Dallas native, future Hall of Famer surprisingly only faced Rangers handful of times

Last week one of the greatest pitchers of the 2010s, Clayton Kershaw officially announced his retirement at the end of the season.

Kershaw, a Dallas native, has spent all 18 seasons of his Major League Baseball career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team that drafted him seventh overall out of Highland Park High School in the 2006 MLB Draft.

The Dodger legend did however flirt with signing with the Texas Rangers a handful of times near the back end of his season and ending his career back in hometown but ultimately returned to Los Angeles. Even more surprising, the 37-year-old only faced Texas twice in his entire career.

Kershaw only faced Rangers twice, never in Arlington

Throughout a consistent career of success and accolades, it only makes sense that an 18-year MLB veteran would have knocked out almost every stadium in the league. It makes even more sense when take into the account the schedule shift from a few seasons ago.

But the three-time Cy Young winner only ever faced the Rangers twice and in Arlington during the neutral site 2020 postseason.

During those two career games against Texas (one in 2015, one in 2021), Kershaw recorded a 1-1 record, 2.25 ERA and three earned runs in 12 innings of work. The most amazing stat of all in that is he struck out 19 Rangers in those innings.

Both of those games happened at Dodger Stadium but he did get a chance to play at Globe Life Field throughout his career during one of the weirder seasons of MLB. During the 2020 COVID-19 shortened season, he and the Dodgers won the World Series, playing the NLDS, NLCS and World Series at Globe Life Field.

In four games, Kershaw went 3-1 striking out 24 batters in 22 2/3 innings to help the Dodgers win the World Series.

Kershaw continually rumored to sign with Texas late in his career

Over the last few seasons of Kershaw's career, the former NL MVP and 11-time All-Star was going year-by-year in his contracts with the Dodgers and in some way hit the free agent market at the end of each season.

There were always rumors that Kershaw would sign a one-year deal with Texas to return home, where he had a home with wife and kids, during the offseason.

It first started in 2022 when Texas was searching for pitching reinforcements to add to a revamped team that included Kershaw's former teammate Corey Seager. And it was every year after that, no matter what the interest level Kershaw had in Texas, there were always strong rumors around baseball that Texas was a premier destination, alongside LA.

Looking back at it now, the chances were likely very slim he'd ever pitch in a Texas uniform. Some would say that worked out in Texas's favor as his last few seasons in the big leagues were categorized by injuries that caused him to miss a lot of playing time.