This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

On Friday night, Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to take the mound at Dodger Stadium for the 246th time in his illustrious career.

On Thursday afternoon, he made a long-awaited announcement that could make it his last trip atop the bump.

After 18 seasons, three Cy Young Awards, one MVP and two World Series titles, the 37-year-old Kershaw announced he will retire from Major League Baseball after this season.

After 222 wins, more than 2,800 innings, over 3,000 strikeouts, and a career 2.54 ERA, his countdown to Cooperstown will begin this winter.

Kershaw's retirement had been a long time coming. Over each of the past four offseasons, he contemplated whether or not to walk away from the game. An 11-time All-Star and five-time ERA champion, he long ago ensured his spot as a future Hall of Fame pitcher. As the enduring face of the Dodgers franchise over the last two decades, his stature in club lore had been cemented.

Yet, he continued to want to play.

Despite an elbow injury at the end of the 2021 season, a shoulder surgery after the 2023 campaign, and foot and knee procedures this past offseason, Kershaw continued to come back and play for the Dodgers -- never ready to give up another title chase.

This year, however, he authored the kind of renaissance season that once felt beyond him. He is 10-2 in 20 starts with a 3.53 ERA. He has been an integral member of a first-place Dodgers team. And though one more title hunt remains ahead, with the Dodgers trying to defend last year's World Series, he decided his time in baseball was finally up.

This season served as a closing chapter on a storybook career.

Originally drafted seventh overall by the Dodgers out of Highland Park High School in Texas in 2006, Kershaw has spent his whole career in the organization, going from top prospect to young sensation to Cy Young winner to pitcher of his generation.

He made his MLB debut in 2008, and broke out as a star the following year. By 2011, he had earned his first All-Star selection, his first ERA title and his first Cy Young Award. The accolades would keep coming after that -- with Kershaw leading the majors in ERA each season from 2011-2014, winning two more Cy Youngs in 2013 and 2014, and becoming only only the 22nd pitcher to ever win MVP honors with his 21-3, 1.77-ERA season in that historic 2014 campaign.

The back half of Kershaw's career was plagued by injuries, starting with a bad back that sidelined him for part of 2016.

Still, he earned another ERA in 2017, while helping the Dodgers win their first pennant in 29 years. He had a resurgent performance in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, going 6-2 in the regular season with a 2.16 ERA before finally experiencing a World Series title.

Up to that point, the postseason was the only area were Kershaw struggled. In 32 playoff outings from 2008-2019, he was 9-11 with a 4.43 ERA -- numbers that included painful collapses against the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros and Washington Nationals along the way.

But in 2020, Kershaw vanquished such demons, making five starts and going 4-1 with a 2.93 ERA in the Dodgers' first victorious World Series run since 1998. The title, Kershaw has said since, meant more than even he could have ever imagined.

And once he won it once, he craved to do it again.

That's why, even as his body has continued to break down in recent years, Kershaw kept coming back every spring. He believed, when healthy, he could still contribute to a World Series roster. And despite numerous free-agent flirtations with his hometown Texas Rangers, he always saw the Dodgers as the best way to get there.

It made last year's World Series run a sentimental one for the iconic left-hander. Kershaw was a limited participant, making only seven starts in the regular season before missing the playoffs with his foot and knee problems. But he relished in the celebration, especially the title-winning parade that the 2020 team had been denied by the pandemic.

"I love you guys, thank you!" Kershaw shouted to the crowd at Chavez Ravine that day.

"Dodger for life!"

On Thursday, Kershaw made that distinction official.

Clayton Kershaw announces retirement after 18 seasons with the Dodgers