When making these lists, they are supposed to be fun and to use the proverbial number 99.9, which is the percentage they are. With the Los Angeles Dodgers, it was so hard, and there were so many people we could choose from within the top tier that choosing amongst icons was befuddling. Especially considering the man we decided at the top is a current player.
As great as Clayton Kershaw has been, deciding on the Pitcher was very difficult. It was not all about advanced metrics, as Kershaw has the overflowing trophy case, the World Series Ring, and an eventual plaque in Cooperstown. The Dodgers have won many titles and housed many eventual Hall of Famers and iconic players in both their existence in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, but in the end, with Kershaw, whose 71.9 bWAR with the Dodgers is a franchise high.
Kershaw was a First Round pick in 2006, and the lefthander would soon draw comparisons to another famous Dodger and southpaw legend, Sandy Koufax. He debuted two years later and methodically improved over his first few seasons, and the pundits were predicting that he was poised for a breakout. In 2011, they would be right.
Major League Baseball does not do a Pitcher of the Decade, but for the 2010s, it would be Kershaw or Max Scherzer. Scherzer ascended to the opening-day starter in 2011, and he was the top dog in Los Angeles and all of the National League. He won the Cy Young with a league-leading 21 Wins, 2.28 ERA, and 0.977 WHIP. As great as Kershaw was in 2011, he was still under 25, and his best was still ahead of him.
Kershaw did not win the Cy Young in 2012, finishing second to New York’s R.A. Dickey, but did win his second ERA (2.53) and WHIP Title (1.023). The lefthander was even better the next two seasons, capturing the Cy Young in both 2013 and 2014 and again winning the ERA and WHIP titles, with both metrics under two and one, respectively. Kershaw was so good in 2014 that he won the MVP, and in addition to his ERA (1.77) and WHIP (0.857), he also topped the NL in SO/BB (7.71) and FIP (1.81).
The Cy Youngs may have ended for Kershaw, but he was still a contender for the award in the mid-2010s. Kershaw won his fifth ERA Title in 2017 (2.31) and finished in the top five in Cy Young from 2015 to 2017, including a second-place finish in 2017. An annual All-Star from 2011 to 2017, Kershaw was so again in 2019, and he had another top ten Cy Young finish and again in 2020. That might have been the most special season for Kershaw.
Kershaw led Los Angeles to the playoff nine times, including two World Series appearances, but they had not won it all until 2020. The Dodgers won the World Series because Kershaw won two games against Tampa, and he finally had his ring.
As of this writing, Kershaw might be declining but is coming off another All-Star Selection. At present, he is the all-time leader in bWAR (77.1), Strikeouts, and is second in Wins (210).
Regardless of what happens to Kershaw in the next few years, his legacy as a Dodgers is intact, and we proudly (as tough as it was) anoint him as the greatest Dodger of all time.
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