Los Angeles Dodgers: Five bold predictions for 2019

3. Clayton Kershaw will win the National League Cy Young

Predicting that Clayton Kershaw was going to win the National League Cy Youn four years ago was as far from a bold prediction as you could have, it seemed like a near-guarantee. Heck, even two years ago the majority of baseball likely had Kershaw as the frontrunner for the award.

However, that is no longer the case. Kershaw has been battling injuries for the last four years, including last season, which has led to a big dip in velocity. Despite him posting pretty good numbers in the second half of the season the majority of the baseball world doesn’t seem to view him as the same dominant Kershaw.

Last year was the first year since 2010 that he did not receive any Cy Young votes. Every year in between he finished in the top five in voting.

Fans become so accustomed to a player when he is so dominant that it becomes easy to jump off the bandwagon once that domination starts slowing down. While it seems to be trending down for Kershaw, 2019 is going to serve as a huge resurgence for one of the game’s best ever pitchers.

While we don’t know if his velocity will return to form we do have to keep in mind that he is still only going to be 31 this year, which for most pitchers, is when their prime begins. A full offseason of workouts and training should regain some of his zip on his fastball.

If he doesn’t I would never put it past him to find a way to pitch around it, as he already has in his career. This is going to be more than a bounce-back year for Kershaw, it will be another Cy Young-winning year.