There will be a lot going at Dodger Stadium tonight. Not only it is Hello Kitty Travel Mug giveaway night which all but guarantees a sellout crowd, but Clayton Kershaw will most likely return to the race for his second consecutive Cy Young Award and his third in four seasons.

Kershaw, who missed six starts for inflammation of the teres major in his left shoulder, enters Thursday night’s game just shy of being eligible for MLB‘s pitching leader categories. To be eligible, a starting pitcher must have a minimum of as many innings pitched as the number of games that their team has played. Thursday’s game will be the 94th game of the season for the Dodgers and Kershaw has pitched 87.1 inning thus far. This leaves him 6.2 innings short of the 94-inning requisite to officially rejoin the race.

Since returning from the DL on May 6, Kershaw has been the best pitcher in all of baseball.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

As it stands right now, Kershaw’s 1.85 ERA would be second in the National League to Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright’s 1.79 ERA; his 10 wins fourth; and his 115 strikeouts seventh. Should he earn the win tonight he will tie teammate Zack Greinke with 11 wins. Should he do so without allowing an earned run he will pass Wainwright for the ERA lead at 1.72 – which would put pressure on Cardinals manager Mike Matheny to start Kershaw over his own ace in next week’s All-Star Game at Target Field in Minneapolis.

Also at stake in Thursday night’s game is Kershaw’s current 36 consecutive scoreless innings streak – the third longest in Dodger history behind Orel Hershiser’s MLB-record 59 consecutive scoreless innings and Don Drysdale’s 58. Asked about the streak, the ever-humble Kershaw simply said “It’s great. You don’t ever want to give up a run.”

It’s no secret that many Dodger fans believed that Kershaw’s shot at winning his third Cy Young Award in four years went out the window when he was lost to the DL for six weeks, but since his return on May 6, he has been the best pitcher in the game. He has not allowed an earned run since the the third inning of a June 13 game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium and tossed his first career no-hitter in his next outing against the Colorado Rockies on June 18 – a no-hitter that would have been baseball’s 24th perfect game but for a throwing error by Hanley Ramirez.

Kershaw’s no-hitter on June 18 has been ranked the most dominant no-hitter in history by “Game Score.” (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Although we will never know what might have happened had Kershaw not landed on the DL after the season opener in Sydney, Australia on March 22, it’s probably safe to say that he would be running away from the pack in wins, ERA and strikeouts. But with the way that he has pitched since his return from the DL, it’s also safe to say that it may still happen.