Clayton Kershaw is the greatest pitcher in Dodgers

The slider was scorching. The hitter was frozen. The strikeout was roaring.

With an 84-mph pitch on the black in the sixth inning against the Chicago White Sox Wednesday at a rollicking Dodger Stadium, Clayton Kershaw struck out Vinny Capra trying to develop into the twentieth participant in baseball historical past to file 3,000 strikeouts.

As spectacular as the pitch itself was the cementing of a fact that has taken practically 20 years to develop into evident.

Clayton Kershaw is the greatest pitcher in Dodgers historical past.

Greater than even the great Sandy Koufax.

Gasp. Scream. Please.

This opinion appeared right here three years in the past and was swarmed with a barrage of emphatic and principally emotional arguments for Koufax.

How dare you diss our Sandy! Koufax received more championships! Koufax never choked in the postseason! Koufax was more dominant!

All true, Koufax being a super human being worthy of every syllable of reward. But as Wednesday so clearly proved in entrance of a history-thirsty crowd at Chavez Ravine, Kershaw has carried out one thing that any protection of Koufax can’t equal.

He’s endured. He’s taken the ball far more than Koufax while outlasting him in nearly every influence pitching class.

The Dodgers’ 5-4 victory Wednesday was the excellent illustration of the grinding that has lifted Kershaw to the Dodger heavens. He didn’t have his best stuff, he was battered by one of baseball’s worst groups for 4 runs on 9 hits, but he fought through six innings to dramatically file his third strikeout and finish his quest for 3,000 on his ultimate hitter with his one centesimal pitch.

“I made it interesting, for sure,” Kershaw mentioned afterward. “I made it take too long.”

When he took the mound at the begin of the sixth, just one strikeout shy of 3,000, the crowd erupted in deafening screams beforehand only matched by a World Series win. When he breathtakingly struck out Capra — this was his final hitter regardless — he stalked off the mound and sighed and provided the thunderous crowd a sweaty wave.

“It’s a little bit harder when you’re actually trying to strike people out,” mentioned Kershaw with a chuckle. “Running back out there in the sixth and hearing that crowd roar was up there for me, special moments…It was an amazing night.”

A younger Dodgers fan holds up a signal that reads “3,000” to have a good time Clayton Kershaw’s strikeout milestone.

(Luke Johnson/Los Angeles Times)

In all, it was pure Kershaw, and it has been unmatched even by his legendary predecessor.

Koufax was a meteor, streaking across the sky for the greatest 5 seasons of any pitcher in baseball historical past.

Kershaw, meanwhile, has develop into his own planet, looming above for 18 years with a everlasting glow that is unmatched in Dodgers lore.

Koufax was an superb flash. Kershaw has been an enduring flame.

Koufax was Shaq. Kershaw is Kobe.

When this was beforehand written, supervisor Dave Roberts waffled on the query of whether or not Kershaw was the greatest Dodger pitcher ever.

This time, not so a lot.

“Obviously, Sandy is Sandy,” he mentioned Wednesday. “You’re talking about 18 years, though, and the career of the body of work. It’s hard to not say Clayton, you know, is the greatest Dodger of all time.”

When one talks about the GOAT of varied sports activities, certainly, a key factor is all the time longevity. Tom Brady performed 23 seasons, LeBron James has performed 22 seasons and Babe Ruth performed 22 seasons.

One can’t ignore the truth that Kershaw, in his 18th season, has performed six more seasons than Koufax while pitching 463 more common season innings. With his 3,000 strikeouts he has also fanned 604 more batters than Koufax, the equal of 22 more video games composed solely of strikeouts, an unreal edge.

In the great Koufax debate, Kershaw is clearly being punished for his postseason struggles, and certainly his 4.49 postseason ERA doesn’t evaluate to Koufax’ 0.95 ERA.

But look at the pattern dimension. Kershaw has pitched in 39 postseason video games while Koufax has appeared in just eight. Kershaw has had 13 postseason begins that have lasted previous the sixth inning while Koufax has had 5.

Kershaw has pitched in a number of playoff rounds in a number of seasons, while Koufax never pitched in more than one playoff spherical per season, significantly rising Kershaw’s alternative for failure.

Kershaw has certainly stunk up the joint in some of the most devastating postseason losses in Dodger historical past. But he has taken the mound for practically 5 instances as many massive video games as Koufax and, in the finish, he has just one fewer World Series championship.

“I’ve been through it, a lot, ups and downs here, more downs that I care to admit,” mentioned Kershaw. “The fans … it was overwhelming to feel that.”

In the finish, the strongest argument for Koufax supporters is the seemingly apparent reply to a query. If you had to win one recreation, would you begin Koufax or Kershaw?

Of course you’d pitch Koufax … if your parameters had been restricted to 5 years. But if you wished to choose a starter and you had to do it inside a two-decade window, you’d take Kershaw.

Then there are those hardly ever recited stats that additional the argument for Kershaw over Koufax: Kershaw has a higher profession ERA, 2.51 to 2.76. Kershaw has a higher profitable share, .697 to .655. And despite taking part in in an period where particular person pitching wins are significantly cheapened, Kershaw has 51 more wins than Koufax.

How uncommon is 3,000 strikeouts? More pitchers have received 300 video games. Only three different pitchers have carried out so left-handed. Only two pitchers in the final 100 years have carried out it with one group.

Now for the intangibles. If this is certainly the golden age of Dodger baseball — as Andrew Friedman so deftly described it — then the guardian of the period has been Kershaw.

The clubhouse tradition is borne of his consistently current professionalism. The work ethic begins with him. The accountability is a reflection of him. For 18 years, through harm and embarrassment as effectively as fame and fortune, he has never complained, never blamed, never pointed fingers, never introduced distraction.

And he all the time reveals up for work. Every day. Every recreation. Every season. Clayton Kershaw has all the time been there, which is why he can be there ceaselessly on a statue that will certainly be erected in the middle discipline plaza next to the bronze figures of Jackie Robinson and, yes, of course, Sandy Koufax.

It is unlikely the Dodgers would ever script the phrases, “The greatest Dodger pitcher” on the base of his statue. They are understandably delicate to Koufax and his legacy and significance to a legion of longtime followers.

But they know, just as those followers fortunate enough to be at Dodger Stadium Wednesday understand it.

They weren’t just watching greatness. They had been watching The Greatest.