Clayton Kershaw has won multiple Cy Young Awards, a Most Valuable Player Award and thrown a no-hitter over his illustrious eight-year MLB career. On Sunday, the Los Angeles Dodgers ace checked another accomplishment off his checklist: throwing 300 strikeouts in a single season.
Kershaw entered the day needing six strikeouts in order to hit the impressive mark.
In the top of the third inning, the left-hander fanned San Diego Padres outfielder Melvin Upton Jr. to record his sixth punch-out of the Dodgers’ regular-season finale. Somewhat fittingly, Upton went down hacking at Kershaw’s devastating curveball, per MLB:
Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling were the last pitchers to reach 300 strikeouts after they recorded 334 and 316, respectively, in 2002.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, Kershaw is only the second Dodger pitcher to hit 300, with Sandy Koufax being the other.
“It’s definitely a cool thing,” Kershaw said after the game per the Associated Press, via ESPN.com. “Obviously not the most important thing in the world. If my pitch count got there and I didn’t have 300, I would have come out. Being fresh for the playoffs is more important than 300 strikeouts.”
Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan found it somewhat ironic the 27-year-old has reached such a high standard in terms of strikeouts, but has otherwise had a disappointing season by his ridiculous standards:
To a certain extent, the high rate of strikeouts in MLB today somewhat dilutes Kershaw’s achievement. According to FanGraphs, this year’s strikeout rate (20.4 percent) is tied for the highest mark (with 2014) dating back to the 1871 season. In fact, the eight highest strikeout rates have all come between 2008 and 2015, further demonstrating just how significant the trend is.
At the same time, Kershaw’s 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings entering Sunday equaled Johnson’s during his 2002 campaign, per Baseball-Reference.com, so the two are comparable in that respect.
Of course, much of Kershaw’s work in the regular season could be undone, should he and the Dodgers once again fall short of making the World Series this year.
His struggles in the postseason have been well-documented, and for some, Kershaw won’t establish himself as one of the greatest ever until he gets that monkey off his back.
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