With their 12-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners in Sunday’s three-game finale at Safeco Field, the Los Angeles Dodgers maintained their current standing in a tightly-contested National League West.
Complementing the club’s offensive outburst was another stellar start from Clayton Kershaw, who logged seven innings pitched of one-run ball. He earned his sixth victory of the season, yielding only four hits with seven strikeouts compared to one walk on 88 pitches (71 strikes).
It was a historic performance for Kershaw, as the win represented the 150th of his illustrious career. Kershaw is only the 260th player in MLB history to reach that threshold.
The 30-year-old already ranks seventh in Dodgers franchise history with 150 wins. He trails Don Sutton (233), Don Drysdale (209), Dazzy Vance (190), Brickyard Kennedy (177), Sandy Koufax (165) and Burleigh Grimes (158).
Kershaw additionally became the second-fastest Dodgers pitcher to reach 150 wins by games (311). Only the aforementioned Vance reached the mark quicker, as he accomplished the feat in 282 appearances.
Dating back to his rookie campaign in 2008, Kershaw’s 150 victories ranks fifth in Majors. Ahead of him are the Houston Astros’ Justin Verlander (165), Arizona Diamondbacks’ Zack Greinke (163), Chicago Cubs’ Jon Lester (161) and Washington Nationals’ Max Scherzer (157).
That season, Kershaw tallied a 5-5 record in 22 games (21 starts). His win total would progress to eight in the following year, and again in 2010, when he reached double-digits for the first time in his career (13).
By the end of 2011, Kershaw had solidified himself as one of the best pitchers in baseball. He led the Majors with 21 wins, a 2.28 ERA and 0.98 WHIP en route to his first Cy Young Award.
Kershaw combined for 30 wins from 2012-13, which includes a total of 16 during the latter. He would again lead the Majors with 21 victories in 2014 and racked up a plethora of accolades along the way, including NL MVP and another Cy Young Award (second consecutive, third of his career).
The 2015 season marked another 16 wins for Kershaw, who led the league with 232.2 innings pitched — the third-highest mark of his career — and 301 strikeouts.
Injuries have since limited Kershaw over the past three seasons, but he did manage to once again lead the Majors with 18 wins in 2017.
While Kershaw is on track to accumulate the fewest amount of wins and innings pitched since the turn of the decade this season, he has seemingly returned to form since being activated from his second disabled list stint.
Dating back to the middle of July, Kershaw has posted a 1.77 ERA and 0.86 WHIP with 37 strikeouts to only three walks in 40.2 innings pitched (six starts).
He is 6-5 this season, having compiled a 2.40 ERA, 2.87 FIP and 1.01 WHIP over 116.1 innings pitched with 115 strikeouts against 20 walks (19 starts).
All-in-all, Kershaw owns a lifetime record of 150-69 with a 2.36 ERA, 2.61 FIP and 1.00 WHIP over 2,051.1 innings pitched (311 games, 309 starts).
