LOS ANGELES -- Clayton Kershaw put the finishing touches on an awards season for the ages Thursday when he was named the winner of the National League Most Valuable Player Award.One day after unanimously winning his third NL Cy Young Award, Kershaw became the first NL pitcher in 46 years to also be named MVP by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, which gave the Dodger 18 of 30 first-place and 355 total votes to beat fellow finalists Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins (second) and Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates (third). 
Kershaw went 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA and enough record-setting achievements to validate comparisons to Sandy Koufax, the last Dodger to pull off this double win, which has been accomplished 11 times, most recently by Detroit's Justin Verlander in 2011. Roger Clemens in 1986 and Vida Blue in 1971 are the only other starting pitchers to win MVP since Bob Gibson and Denny McLain did in 1968, after which MLB lowered the mound.Kershaw is the first Dodgers player to win the MVP Award since Kirk Gibson in 1988, the first Dodgers pitcher to win it since Koufax in 1963, the fourth Dodgers pitcher to win it (along with Koufax, Don Newcombe and Dazzy Vance) and the 11th Dodgers player to win it at least once (Roy Campanella won three times).Kershaw, at 26, is one year older than the youngest Dodgers MVP, Steve Garvey in 1974.The closest an NL pitcher had come to winning an MVP since 1968 was runner-up Tom Seaver in 1969. Greg Maddux finished third in 1995 behind Barry Larkin and Dante Bichette.Using Wins Above Replacement as calculated by Baseball-Reference.com, Kershaw led the league at 8.0, with Stanton fifth and McCutchen seventh. On Fangraphs.com, Kershaw's 7.2 WAR led the NL and was third in Major League Baseball behind Mike Trout's 7.8 and Corey Kluber's 7.3.Kershaw's MVP victory is all the more stunning because he spent nearly six weeks on the disabled list after opening the season with a win in Australia. Because he missed those starts, and won so many since returning, Kershaw joined Boston's Pedro Martinez in 1999 as the only pitchers since World War II with 20 wins accomplished in fewer than 30 starts.Of all the traditional stats that support Kershaw's most valuable status is the club's 23-4 record in his 27 starts. The Dodgers finished 94-68, so they were 19 games above .500 in his starts and seven games above .500 in everybody else's.In addition to the Cy Young, Kershaw had already accumulated a handful of awards this offseason. He won Players Choice awards (voted by his peers) for Major League Player of the Year, NL Outstanding Pitcher and Marvin Miller Man of the Year. He was named winner of the Warren Spahn Award for best left-handed pitcher in baseball. He won the Dodgers' Roy Campanella Award and was the club nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award.
Ken Gurnick/MLB.com
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
