They’ve each played 18 respective big-league seasons. They’ve combined for nearly 6,500 strikeouts and 436 career wins. They each have two World Series titles, and three Cy Young Awards. And one day, they’ll each have plaques in Cooperstown, future first-ballot Hall of Famers who defined their generation of pitching.

For Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer, there’s nothing left to prove.

That doesn’t mean, however, that there’s nothing left to play for.

Which is why, on Friday night at Dodger Stadium, in a pitchers’ duel that saw both veteran aces turn in vintage performances, the two icons who have meant so much to the sport’s past found themselves in the center of its present:

Pitching for first-place teams. Remaining effective despite their diminished arsenals. And wrapped up in what felt like a pivotal contest entering their clubs’ stretch run of the season.

“It’s always fun to pitch for something. I’ve been super spoiled here that, every year, it’s just what you do,” Kershaw said. “I know Scherz has been that way too, a lot of times. So I think that’s what makes us keep — or at least what makes me keep going. I’m sure Scherz is the same way.”

In the Dodgers’ 5-1 win over Scherzer and the Toronto Blue Jays, it was Kershaw who proved to be a fraction better — giving up only one run to Scherzer’s two on a night they both went six innings.

“Obviously, pitching against Scherz, you know you’re gonna have a battle on your hands,” Kershaw said afterward. “I got to play with him, I got to compete against him, basically our whole careers.”

Indeed, the first time Kershaw and Scherzer crossed paths was on this same field almost two decades prior. On Sept. 7, 2008, Kershaw filled in for one future Hall of Famer, Greg Maddux. Scherzer did the same for another, Randy Johnson, while playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“You go back to that game, we’re competing all the way back then,” Scherzer said. “It’s kind of a cool little milestone moment here, where we’re hooking it back up against each other, squaring off each other again.”

At that time, neither could have foreseen what lay ahead in their careers (including a brief stint as teammates with the Dodgers during their failed title defense in 2021).

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw delivers in the first inning Friday against the Blue Jays at Dodger Stadium.

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw delivers in the first inning Friday against the Blue Jays at Dodger Stadium.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

And looking back, they could have never envisioned finding themselves — along with fellow future Hall of Fame pitcher and 3,000-strikeout member Justin Verlander — in an exclusive class of era-defining pitchers.

“I don’t know if it’s our last year,” Kershaw quipped, “but [we’re] toward the end, for sure.”

While that may be true, both pitchers have kept going with nights such as Friday’s in mind.

For Kershaw, this is the first time since 2020 he is entering the stretch run of the season without any obvious injury concerns — a welcome relief after being sidelined for last year’s World Series run.

“This is why he came back,” manager Dave Roberts said. “To be a part of a pennant race.”

Scherzer, meanwhile, is now more than a month removed from an early-season thumb injury, returning just in time to help the upstart Blue Jays (68-49) make a push for a surprise American League East crown.

“I’m here to win,” Scherzer said. “This one stings.”

Over Kershaw’s six innings, the 37-year-old left-hander navigated traffic and limited damage. He gave up seven hits (his second-most all season) and failed to record an out in any of his four at-bats against a left-hander (“I got to figure that out,” he bemoaned).

Yet, he held Toronto to only one run with the help of four strikeouts and three crucial double-plays — none bigger than the bases-loaded line drive Mookie Betts snared at shortstop with one out in the second, then flipped to the bag at second to double off a runner.

Mookie Betts, left, celebrates with teammate Teoscar Hernández after hitting a two-run home run.

Mookie Betts celebrates with teammate Teoscar Hernández (37) after hitting a two-run home run for the Dodgers in the fifth inning Friday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

“Mookie making that double play in the second kind of really got me going,” said Kershaw, who now has a 3.14 earned-run average in 14 starts this season. “The second inning could have gotten out of hand there.”

The 41-year-old Scherzer, meanwhile, saw what had been a scoreless night shattered by two swings in the fifth. First, Shohei Ohtani hit a two-out, ground-rule double over the wall in right. Then Betts belted a go-ahead, two-run homer on a hanging first-pitch slider — part of a two-hit, three-RBI night that, after a career-worst 0-for-22 drought earlier this week, now has him six-for-his-last-10.

“A lot more confident now,” Betts said. “We’ll see how tomorrow goes. I enjoyed today. But got to turn the page.”

The Dodgers (67-49) eventually pulled away late, scoring three times against the Blue Jays’ bullpen in the seventh.

But by the end of the night, the attention still revolved around Kershaw and Scherzer — who met afterward in the Dodgers’ home dugout to swap jerseys and pose arm-in-arm for a photo.

“They’ve been battling it out for a long, long time,” Betts said. “It’s really good to see them still going at it. Just a blessing to be a part of something like that.”

How much longer either veteran will keep playing beyond this season remains unclear.

Though Kershaw is healthy, his fastball continues to sit below 90 mph, forcing him to lean more heavily on his go-to slider, trademark curveball and increasingly prevalent splitter and sinker.

Scherzer can still touch 96 mph — “It doesn’t look like he’s aged at all,” Kershaw joked — but has also made just 18 total starts over his last two seasons.

And, as Kershaw playfully added, “he’s way older than me. He’s, like, 41.”

For now, however, both are playing important roles for contenders. Both remain effective despite the heavy mileage on their arms. And if Friday was the last time they match up in the majors (the Dodgers are 4-1 in such contests, including the playoffs) it delivered a riveting, nostalgic and appropriate swan song.

“They both are obviously great competitors,” Roberts said. “I don’t know if you’re gonna see this one again.”