Los Angeles Dodgers' left-hander Clayton Kershaw had one of the best seasons for a pitcher in history. In 2014, Kershaw was 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA, 239 strikeouts, and six complete games. He became the first pitcher in history to lead MLB in ERA for four straight seasons. Kershaw also had the highest strikeout-to-walk rate in the past 10 seasons at 7.71. Kershaw led the majors in adjusted ERA at 1.97, fielding independent pitching at 1.80. WHIP at 0.86, opponents' OPS against at .537, strikeouts per nine innings at 10.8, and an average game score of 70. In 199 of the innings Kershaw pitched, 172 of them were scoreless innings.
Of the past 1,000 batters Kershaw has faced, only 238 of them have safely reached base. Kershaw pitched in at least eight innings in 15 of his starts, which is more than every team's starters besides the Cincinnati Reds (18), Detroit Tigers (17), and Oakland Athletics (16). He allowed two runs or less in 19 of his 27 starts this season and three or less in 26 of his 27 starts. He has held opponents to three runs or less in 96.3% of his starts, the best percentage in MLB history.
Kershaw has made opposing batters look like the worst hitters of all-time, his OPS against in the past 2 seasons is .522, only 12 players in history with at least 1,650 plate appearances have had an OPS that low. Kershaw is 7th all-time in strikeouts before turning 27 with 1,445 strikeouts. He is behind only Nolan Ryan and Pedro Martinez in strikeouts per nine innings before turning 27 at 9.44.
Kershaw was also pretty good with the bat as he hit more triples (1) than he allowed (0) at Dodger Stadium. Of the 340 batters he faced on the road, only two of them homered. Kershaw only allowed 23 hits with runners in scoring position this season. His last intentional walk was May 3, 2013. If you were to remove the 41 inning scoreless streak Kershaw pitched, he would still lead MLB in ERA at 2.23. Kershaw had a truly great season that saw his first no-hitter, his 4th All Star game appearance, and he is hoping to lead the Dodgers to the World Series for the first time since 1988.