GOAT – Greatest Of All Time.

It is a hackneyed initialism that is used so often that it has become… well… hackneyed.

But even though GOAT is tossed around ad nauseam these days, there is simply no better way to describe 35 year-old Dodgers ace and future first-ballot Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw. He is, every bit, the Greatest Of All Time – the GOAT.

On Tuesday night, the Dallas, TX native and Dodgers first round draft pick in 2006 out of Highland Park High School in Dallas, TX pitched seven shutout innings against the Angels of Anaheim, allowing only five hits while walking two and striking out five – including fellow future first-ballot Hall of Famer Shohei Ohtani.

“Clayton did a great job setting the tone for us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Kershaw after his team’s 2-0 shutout of the Halos in front of a sold out Angel Stadium crowd of 44,703 consisting of a good many Dodgers fans. “I thought the fastball was good all night, you could see the slider started to get a little bit loose in the middle innings, but I just don’t see a better competitor out there than Clayton Kershaw.”

And then there’s another future first-ballot Hall of Famer, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman.

“It’s just amazing. He’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer,” said Freemen. “It’s fun to be able to play behind and not be in the box anymore, because I’ve been on the wrong side of that with second and third, no outs, a lot of times.”

That “that” was a two-out bases loaded “that” in the bottom of the seventh inning, in which, on his 103rd and final pitch of the night (with 64 strikes), Kershaw got Angels shortstop Andrew Velazquez to hit a chopper to Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas, who tossed to second baseman Miguel Vargas for a force out to end the inning and the “that.”

But if you’ve followed Kershaw’s brilliant career for any amount of time, you are very well aware of the fact that there isn’t a more gracious and humble human being on the planet.

“(Reid) Detmers threw the ball really well. He’s got good stuff, and really, I mean, he pitched better than I did, honestly,” Kershaw said of the Angels starting left-hander. “It was… I mean, he didn’t give up many hard hit balls tonight. He pitched really well.”

Really well indeed. The 23 year-old Nokomis, IL native and Angels first-round draft pick in 2020 out of the University of Louisville allowed no runs and only two hits to Kershaw’s teammates in his stellar seven innings pitched.

But in the end, and with a little help from his friends, Kershaw picked up his National League-leading ninth win of the season (against four losses) and lowered his ERA to 2.72, which is currently the fourth best in the NL and eighth best in the MLB.

Clayton Kershaw – GOAT.

Play Ball!

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