2011 Los Angeles Dodgers: Why There's a Silver Lining

The 2011 Major League Baseball season is winding down to its last 30 games and with it go failed expectations (Jayson Werth and Adam Dunn, anyone?), down-to-the-wire races in the West and a hot, steamy mess at Chavez Ravine. That's right; the young Los Angeles Dodgers team that general manager Ned Colletti sculpted has crashed and burned this summer.

The Dodgers no longer look anything like the team that reached the postseason in three of the last five years. Or the club that Topps named the Organization of the Year in 2010. Everyone knows about the drama surrounding the McCourt divorce and bankruptcy and the ensuing lack of funds.

The team on the field has never lived up to the expectations of March. But even from the depths of a double-digit deficit in the N.L. West, there is hope for the Dodgers. It comes in the forms of Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp.

In a season that went so wrong in so many ways, Kemp and Kershaw may turn their stellar individual seasons into a historic achievement. They could become the 18th pair of teammates in MLB history to win the league's Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards in the same season. But they would be the first to do it on such an awful team. Of the 17 previous pairs to sweep the awards, all but one went to the playoffs. The only team to fail was the 1962 Dodgers. And they still won 102 games.

So, is it an unthinkable task for both awards to go to a team that will need a U.S. hockey-sized miracle to finish at .500? History says yes. The numbers say no: Kemp is doing everything right— he’s hitting .319 and has mashed 31 homers and driven in 100 runs already. He's also stolen 35 bases and ranks sixth in on-base percentage, fourth in slugging percentage and second in on-base plus slugging percentage. Did I mention the eight outfield assists and .987 fielding percentage?

On the other side of the ball, the 23-year-old Kershaw has established himself as an elite pitcher. He leads the league with 17 wins (against just five losses), 198.2 innings pitched and 212 strikeouts. He is second in complete games, shutouts, E.R.A., W.H.I.P. and opponents batting average.

With 30 games left to play, a shot at a 40-40 season, or 20 wins does exist; numbers that would seal the deal on both ends. Even if this plateau isn't reached, L.A.'s two young stars might be reeling in the hardware and joining names like Justin Morneau and Johan Santana from the 2006 Twins in the annals of Major League history.

Both Kemp and Kershaw will be in the running for the 2011 M.V.P. and Cy Young awards, respectively. And if the 2010 Cy Young campaign of Felix Hernandez taught us anything, it's that the voting tide has turned. You no longer have to play on a functional team to earn the respect and admiration of the voters come November.