his kind?
From my latest column:
I've picked my 64 All-Stars. As always, I'm adhering to the rule that every club must be represented and that each All-Star team must feature 20 position players and 12 pitchers, at least three of whom are relievers. Readers will howl over this injustice or that, but by now, everyone should know better.
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Even the league's official announcement of the full rosters Sunday should only be considered a first draft. Players will bow out because of injuries, real and imagined, pitchers starts and other issues, real and imagined. A year ago, 77 players — nearly one-tenth of the league — were named All-Stars. If your favorite gets snubbed, just wait. He will still be only one phone call away from heading to Atlanta.
In making my choices, I was largely governed by what I wrote a year ago: I'm something of an Entertainment Truther. Yes, I try to honor first-half performance. But let's not forget, this game is a promotional vehicle, not a declaration of WAR. I want the biggest names, the rising stars, the players most likely to evoke oohs and aahs.
Of course some will find inconsistencies in my choices, but life is full of inconsistencies. I won't pretend this list is perfect. Consider it merely a starting point for whatever argument you want to make, about any player you want to make.
My starters are denoted by asterisks. All statistics cited are through the end of June. As always, your vitriol is welcome in replies to this email or at my X handle, @Ken_Rosenthal.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Starting pitchers
*Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers
Hunter Brown, Houston Astros
Max Fried, New York Yankees
Garret Crochet, Boston Red Sox
Jacob deGrom, Texas Rangers
Kris Bubic, Kansas City Royals
Shane Smith, Chicago White Sox
Notable omissions: Seth Lugo, Kansas City Royals; Drew Rasmussen, Tampa Bay Rays; Carlos Rodón, New York Yankees; Joe Ryan, Minnesota Twins; Framber Valdez, Houston Astros; Bryan Woo, Seattle Mariners.
Rasmussen, who has overcome three major elbow surgeries to rank ninth in the AL in ERA, would be an inspired selection. But I chose Smith, a Rule 5 pick who was fantastic until his three most recent starts, over first baseman/third baseman Miguel Vargas, who recovered well from a difficult first month. Neither is particularly deserving, but every team must be represented, by golly, so here we are.
See the rest of the list here.
Public service announcement: The trade deadline is 29 days away. Today's Trade Deadline Urgency Index (2.0) takes a look at who needs what the most, and what's changed since version 1.0.
A few notes:
More deadline analysis:
On Monday night in Arizona, a fan reached over the wall to swipe a (maybe?) home run hit by Giants third baseman Christian Koss. Initially ruled fan interference — resulting in an out call — replay review determined the fan had not actually touched Diamondbacks center fielder Tim Tawa.
It was ruled a double. A home run would have tied the game. But the run never scored. The Giants lost 4-2.
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Clips of the play made the rounds on social media, leading to the discovery that this was not the fan's first indiscretion at the outfield wall.
The guy's name is Dave McCaskill, and apparently he has a reputation for doing this. From this story by Doug Haller and Andrew Baggarly:
'(McCaskill) said he had caught 24 home run balls during his time as a Diamondbacks season ticket holder. Some of those have prompted umpire reviews for potential interference. Including Monday night, he said he had been ejected from the park twice …'
One instance of over-exuberance is understandable. But c'mon, man. You can't keep doing that.
McCaskill did apologize to team security as he was escorted from the field Monday. But the Diamondbacks had seen enough.
'This particular fan … is prohibited from returning to Chase Field for the remainder of 2025. This fan will have the opportunity to return to Chase Field in 2026 so long as he meets certain terms and abides by our Fan Code of Conduct.'
Hope the baseballs were worth it?
I love old baseball cards. So I absolutely loved this story by Michael Salfino about the case of the mystery missing baseball card — that didn't exist until customer demand forced it into existence.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. is an above-average second baseman and a below-average third baseman. So why are the Yankees keeping him there to accommodate an ineffective DJ LeMahieu?
Another bad-news day for the Astros: Days after Jeremy Peña suffered a rib fracture, Yordan Alvarez was supposed to ramp up his rehab process today. Instead, he's seeing a hand specialist after a setback.
Yesterday, we told you about a bizarre Orioles-Rangers game that resulted in Jack Leiter taking an 11th-inning at-bat. Last night, I spoke to Leiter and manager Bruce Bochy about how that unexpected process played out.
The Giants' struggles won't cost manager Bob Melvin his job: The team has exercised its option on his 2026 contract.
Yesterday was Bobby Bonilla Day. Salutations to all who celebrate. Jenna West and Dan Shanoff explain the contract, why deferrals happen and tell us about a few other notable deferrals.
Brooks Peck hands out some entertaining superlatives for the various bobblehead giveaways around baseball this year.
Steve Soderstrom's big-league career lasted just 10 days with the Giants in 1996. It makes him appreciate his son Tyler's career with the A's even more.
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On the pods: The 'Rates & Barrels' crew looks at the three division leaders in the NL and checks in on the Nats' rebuild.
Most-clicked in our last newsletter: Evan Drellich's story on Rob Manfred's plan for CBA negotiations.
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