I was glad to see Clayton Kershaw pitch so well in the World Series last year. He won 2 starts with an ERA of 2.31 ERA, plus he looked like the dominant pitcher he has been in his career. He hasn’t been that bad. He has had a bad start. He was 1-5 after 2014. So, he has been 12-7 since then. However, his defenders have gone a little overboard in defending him. However, he has some real bad outings. In those games he has given his team very little chance to win. He has been like Verlander in the World Series. He pitches well for a few innings and then just loses it. Kershaw just gives equal opportunity for bad outings to every round of the playoffs.
I started giving more points in the CY Young voting starting in 2006 because modern pitchers weren’t scoring enough points. Kershaw has benefited the most by this rule with 49 points. Verlander has 48 points. Max Scherzer is third with 42 points.
This put Kershaw slightly ahead of Koufax. On the Bill James site there was a debate on who the greatest Dodger pitcher was (Kershaw or Sandy Koufax), but the consensus was that Kershaw had a slight edge. My formula agrees and has Koufax as the number 33 pitcher.
Since I did not figure the formula for 2020, I know Kershaw has moved past Bunning and probably Eddie Plank which put him in the top 30. Either way he is a genuine hall of famer.
