Inside The Dodgers

Former Dodgers Pitcher Inadvertently Announces Retirement: 'I Ain't Playing'

J.P. Hoornstra|
Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly (17) celebrates with manager Dave Roberts during the 2020 World Series Championship ceremony before the game against the Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium on April 9, 2021.
Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly (17) celebrates with manager Dave Roberts during the 2020 World Series Championship ceremony before the game against the Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium on April 9, 2021. | Kelvin Kuo-Imagn Images

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Los Angeles Dodgers

Joe Kelly, the Dodgers fan favorite who dallied with a comeback in 2025, confirmed on a podcast appearance Monday that his playing career is over.

"I ain't playing," Kelly told Rob Bradford on the Baseball Isn't Boring podcast.

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Kelly deliberately tried to avoid using the word retirement, saying "athletes don't — we just stop f---ing playing, OK?

"Let's cancel the word retirement," Kelly added.

But for all intents and purposes, Kelly confirmed he isn't pursuing a career in pitching any longer.

Kelly will finish his playing career with a 54-38 record and a 3.98 ERA in 485 career games. The 37-year-old right-hander finished the 2023 and 2024 seasons in Los Angeles, making 46 appearances out of the Dodgers' bullpen after arriving in a July 2023 trade with the Chicago White Sox.

After helping the Boston Red Sox beat the Dodgers in the 2018 World Series, Kelly signed a free agent contract in December 2018.

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From 2019-21, Kelly was one of Dave Roberts' most frequently used relief pitchers when healthy. He allowed only one run in five postseason appearances as the Dodgers claimed the 2020 World Series title following the pandemic-shortened season.

When the Dodgers visited the White House for the ceremonial champions' visit in 2021, Kelly famously donned the jacket of a mariachi, Grover Castro, that he picked up at Dodger Stadium. Four years later, a painting of Kelly wearing Castro's jacket still adorns a wall inside Dodger Stadium.

The White House visit, and Kelly's famous kerfuffle with Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa, endeared him to fans beyond the sum of his stats.

A native of Anaheim, Kelly was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the third round out of UC Riverside in 2019. From 2012-15, Kelly pitched primarily out of the rotation for the Cardinals and Red Sox, going 31-22 with a 3.82 ERA in 103 games (73 starts).

Kelly transitioned to the bullpen full-time during the 2016 season. From then on, he was a hard-throwing set-up man who amassed more postseason appearances — 30 games in an eight-year span — than most pitchers accrue in a lifetime.

Kelly finished the 2024 season on the injured list with inflammation in his right shoulder and ultimately never took the mound for the Dodgers in a postseason that culminated with a World Series championship.

This past summer, Kelly began working out in hopes of a possible late-season comeback with the Dodgers. However, the contract never came. Kelly's career ultimately ended with less fanfare than his "Mariachi Joe" nickname would suggest.

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J.P. Hoornstra
J.P. HOORNSTRA

J.P. Hoornstra is an On SI Contributor. A veteran of 20 years of sports coverage for daily newspapers in California, J.P. covered MLB, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Los Angeles Angels (occasionally of Anaheim) from 2012-23 for the Southern California News Group. His first book, The 50 Greatest Dodgers Games of All-Time, published in 2015. In 2016, he won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for breaking news coverage. He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.

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