Los Angeles Dodgers: Solving the Starting Rotation Mess
By Sunit Bhakta
Ace: Clayton Kershaw
First, let’s get some obvious answers out of the way. Clayton Kershaw was announced as the opening day starter, which will be his seventh straight, tying a franchise record. I mean, come on, did you really expect anything different? He is unquestionably the best pitcher in the entire league, and has been the best, since his first CY Young back in 2011. Last season, he was in the midst of, arguably, his best season yet (which is saying a lot) before a back injury limited him to just 149 innings. He would have won his fourth CY Young if not for that missed time. Despite missing over two months, he finished fourth in WAR according to Fangraphs. He finished 1.0 WAR behind Justin Verlander, the leader, despite pitching almost 80 innings less.
He is in, what seems to be, the midst (and hopefully just the middle) of a historic run. As mentioned earlier, his dominance is six years and counting. He has one of the lowest career ERAs and WHIPs.
Clayton Kershaw is the perfect pitcher. He has three plus-plus pitches with terrific control. Kershaw has a good hard fastball, the best curveball in the business, and one of the better sliders around, all with pinpoint control. Just look back at the month of May from last season to see how truly dominant he was.
He does not have much left to prove other than truly conquering his playoff demons and winning his first World Series title. Who better than Kershaw himself to at least lead you to the postseason? So yes, he should be fronting the Dodgers rotation this season as he is the ace of aces.