Chris Taylor has announced his retirement at 35, ending a 12-year MLB career that included two World Series titles with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020 and 2024, along with NLCS MVP honors in 2017 and a walk-off homer against the St. Louis Cardinals in 2021.
When Chris Taylor played his final game, it wasn’t marked by another postseason swing or a new contract offer. It ended with an official retirement announcement on Friday night, closing the curtain on a 12-year Major League Baseball career at age 35.
Taylor’s retirement was confirmed in an MLB statement on social media late on Friday evening. The former All-Star had been most recently playing for the Salt Lake Bees, the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels, before stepping away from the game.
For the Dodgers, Taylor’s name sits in the same space as the team’s big moments. He won two World Series titles during his 10-year stint with Los Angeles, with championship runs in 2020 and 2024. Those titles were only part of the story. During that stretch, he also earned NLCS MVP honors in 2017 and made the NL All-Star team in 2021.
His numbers carried weight. especially in 2017. a season that remains his best: Taylor batted .288/.354/.496 with 21 home runs. 34 doubles. 72 RBI and 17 stolen bases. Over his career, he finishes with 91 stolen bases, 110 home runs, 200 doubles and 443 RBI, posting a .248 batting average and a .746 OPS.
But it was the timing of some of his biggest hits that helped define him as more than just production. In the 2021 National League wild-card game, Taylor delivered a walk-off home run against the St. Louis Cardinals—one swing that snapped a tense moment into memory.
Taylor’s route to becoming a Dodgers cornerstone started in Seattle. The utility player began his MLB career with the Seattle Mariners. who selected him in the fifth round as the 161st overall pick in the 2012 MLB Draft. He made his major-league debut in 2014 and spent two seasons in Seattle before being traded to the Dodgers.
The trade that reshaped his career came in June 2016. Taylor was sent to Los Angeles in exchange for pitcher Zach Lee, and he went on to become a key member of the Dodgers.
His later years included both a reset and a final chapter. After winning his second World Series in 2025, Taylor was released by the Dodgers early in the 2025 season. He didn’t have to cross far—Taylor signed with the Los Angeles Angels. the Dodgers’ crosstown rivals. and played 30 games last season.
In that Angels stint, Taylor finished with a .179/.278/.321 slash line, but the end still arrives with a full career’s worth of familiar moments attached to it.
The full story of Taylor’s career reads like a blend of roles: drafted by Seattle. turned into a Dodgers difference-maker after a June 2016 trade. then reaching the kind of postseason highs that turn players into club history. With the Dodgers. he collected trophies and honors—World Series rings in 2020 and 2024. NLCS MVP in 2017. and an All-Star selection in 2021. After that, he still found a place to finish the job in Los Angeles, just in a different uniform.
Now, at 35, Chris Taylor closes the book on a run that included 10 years in Dodgers colors and two championships that will outlast the final at-bat. His retirement is official, and with it, the game loses a player who repeatedly showed up when the stage got bigger.
Chris Taylor Dodgers World Series 2020 World Series 2024 NLCS MVP 2017 Seattle Mariners Los Angeles Angels Salt Lake Bees MLB retirement
35 is way too young, he should’ve stayed another year.
Wait so he retired and then just… went to Triple-A? I thought retirement meant he was done done. Also 2024 Dodgers again like wow.
I remember that walk-off vs the Cardinals but I’m confused—article says he played for Salt Lake Bees? That’s the Angels farm, right? Maybe Dodgers traded him and he never recovered or something.
Two World Series and he’s out at 35… honestly good for him if he got the money. But I keep thinking he should be in the lineup still, like NLCS MVP should mean you’re immortal. The stats are cool too, 21 homers in 2017 or whatever, but I swear he looked different every year.