Clayton Kershaw Wins Third Cy Young Award in Unanimous Fashion

To no one’s surprise Clayton Kershaw has won his third Cy Young award. The left handed ace dominated the voting much like his pitching did during the regular season. Kershaw received all 30 first place votes, and 212 total votes, becoming just the 23 pitcher to win the award unanimously. The second place winner Johnny Cueto received 23 second place votes, and 112 total, and finished almost 100 votes behind Kersh.

Pplayer, Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th  

Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers

30     210  Johnny Cueto, Reds  23 6 1  112  

Adam Wainwright, Cardinals

 7 23   97  

Madison Bumgarner, Giants

   13 2 28  

Jordan Zimmermann, Nationals

  1 7 8 25      6 5 17      2 2 6      1 3 5       3 3       3 3  

Stephen Strasburg, Nationals

    3 3  

Henderson Alvarez, Marlins

    1 1  * Based on 7-4-3-2-1 scoring system

Kershaw now becomes just the second Dodger ever to win three Cy Young awards. The ace joins another Dodger ace Sandy Koufax as the only other Dodger to accomplish this feat.

So stop thinking about the stupid playoffs. Let’s reflect back on Kershaw’s incredible regular season. Kershaw led all of MLB in wins (21), ERA (1.77), WHIP (0.857), whiffs per nine (10.8), FIP (1.81), and complete games (6). Overall Kershaw finished the 2014 regular season with a 21-3 record, 1.77 ERA, 239 strikeouts, six complete games, and one no-hitter. Kershaw is just 26 years old.

Kershaw has won four consecutive ERA titles, and numerous other awards for his outstanding pitching. Kershaw’s trophy mantle must be collapsing under the weight of all that hardware he has won.

Kershaw had a 41 consecutive scoreless inning steak during the summer. He finished with an FIP of 1.81, and posted an 8.0 WAR. He had a 10.8 whiff per nine rate, a strikeout to walk ratio of almost 8:1, and he walked just 39 batters all season. Kershaw had just one game all season where he allowed more than three runs. Which is so unreal it’s simply mind blowing. So yeah Kershaw very good. This won’t be the last Cy Young he wins.

Cardinal’s ace Adam Wainwright finished in third place with 97 votes, and Giant’s left hander Madison Bumgarner finished fourth behind Wainwright with 28 votes. Washington’s Jordan Zimmerman rounded out the top five in fifth place. Dodger’s co-ace Zack Greinke finished in seventh place with six votes.