BOSTON, February 26, 2025 – Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Joe Kelly isn’t calling it a career, but he is stepping away from the game, and he has strong feelings about how that should be framed. kelly, a three-time World Series champion, made it clear he doesn’t beleive in “retirement,” a concept he reserves for those with traditional jobs.
A Different Take on Stepping Away
The veteran pitcher explains why he prefers “stopping” to “retiring” and shares his candid thoughts on the current state of baseball.
- joe Kelly, a 13-year MLB veteran, doesn’t identify with the term “retirement.”
- He won World Series titles with the Boston Red Sox (2018), Los Angeles dodgers (2020), and Los Angeles Dodgers (2024).
- Kelly expressed a desire to return to the Dodgers if he were to play again.
- Throughout his career, Kelly posted a 3.98 ERA across 839 regular-season innings.
“Retiring is, like, something my grandmother did,” Kelly said on WEEI’s “Baseball Isn’t boring” podcast with Rob Bradford. “It’s so disrespectful. I’m sorry to all you people out there watching this that work a real job. You guys deserve to retire. Athletes don’t. We just stop playing. …So when athletes are done playing, just say, ‘Congratulations.’ They’re no longer playing. No more retirement.”
Kelly spent five seasons with the Red Sox, becoming a key part of their 2018 World Series-winning team.He recorded a remarkable 0.79 ERA with a 2-1 record during that postseason run. after Boston,he joined the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019,adding another championship to his resume in 2020.
A trade sent Kelly to the Chicago White Sox in 2022, but he eventually returned to Los Angeles in 2023. he secured his third World Series title with the Dodgers in 2024, though he didn’t pitch in the postseason that year.
though he didn’t pitch in 2025, Kelly
