Jeremy Guthrie's Major League Baseball career came to a close Monday, as the right-hander announced his retirement on The Players' Tribune after 13 big league seasons.
Guthrie enjoyed his best season as a 34-year-old starter with the Royals in 2013, winning a career-high 15 games with a 4.04 ERA. He won another 21 games combined over the following two seasons while helping the Royals capture back-to-back American League pennants. After tossing five innings and allowing one run in his lone start of the 2014 AL Championship Series against the Orioles, Guthrie started two games in the 2014 World Series for K.C., earning the win while allowing two earned runs in five innings in Game 3, then taking the loss after three earned runs in 3 1/3 innings in Game 7.

Guthrie spent the entire 2016 season in the Minor Leagues, then got one more shot at a Major League comeback when he took the ball for the Nationals on April 8 of this year -- a day that happened to be his 38th birthday. The serendipity ended for Guthrie there, unfortunately, as he allowed 10 earned runs on six hits and four walks to the Phillies in just two-thirds of an inning.
"As I handed the ball to [manager] Dusty Baker, I knew my Major League career was over," Guthrie wrote for The Players' Tribune. The Nationals designated him for assignment to Triple-A Syracuse, but "I told my agent to inform the team that I would not be going to Syracuse," Guthrie continued. "I was going home, home with my family."
Guthrie can hold his head high knowing he finished with 92 career Major League victories (including one in the postseason), while also recording at least 30 starts in six different seasons. And, of course, he is the owner of a World Series ring as a contributor to the Royals' 2015 championship -- the franchise's first in 20 years.
"Celebrating a world championship with a million friends in 2015 was unforgettable," wrote Gurthrie. "I'm forever Royal."