If Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully said it, consider it the gospel truth.

“If Clayton Kershaw hadn’t missed those five starts at the beginning of the season, he’d already be a 20-game winner.”

You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who disagrees with this, at least anyone who knows and understands the game well.

When you consider that Kershaw leads the major leagues with 19 wins and accomplished this in only 25 starts, it simply boggles the mind. And while wins is an ambiguous statistic when it comes to determining a Cy Young award winner, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) have shown us time and again that they put a great deal of scrutiny on wins when it comes time to hand out the hardware.

Every time Clayton Kershaw takes the mound we are watching history in the making.
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

Although it is still possible that Kershaw could get edged out in the wins category by Cincinnati’s Johnny Cueto, St. Louis’s Adam Wainwright or San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner who each currently have 18 wins (and one more remaining start than Kershaw does), it’s relatively safe to say that Kershaw will win his fourth consecutive ERA title which, by itself, is worthy of a third NL Cy Young award (which should have been fourth consecutive).

But because Kershaw missed those five starts back in April and May when he was dealing with inflammation of the teres major, he will, in all probability, fall short of winning the third element of baseball’s triple crown – strikeouts. Washington’s Stephen Strasburg currently leads the league with 230 strikeouts followed by Cueto’s 220. Kershaw is currently third with 219 with two starts remaining in the regular season whereas Strasburg and Cueto will most likely have three. But here again, the thing to remember is that because of the five missed starts, Kershaw has pitched 16.2 fewer innings than Strasburg and 34.2 fewer innings than Cueto.

“Kershaw would also be leading in strikeouts if he hadn’t missed those games,” added Scully. “And probably by a lot.”

Realistically, Dodger fans have little to worry about as far as Kershaw picking up his second consecutive Cy Young award and third in four years – he is head and shoulders above the competition when it comes to his Sabermetric numbers which more and more BBWAA writers are using to determine award winners these days. Additionally, he is setting new MLB records every time he takes the mound – some of which are more than a century old.

Ironically, the one person least interested in the strikeout title (or any other award for that matter) is Kershaw himself. On several occasions Kershaw has said that it’s all about winning the World Series.

“If you don’t win [the World Series], what’s the point?” said Kershaw. “It doesn’t really matter, all this [awards] stuff.”

“If you don’t win, what’s the point?” – Clayton Kershaw
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo)

But even if Kershaw is unable to catch and pass Cueto and Strasburg in the strikeout race, there isn’t a journalist, baseball analyst, talk show host or blogger out there who can deny that Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher in the game right now. In fact, rarely does a day go by where somebody isn’t saying that he is the best in the game and perhaps the best in the last 25+ years. And the kicker is he’s only 26 years old.

…and he’s a Dodger.