Editorials

Clayton Kershaw Can’t ‘Fathom’ Winning NL MVP Award

[new_royalslider id=”10″] The biggest honor of the season for Clayton Kershaw came on Wednesday when he was named National League Cy Young.

It was the third time the left-hander has won the award in the past four seasons and the first time he won the award unanimously. Kershaw has collected a handful of different awards based on his 2014 campaign and is up for one more on Thursday. He could become the first NL pitcher to win the MVP award since Bob Gibson in 1968.



According to Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times, the 26-year-old has trouble imagining himself winning the award:

I can’t even really fathom it happening,” Kershaw said. “It’s such an amazing honor to be associated with the guys that have done that in the past, to have the recognition of not only your peers, but the writers, that think that you deserve the most valuable player.”

Kershaw would become the first NL pitcher since Gibson and the first Dodger pitcher since Sandy Koufax in 1963. Despite missing a month of the season, Kershaw was able to go 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA and 239 strikeouts in 27 starts. He led the league in wins, winning percentage, ERA, complete games, ERA+, FIP, WHIP and K/BB ratio. The three-time Cy Young winner was named an All-Star and threw his first career no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies.

With a win, Kershaw would be the first Dodger to win the award since Kirk Gibson in 1988 and the fifth overall Los Angeles Dodger to be named MVP. Matt Kemp nearly won the award in 2011, but was edged out by Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers, who was eventually found to be using performance-enhancing drugs.

The award will be announced on MLB Network at 3:00 PM PT on Thursday.

Vincent Samperio

Vince is currently the Associate Editor and Social Media Manager for Dodgers Nation. Hailing from San Pedro, CA and a student at Cal State Long Beach, Vince has previously written for the Daily 49er and LASF Magazine.

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