For the better part of the 2010s, Clayton Kershaw was, by a fair consensus, the best pitcher in baseball. The left-hander won three National League Cy Young Awards in the span of four years (2011, ¡®13, ¡®14), the NL MVP Award in ¡®14 and led his league in ERA for four straight seasons. He flummoxed batters with a devastating three-pitch mix highlighted by a nearly unhittable curveball. Among pitchers with more than 2,000 career innings pitched in the Live Ball Era, his 2.49 ERA through 2021 (14 seasons) ranks lowest. There¡¯s a very good argument to be made that he is the best pitcher in Dodgers franchise history, with his mentor Sandy Koufax being the only real competition for that title.
Entering his age-34 season, Kershaw¡¯s career is one that¡¯s been Hall of Fame worthy and then some. Here¡¯s a look at Kershaw¡¯s 10 biggest moments and achievements to date:
1. No-hitter
For a pitcher as talented as Kershaw, a no-hitter seemed like an inevitability. Sure enough, on June 18, 2014, Kershaw notched that achievement with a 15-strikeout performance against the Rockies.
Although Kershaw pitched well enough to throw a perfect game, a throwing error by shortstop Hanley Ramirez in the seventh put an end to that possibility. But that was it for Colorado, which could not get anything going against the southpaw on what was probably the best night of his career. There was just one three-ball count on a Rockies hitter all night. Kershaw got the first two outs of the top of the ninth on just two pitches, then struck Corey Dickerson out swinging to cap his 107-pitch gem.
2. Getting the ring
If there is any mark against Kershaw, it¡¯s his overall career postseason performance, which has not been in line with his overall regular-season performance. But he was never better in the postseason than he was in 2020, the year the Dodgers ended a 32-year championship drought. Across five October games, Kershaw posted a 2.93 ERA, with Los Angeles winning four of those starts. No performance was better than his outing against the Brewers in Game 2 of the National League Wild Card Series, when Kershaw delivered eight scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts, quite arguably his best playoff appearance so far. And for Dodgers fans, no sight was better than that of Kershaw running onto the field after Game 6 of the World Series after his team, at long last, had won it all.
3. M-V-P
By winning both the NL Cy Young and MVP Awards in 2014, Kershaw joined a very exclusive club, becoming the 11th pitcher in AL/NL history to take home both trophies in one season. And he earned it with MLB bests in ERA (1.77), ERA+ (197), FIP (1.81), WHIP (0.86), strikeouts per nine innings (10.8), wins (21) and complete games (six), plus that aforementioned no-hitter. His selection for Cy Young was unanimous, while he received 18 of 30 first-place votes for MVP.
4. Opening Day heroics
The 2013 season got off to a roaring start when Kershaw got the ball on April 1 at home vs. the Giants. He cruised through eight scoreless frames, striking out seven while allowing three scattered hits and no walks. It appeared as though his effort might be for naught, though, as the Dodgers had also failed to score to that point.
No matter. In the bottom of the eighth, with right-hander George Kontos on the hill, Kershaw led off with his first (and so far only) career home run. Arms raised as he rounded the bases, the Dodger Stadium crowd roared. The offense tacked on three more runs that inning, and Kershaw worked around a single in the top of the ninth to finish off the shutout -- which, at just 94 pitches, was also a Maddux. It was his biggest moment of triumph against a team he's dominated to a historic degree; his 1.88 career ERA vs. the Giants is the lowest career ERA against them for any pitcher since 1912 (min. 10 starts).
5. Cy Young No. 1
Kershaw was impressive in his first three seasons in the Majors, but he kicked things into another gear in 2011, his first of seven consecutive All-Star campaigns. His 2.28 ERA was the best in baseball, while he led the NL in strikeouts (248), WHIP (0.98), hits allowed per nine innings (6.7) and wins (21). He also fired five complete games, including two shutouts. That landed him 27 of 30 first-place votes for that year¡¯s NL Cy Young Award -- and made it clear that there was a new top dog among MLB starting pitchers.
6. Cy Young No. 2
There¡¯s a good argument to be made that Kershaw should have also won the NL Cy Young Award in 2012, when he finished second to R.A. Dickey (though voting was not particularly close). There was little question about ¡®13, though, when Kershaw received every first-place vote but one. And it¡¯s easy to see why -- he led MLB in ERA (1.83), ERA+ (194) and WHIP (0.92) while topping the NL in strikeouts (232) and shutouts (two).
7. 300 K's
Kershaw reached this milestone on Oct. 4, 2015, his final start of the regular season. He finished the year with 301 total strikeouts, a career high for him. It is one of just 34 300-strikeout seasons in the Live Ball Era, and one of just nine in the 21st century.
8. Kershaw saves
Closer Kenley Jansen was called upon earlier than usual in Game 5 of the 2016 NL Division Series on Oct. 13, working a scoreless eighth inning and retiring one batter in the ninth before issuing a pair of walks as the Dodgers held onto a one-run lead. Enter Kershaw, who¡¯d started Game 4 just two days prior. All it took for him to escape his inherited jam was seven pitches, as he got Daniel Murphy to pop out to second and struck Wilmer Difo out swinging to send L.A. to the NL Championship Series. It was Kershaw¡¯s first and, so far, only career save.
9. Going streaking
Kershaw occupies both the Nos. 4 and 5 slots on the list of longest scoreless streaks in Dodgers history. Starting on June 10, 2014, he went 41 2/3 innings without allowing a run (a stretch which including his no-hitter). His streak ending against the Padres on July 10, though he did get the complete-game win. He came very close to reaching that mark again the following season, when he hurled 37 consecutive scoreless innings starting on July 3, 2015, and ending on Aug. 7. (The Major League record, of course, belongs to Orel Hershiser, who threw 59 scoreless innings in 1988.)
10. Wowing Vin
This moment didn¡¯t come during the regular season or even the postseason, but rather, a Spring Training outing in March 2008, before Kershaw had even made his Major League debut. Then just days shy of his 20th birthday, Kershaw wasted little time wowing Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully -- no small feat, as Scully spent nearly seven decades in broadcasting and had more or less seen it all. When Kershaw delivered a killer curveball to strike Red Sox batter Sean Casey out looking, Scully couldn¡¯t help but laugh, dubbing the pitch ¡°Public Enemy No. 1.¡± Certainly a sign of things to come.