Dodgers ace—and two-time reigning Cy Young Award winner—Clayton Kershaw pitched a complete game, one-hit shutout in an 8–0 win over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night to clinch the team’s third straight division title.
In the process, Kershaw upped his chances of winning his third straight Cy Young award—and fourth overall. But with one start left, he’s not quite the front-runner for the award this time around.
The (Slight) Favorite
That’s because the Dodgers other ace, Zack Greinke, put himself in the early discussion for his second Cy Young with a mid-season scoreless inning streak of 45 2/3 innings that lowered his ERA to a microscopic 1.30 back in mid-July.
Two months later, Greinke’s ERA still tops the majors at 1.68; and even more impressively, it hasn’t been above 2.00 after any start this season. Besides that, Greinke has an 18–3 record (highest winning percentage in the league), the best WHIP (walks/hits per inning) of 0.852, and his 192 strikeouts are nothing to sneeze at.
Meanwhile, baseball-reference.com lists Greinke’s WAR (wins above replacement) at 8.7—tops among pitchers.
