Now that he's got a ring and pitched extremely well to get it, where does Kershaw rank among the greatest pitchers to toss a baseball?
Kershaw's resume at 32 is extremely impressive:
- 2014 NL MVP
- 2020 WS Champion (could've very well been WS MVP)
- 3x CY Young Winner
- 3x Wins Leader
- 5x ERA Leader
- 3x Strikeouts Leader
- 2011 Triple Crown
- 4x WHIP Leader
- 8x All-Star
- 2011 Gold Glover
- Most strikeouts in postseason history
- 2x WAR Leader (3x among pitchers only)
- One of the lowest ERA and WHIP in live-ball era
- 6.78 hits allowed/9 innings (second lowest in history)
Surely he's gotta be a top 10 pitcher right?
As great as Kershaw has been, the top ten is a
very exclusive club.
Let's consider the resume you've posted for Kershaw and compare it to some other great pitchers:
Cy Young
- 1901 Triple Crown
- 1903 World Series Champion; 1904 American League Champion (NL champion Giants refused to play in the World Series)
- Wins titles (5), ERA titles (2), strikeouts titles (2), WHIP titles (7), WAR titles (6)
- 511 wins, 2.63 ERA, 7356.0 innings pitched, 2803 strikeouts, 138 ERA+, 163.8 WAR
- Still holds the career wins, losses, innings pitched, complete games, games pitched, games started records
- All Star Games, MVP Awards, Cy Young Awards, Rookie of the Year Awards, and Gold Gloves were not awarded during his career
Pete Alexander
- 1915, 1916, 1917, 1920 Triple Crowns
- 1926 World Series Champion
- Wins titles (6), ERA titles (5), strikeouts titles (6), WHIP titles (5), WAR titles (6)
- 373 wins, 2.56 ERA, 5190.0 innings pitched, 2198 strikeouts, 135 ERA+, 119.0 WAR
- Still holds the single season shutouts record
- Missed most of 1918 to military service
- All Star Games, Cy Young Awards, Rookie of the Year Awards, and Gold Gloves were not awarded during his career
Walter Johnson
- 1913, 1924 MVP
- 1913, 1918, 1924 Triple Crowns
- 1924 World Series Champion
- Wins titles (6), ERA titles (5), strikeouts titles (12), WHIP titles (6), WAR titles (7)
- 417 wins, 2.17 ERA, 5914.1 innings pitched, 3509 strikeouts, 147 ERA+, 164.5 WAR
- Set the career strikeouts record and held it for 61 years; Still holds the career shutouts record
- All Star Games, Cy Young Awards, Rookie of the Year Awards, and Gold Gloves were not awarded during his career
Lefty Grove
- 1931 MVP
- 1930, 1931 Triple Crown
- 1929, 1930 World Series Champion
- All Star selections (6)
- Wins titles (4), ERA titles (9), strikeouts titles (7), WHIP titles (5), WAR titles (8)
- 300 wins, 3.06 ERA, 3940.2 innings pitched, 2266 strikeouts, 148 ERA+, 106.7 WAR
- Missed several prime seasons as his rights were owned by a minor league team that refused to sell him to a major league team until 1925
- Cy Young Awards, Rookie of the Year Awards, and Gold Gloves were not awarded during his career; All Star Games started during mid-career
Bob Feller
- 1940 Triple Crown
- 1948 World Series Champion
- All Star selections (8)
- Wins titles (6), ERA titles (1), strikeouts titles (7), WHIP titles (2), WAR titles (3)
- 266 wins, 3.25 ERA, 3827 innings pitched, 2581 strikeouts, 122 ERA+, 63.4 WAR
- Missed nearly four prime years to military service
- Cy Young Awards, Rookie of the Year Awards, and Gold Gloves were not awarded during his career
Bob Gibson
- 1968 MVP; 1968, 1970 Cy Youngs
- 1964, 1967 World Series Champion; 1964, 1967 World Series MVP
- All Star selections (8), Gold Gloves (9)
- Wins titles (1), ERA titles (1), strikeouts titles (1), WHIP titles (1), WAR titles (3)
- 251 wins, 2.91 ERA, 3884.1 innings pitched, 3117 strikeouts, 127 ERA+, 89.2 WAR
Tom Seaver
- 1969, 1973, 1975 Cy Youngs, 1967 Rookie of the Year
- 1969 World Series Champion
- All Star selections (12)
- Wins titles (3), ERA titles (3), strikeouts titles (5), WHIP titles (3), WAR titles (3)
- 311 wins, 2.86 ERA, 4783 innings pitched, 3640 strikeouts, 127 ERA+, 109.9 WAR
Roger Clemens
- 1986 MVP; 1986, 1987, 1991, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2004 Cy Youngs
- 1997, 1998 Triple Crowns
- 1999, 2000 World Series Champion
- All Star selections (11)
- Wins titles (4), ERA titles (7), strikeouts titles (5), WHIP titles (3), WAR titles (7)
- 354 wins, 3.12 ERA, 4916.2 innings pitched, 4672 strikeouts, 143 ERA+, 139.2 WAR
Randy Johnson
- 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Cy Youngs
- 2002 Triple Crown
- 2001 World Series Champion, World Series MVP
- All Star selections (10)
- Wins titles (1), ERA titles (4), strikeouts titles (9), WHIP titles (3), WAR titles (6)
- 303 wins, 3.29 ERA, 4135.1 innings pitched, 4875 strikeouts, 135 ERA+, 101.1 WAR
Greg Maddux
- 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 Cy Youngs
- 1995 World Series Champion
- All Star selections (8), Gold Gloves (18)
- Wins titles (3), ERA titles (4), WHIP titles (4), WAR titles (3)
- 355 wins, 3.16 ERA, 5008.1 innings pitched, 3371 strikeouts, 132 ERA+, 106.6 WAR
This further ignores pitchers like Kid Nichols, Warren Spahn, Christy Mathewson, Pedro Martinez, Steve Carlton, Carl Hubbell, Sandy Koufax, Bert Blyleven, Justin Verlander, Phil Niekro, Nolan Ryan, Gaylord Perry, Tim Keefe, John Clarkson, Satchel Paige, Smokey Joe Williams, Bullet Joe Rogan, Curt Schilling, Robin Roberts, Mike Mussina, and others who have cases for the top 10, the top 25 or the top 30 at least.
Kershaw is great, maybe the greatest of his generation, but without another five hundred to thousand innings, I can't see him anywhere near the top 10. Top 25, though, I could see.