Clayton Kershaw Earns 20th Win with 14-5 Victory over Chicago Cubs
The Los Angeles Dodgers are knocking on the door of their second straight NL West title, and Clayton Kershaw continues to prove that he's the biggest reason why.
Kershaw continued rolling on the mound Friday in what may have been his last outing of the season, winning a 14-5 drubbing of the Chicago Cubs. He gave up three earned runs in the first and pitched just five innings with seven hits but used a potent L.A. attack to lead the Dodgers to another easy win.
The victory makes his record for the season 20-3 and moves him one step closer to winning both the NL Cy Young and MVP awards.
However, Kershaw wasn't on the mound for long after reaching 106 pitches in just five innings as ESPN Stats & Information noted:
Yet, this wasn't a Kershaw-esque start in Chicago for the Dodgers ace. After L.A. exploded for six first-inning runs, Kershaw spotted the Cubs three of their own off doubles and triples back to back from Anthony Rizzo and Jorge Soler.
After shaking off an uncharacteristic start, the 26-year-old got back to his usual, dominant self. He fanned nine Cubs batters and blanked Chicago on the scoreboard after giving up those three early runs, proving to be at his best late as the Dodgers' Twitter account noted:
Despite getting the easy win, it was one of Kershaw's worst performances in months. He has only surpassed three earned runs once this season, and that came on May 17 against the Diamondbacks when he gave up seven. Between that game and Friday's start, he had only given up more than two earned runs four times.
That season-long dominance from Kershaw—with a glimmering 20-3 record, a 1.80 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP while holding batters to a .195 average—has resulted in many experts predicting he'll become the 11th pitcher in baseball's history to win both the Cy Young and MVP in the same year.
Even Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez chimed in about his star pitcher with some choice words, per the Los Angeles Times' Bill Shaikin:
Surely players like Giancarlo Stanton and Andrew McCutchen—and their supporters—will agree to disagree there, but it's hard to argue that Kershaw's 2014 doesn't compare favorably to Justin Verlander's 2011 when he won the two awards in the same year. The Dodgers pitcher's ERA and WHIP are both lower, as are his losses on the season.
The Dodgers have eight games left, finishing out their series in Chicago before home series against San Francisco and Colorado to close out 2014. Should L.A. wrap up the division before Kershaw's due for another start, it wouldn't be surprising to see the team rest its ace for the postseason.
However, if the Giants happen to win their series in L.A. to start next week, things will get awfully interesting in the NL West, and that will give Kershaw a sure opportunity for win No. 21 before the season concludes—in what could be a final bow on his near-perfect 2014 season.
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