Los Angeles Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw’s five most memorable moments
By Jason Reed
1. The no-hitter
Could it be anything else?
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The career-defining moment for Clayton Kershaw, so far at least, is his absolutely remarkable no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies in 2014. This was not just a no-hitter, it was one of the most dominant displays of pitching that we have ever seen.
For starters, Kershaw struck 15 Rockies out that night and should have had the perfect game. He did not walk anyone, instead, Hanley Ramirez botched the throw on a groundball in the top of the seventh inning that gave the Rockies their only baserunner.
Without that botched throw, Kershaw would have had a 15-strikeout perfect game. It rolls off the tongue better, but just because it is a no-hitter instead of a perfect game does not mean we should view it any less of a dominating light.
There is a stat called game score that essentially grades how effective a starting pitcher is in any particular start. According to Baseball-Reference, a score of 50 is considered an average big-league start.
In the last 50 years, there have only been 22 starts where a pitcher achieved a game score of 100. Kershaw has one of them, and with a 102 game score, has the ninth-most effective start of the last half-century.
Only one person with a higher game score above him pitched in the 2000s, which was Max Scherzer‘s 17-strikeout no-hitter in 2015. At the time, this was the best start the MLB had seen since Kerry Wood‘s 20 strikeout game in 1998, which ranks third with a 105 game score.
Next. Justin Turner's most memorable moments. dark
The only thing that could top this would be a dominating performance in the World Series that leads to Kershaw’s first ring or coming in for another save in Game 7 of the World Series, which may not be what Dodger fans want to see. If that does not happen, this will go down as his most iconic moment.