In a matter of weeks, the career of Clayton Kershaw will be complete and the more distance we get from it, the more we'll start looking back with fondness at getting to witness one of the greatest pitchers to ever set foot on a mound or, in excellent baseball parlance, toe the slab.

No matter which way we approach his level of greatness, the Dodgers legend clears the Hall of Fame threshold with ease and will fly in with well over 90% of the vote on his first ballot in five years. In fact, make that 95%. Or 98%. I don't know exactly, but I'm confident he'll be close to 100%. That level of respect is well-deserved for anyone who witnessed his career and has and even rudimentary understanding of what constitutes a Baseball Hall of Famer.

A lot of times when a great player retires,

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