Clayton Kershaw's wife Ellen fights back tears as Dodgers legend gets standing ovation on emotional final home start 

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw pulled the plug on his legendary career after 18 seasons in MLB. The three-time Cy Young winner announced his retirement in a press conference on Thursday.

His surprise announcement meant Friday's start against the San Francisco Giants will be the last time he would be on the mound at Dodger Stadium in the regular season.

As the perennial All-Star walked to the mound, he was greeted with a rousing ovation from the fans and his Dodgers teammate. The Giants dugout, featuring veteran ace Justin Verlander, also acknowledged Kershaw's last home start. In the stands, his wife Ellen swiped back tears as her husband geared up for the contest.

Kershaw and Ellen reportedly met in high school and has been together since. They got married in December 2010, and share four children: Cali, Charley, Cooper, and Chance. They are expecting a fifth child this year.

“I would say we got closer when she went to college and I started playing professionally,” Kershaw had said.

Clayton Kershaw revealed when he made up his mind about retirement

While Clayton Kershaw surprised many by his announcement on Thursday, Dodgers teammate Freddie Freeman knew about his plans in advance. Kershaw had made up his mind at the start of the season.

"Usually we wait to the offseason to kind of make a final call, but I think almost going into the season, we kind of knew that this was going to be it,” Kershaw said. “So I didn’t want to say anything in case I changed my mind. "But over the course of the season, just how grateful I am to have been healthy, to be out on the mound and be able to pitch, I think it just made it obvious that this was a good sending-off point. And it is. I’ve had the best time this year. It’s been a blast.”

Kershaw missed the majority of the first half of the season due to a toe surgery, but showed his class on the mound since the All-Star break. The three-time Cy Young winner also joined the 3000 strikeouts club, joining Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander as the only other active pitchers to the milestone.

Edited by Chaitanya Prakash