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Tag: Clayton Kershaw

  • Clayton Kershaw Hopes to Continue Domination of MLB

    Each year, MLB teams play 162 regular season games. Due to this plethora of contests, most players never feel performance nerves until the end of the season when their team is trying to cement a playoff spot or is vying to win a pennant. However, one can be certain that the member of the Los Angeles Angels are quaking in their cleats awaiting tonight’s matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The reason for said nerves? None other than Clayton Kershaw.

    Kershaw, a left-handed pitcher for the Dodgers, has been dominant this season, to say the least. Kershaw was awarded NL Pitcher of the Month in June due to his outstanding stat line – 6-0 record with a 0.82 ERA, 61 strikeouts and four walks in 44 innings. If that wasn’t impressive enough, Kershaw was also named NL Pitcher of the Month for July due to an equally stellar performance – 4-0 record with a 1.07 ERA, 43 strikeouts, and four walks in 42 innings. During the month of June, Kershaw held opponents to a .165 batting average, ranking second best in the Majors.

    Here are some nice Tweets to put Kershaw’s performance into perspective:

    For the 2014 season, Kershaw has a .237 on-base percentage, compared to his opponents who boast a paltry .220 OBP.

    Perhaps most impressive of all is the fact that Kershaw missed the entire month of April this year due to a back injury. (Not even Tiger Woods has been able to overcome such luck.)

    Tonight, Kershaw goes for his 14th win of the season. If he is able to defeat the Dodgers crosstown rivals, the Angels, he will be the first MLB pitcher to reach 14 wins this season. A win tonight would also make 11 straight wins for the lefty and would hopefully stack his impressive 2014 stat-line (1.71 ERA with 150 strikeouts and 15 walks in 121 1/3 innings) even more.

    Perhaps the Angels only hope is to replace Kershaw’s baseballs with phoney, rubber ones. As Kershaw proved late last month, he is no William Tell.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Clayton Kershaw Becomes Baseball’s Richest Pitcher

    Today was a great day if your name happens to be Clayton Kershaw.

    The 25-year-old southpaw finalized a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kershaw will be receiving $215 million over seven years.

    This new deal makes Kershaw the highest paid pitcher in history. He will be receiving $30.7 million a year. Not only is he breaking the record as the highest paid pitcher, but he is also breaking the record for having the highest average annual value for any baseball player.

    Kershaw is probably setting these records because he may just be the best pitcher in baseball. He set career bests in 2013 with 236 innings, a 1.83 ERA and 7.8 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) while striking out 232 batters. All these career bests from Kershaw helped the Dodgers reach the playoffs for the first time since 2009. For three straight years he has led the National League in ERA, as well as strikeouts and WAR for two consecutive seasons. He also received the Cy Young Award in 2013 – which he almost won unanimously. It also happened to be his second Cy Young award in three years.

    Dodgers President Stan Kasten said in a meeting, “I’m hopeful that by the deadline Friday morning we can work something out.”

    If Kershaw were not to sign this deal (doubtful, and he’d be pretty crazy not to), he would be eligible for free agency after the upcoming season.

    Kershaw’s teammate Matt Kemp took to Twitter to congratulate the Dodgers pitcher.

    NFL Live Host Trey Wingo knows that nobody is as happy as Clayton Kershaw is today.

    ESPN Sports Business Reporter and ABC News Business Correspondent Darren Rovell put Kershaw’s new deal into perspective.

    Kershaw and the Dodgers were in talks of a new deal last March which would have also been a seven-year deal in the $210 million range, but the Dodgers backed off. Looks like Kershaw’s 2013 season changed the Dodgers minds.

    Image via Kershaw’s official Twitter account.

  • Cy Young Award Winners Announced

    Cy Young Award Winners Announced

    Well, sometimes taking home something is better than nothing.

    MLB announced this year’s winners for the Cy Young award, awarded to the league’s best pitchers, going to Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw for the National League and Detroit Tigers’ Max Scherzer in the American League.

    For Kershaw, it was close to perfect, as he was completely dominant again this past year, posting incredible numbers, with a 1.83 ERA and a league leading 232 strikeouts, while going 16-9 for the West division champs. Kershaw, was a main reason why the Dodgers’ season was memorable as they return to the playoffs for the first time since 2009.

    No doubt Kershaw was deserving of this award and receive some praise as twitted by MLB Network:

    It’s not the World Series, but Kershaw will take it. “Whether you expect to win or you don’t, just to hear your name called — it does something to you,” Kershaw said. “I’m not big on individual stats or awards or anything like that, because ultimately I think we play this game to win a World Series. No ifs, ands or buts after that. That’s the goal.”

    For Max Scherzer, this was his first, as his numbers were also quite impressive, posting a strong ERA of 2.90. Scherzer, with the help of his great offense this season, led the league in wins with 21 for the Central division champs. “Once I won 20 games, I really did appreciate that moment,” Scherzer said on a conference call with reporters. “That’s such a milestone that few pitchers ever get to. The ones that have gotten there are legends in the game. Now that the season’s over, you have a chance to reflect on what you were able to actually do, because during the season you’re focused so much on winning that if you focus on yourself, it really takes away from what’s really important.” Scherzer getting equal congrats from the folks at MLB Network here:

    Now that both of these pitchers won, the only thing left is to try to lead their respected teams back to the playoffs and win a World Series. Another Cy Young performance might be needed, but base off these guys’ track records, that might not be too difficult a task.

    Image via Twitter