Last week Dodgers star pitcher Clayton Kershaw announced he would retire at the end of the season, his 18th in the big leagues.<\/p>\n
A season in which he’s 10 and 2, by the way.<\/p>\n
Kershaw’s accomplishments on the mound are a bit mind boggling. He’s led the league in multiple categories multiple times, from traditional stats like wins and ERA to modern stats like WAR and FIP. Most impressive, probably, is the most old-school stat of all: his entire career has been in\u00a0Dodger Blue.<\/p>\n
Five years ago I noted the following<\/a>: that Clayton Kershaw\u00a0might<\/em> end his career with the highest winning percentage of all time. His winning “percentage” (yeah, yeah, not really a\u00a0percentage<\/em>) at the end of the 2020 season was .697, just ahead of all-time leader Whitey Ford. I noted that everyone tails off at the end of his career–if Ford had retired three years earlier he would have ended at .710, not .690–so we’d have to see with Kersh.<\/p>\n Right now he’s sitting at .698.<\/p>\n Yes, his winning percentage the final five years of his career was\u00a0higher<\/em> than it was the first 13.<\/p>\n That’s incredible. And he’s added two World Series rings since that post as well. (Sure, the second one was mostly honorary, but that first one he carried the team on his back.)<\/p>\n Clayton Kershaw will go down as one of the greatest pitchers of all time, no question a first-ballot Hall of Famer. True, he was never a favorite of\u00a0mine<\/em>, as he played for a rival, but still you’ve got to tip your cap to someone did it so well for so long. And I suppose I can forgive that he’s about to kill not one but two of my favorite stats. (Breaking the Ford record is one thing, but ruining the great symmetry that .690 was also Babe Ruth’s slugging percentage? Only a legend is allowed that one.) And my God that curveball he can still snap at age 37. It’s the equivalent of watching a Ken Griffey Junior home run swing.<\/p>\n The only question now is, will it be two World Series rings or three?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last week Dodgers star pitcher Clayton Kershaw announced he would retire at the end of the season, his 18th in the big leagues. A season in which he’s 10 and 2, by the way. Kershaw’s accomplishments on the mound are … Continue reading