Kershaw becomes 8th to 200 wins

In his debut for Merrill Creek, Clayton Kershaw earned his first win as a Mud Skipper and the 200th for his career, becoming just the 8th pitcher to reach 200 wins.

It wasn't a thing of beauty but it got the job done as Merrill Creek powered to a 12-7 win over Philly. Kershaw scattereed 9 hits and 4 runs over 5 innings while recording a pair of strikeouts and a pair of walks across 92 pitches.

The longtime Hoboken Cutter spent the 2025 DMBL season rehabbing to come back for just one more year. Still, Merrill Creek tapped him in the 7th round of the draft, slotting in the left-hander as their No. 2 starter.

He has since won his 2nd start with a quality start, improving to 2-0 and 201 wins. Next up on the wins list is Curt Schilling (205). But that will take a little while longer. In his 3rd start on April 12, Kershaw exited after just 2 innings, giving up a run on 3 hits but walking 4. After the game, he the injured list and is expecting to miss almost three weeks.

A strong 2026 campaign could see Kershaw move up several spots on the wins list. Ahead of Schilling are Pedro Martinez (207) and the still-active Justin Verlander, who started the year with 208 wins, and Roger Clemens (211), which would take just 8 and 12 wins, respectively. It would take a nearly career-high 18 wins to catch Zack Greinke (217) for No. 2 all-time. He also stands just 4 losses behind Tom Glavine (172) for most all-time.

Kershaw began the season with 505 career starts and a relatively healthy season will likely mean he overtakes Greinke for most career starts (527), just 22 starts away. He also trails Greinke by 135 innings for No. 2 all-time, and could surpass Greg Maddux as the career leader if he can reach 156 2/3 innings this season.

Each strikeout for Kershaw, who turned 38 in March, extends his league-record for most in a career, opening the 2026 season with 3,412.