Clayton Kershaw’s 400 starts with the Dodgers

Clayton Kershaw reached a milestone on Friday night, making the 400th regular season start of his career, though he got hung with the loss after allowing four runs in six innings in Arizona.

Kershaw is just the 34th pitcher in major league history to make 400 starts for one team. In Dodgers history, only Don Sutton (533 starts) and Don Drysdale (465) have started more games.

Most starts with one team

• 600 club: Walter Johnson (666 starts, Senators), Warren Spahn (635, Braves)
• 500 club: Phil Niekro (595, Braves), Christy Mathewson (551, Giants), Sutton (533, Dodgers), Jim Palmer (521, Orioles), Tom Glavine (518, Braves), Kid Nichols (502, Beaneaters/Braves)
• 450-499: Steve Carlton (499, Phillies), Bob Feller (484, Cleveland), Ted Lyons (484, White Sox), Red Faber (483, White Sox), Bob Gibson (482, Cardinals), Bob Friend (477, Pirates), Robin Roberts (472, Phillies), John Smoltz (466, Braves), Drysdale (465, Dodgers), Mickey Lolich (459, Tigers), Eddie Plank (458, A’s)
• 400-449: Juan Marichal (446, Giants), Whitey Ford (438, Yankees), Andy Pettitte (438, Yankees), Carl Hubbell (433, Giants), Jim Kaat (433, Twins), Mel Harder (433, Cleveland), Tim Wakefield (430, Red Sox), Felix Hernández (418, Mariners), Mickey Welch (412, Giants), Jack Morris (408, Tigers), Dave Stieb (408, Blue Jays), Amos Rusie (403, Giants), Pud Galvin (403, Buffalo Bisons), Bob Forsch (401, Cardinals), Kershaw (400, Dodgers)

Kershaw has started 206 regular season games at Dodger Stadium, and the other 194 starts are spread across 30 other ballparks. The latter list includes the Sydney Cricket Grounds in Australia (on opening day in 2014) plus two parks each for the Braves, Marlins, and Mets. The only MLB park Kershaw hasn’t pitched in is Camden Yards in Baltimore, where the Dodgers play this season from July 17-19.

He hasn’t pitched at Fenway Park nor Globe Life Field in Arlington during the regular season, but did so during the postseason, including the 2018 World Series in Boston, and three rounds in 2020 including the World Series in Texas.

Since Kershaw’s major league debut on May 25, 2008, the Dodgers have won a tick under two-thirds of his starts (266-133, .665), and are 1,072-816 (.568) in every other regular season game.

Jon Weisman for years, at various websites and platforms, has introduced just about every Kershaw start with a movie title. Over at Dodger Thoughts on Friday, Weisman shared them all, including such classics as “Kershaw CCCXXXII: Kershawp’s Fables,” “Kershaw CCLVI: Kersh Off the Boat,” and “Kershaw CXXXI: KershaR2D2.”