Are Clayton Kershaw And Zach Greinke The Most Dominant Pitching Duo Ever?

Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke have been among the best pitchers in baseball for a few years now, but this year, everything has come together for the duo of LA Dodgers starters. The season is still in progress, but if they stay on track, Kershaw and Greinke may go down as the best starting duo in baseball history.

While Kershaw got off to a slow start to the season, he has been absolutely breathtaking in recent weeks, going 5-0 in his last six starts. During that span, he even had a stretch without giving up a run in four consecutive starts. More importantly, Kershaw recently tied Sandy Koufax's record for six consecutive 200-strike seasons. Come next year, he may hold the record.

Greinke, on the other hand, has been the most dominant pitcher in baseball since Opening Day. He boasts a league-leading 1.58 ERA, nearly half a run better than Jacob deGrom. On top of that ERA, the LA Dodgers starter has a .87 WHIP, which is tied with Max Scherzer for best from a starter and is extremely indicative of his dominance from inning to inning.

The two pitchers have a combined ERA of 2.2, with 355 strikeouts in 327.1 innings pitched, and they still have another third of the season remaining. If you let that sink in for a moment, it’s easy to estimate that it’s among the best seasons of all-time for a 1-2 pitching combo. Instead of guessing, though, let’s take a further look at some of the more historic pairs.

A fellow pair of Dodgers, Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax, had a remarkable year in 1965, with Koufax averaging a 1.88 ERA and .87 WHIP. The second of the pairing, Drysdale, went 23-12 with a 2.77 ERA and 1.09 WHIP while fanning 237 batters. This is among the best duos for a season ever, but this writer thinks that he would go with the current LA tandem at this point in the year. Kershaw and Greinke have simply been better, and they’re on pace to sit down more batters via strikeout and compile a lower ERA and WHIP.

The same can be said for another pair who sat atop the 90’s routinely, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux. The Atlanta Braves’ duo each owned ERAs in the low twos – not a laughing matter – but when speaking of authority, they just don’t compare to today’s group.

The final group to compare wasn’t together for long, but they certainly made the most of that time. Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling helped lead the Arizona Diamondbacks to a World Series title in 2001 and en route to that, made a mockery of hitters across the league. While their ERAs certainly don’t compare to Kershaw-Greinke, the Diamondbacks tandem combined for 665 strikeouts, easily the most of all-time between two pitchers for a single season. Johnson and Schilling also finished 1-2 in the Cy Young voting, which could happen again this year should Scherzer finish third.

All in all, with about one-third of the season remaining, the nod still goes to Kershaw and Greinke. While their strikeout numbers aren’t quite as impressive as the Arizona bunch, you can’t help but marvel at the WHIP and ERA numbers. It is very likely that both finish the year with sub-2.00 ERAs and sub-1.00 WHIPs, something never done by a pair of starters in history.