Clayton Kershaw Is Back to His Old Magic Again

Some might call it a comeback. Others would say it was just an aberration. Regardless of what it is called, it is nice to see Clayton Kershaw remind the rest of Major League Baseball that is he still the game’s best.

For most of this season, the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher has pitched remarkably well but does not have the numbers to show for it in wins. He certainly has not been the unhittable pitcher he was last season, but he is not far from it and after Saturday’s win, he is getting much closer.

His wins and his ERA are not at the level they were in 2014, but today’s advanced metrics make for much better barometers in judging the quality of a pitcher.

When you look at those barometers, it is easy to see Kershaw had been the same ace needed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as they battle for their third straight National League West title.

On Saturday afternoon, he proved it again with a dominating performance over the Washington Nationals. He won 4-2, but could have likely tossed a shutout complete game but was pulled by manager Don Mattingly. It seems the Dodgers are hesitant about their starters throwing complete games. Los Angeles has the fourth lowest team ERA in baseball and just three complete games.

Nevertheless, Kershaw pitched eight innings of shutout baseball with 14 strikeouts and gave up just three hits. His 30 pitches that were swung at and missed tied for the most in any game over the past seven years. He threw only 101 pitches and lowered his current ERA to 2.68.

Kershaw fanned Bryce Harper, who will likely win the NL MVP, three times. His Game Score was 90, which is eighth highest this season in baseball.

To put that in perspective, Max Scherzer threw a 100 Game Score with his one-hit 16-strikeout game and a 97 when he threw his no-hitter.

Over his first nine starts, Kershaw was 2-3 with an ERA of 4.32 but most experts said his luck was worse than his pitching. However, he remained dominating and was striking out loads of hitters the whole time.

He turned the pitching corner in game ten and at the same time turned on the turbo boosters.

From his tenth start through the All-Star break, Kershaw’s ERA was 1.53.

Kershaw on Saturday he became the game’s first pitcher with 10 or more strikeouts, no runs and no walks in back to back games in the past 100 years.

With what he did on Saturday, it is easy to see that he remains the best pitcher in all of baseball regardless of his current won lost record on the season.