yes, the kountdown to 3,000 strikeouts for clayton kershaw continues as he took the mound against the giants on saturday night in san francisco. he struck out 5 batters to give him 137 strikeouts for the 2023 season. those 5 giants that he k'd increased his career total to 2,944.
in honor of his performance, here are 5 cards from my collection to represent strikeouts 2,940 through 2,944.
2,940 - 2015 topps gallery of greats
kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there until he passes zack greinke. greinke, who struck out 5 tigers last tuesday and 2 yankees on the last day of the season, has a career strikeout total of 2,979. kershaw is now 35 k's behind greinke and 56 away from the 3,000 milestone.
kershaw pitched five and a third innings against the giants in his final start of the regular season. he finishes the year with those 137 strikeouts to go along with 13 wins and a 2.46 era in 24 starts.
so now it is on to the postseason and then it will be time to find out whether or not kershaw (and greinke, for that matter) will continue his career in 2024. remember, no pitcher has ever had more than 2,855 strikeouts and not gone on to reach the 3,000 milestone, and i hope that neither kershaw nor greinke become the first. if and when kershaw makes his next regular season appearance, know that i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!
With all the issues the Dodgers rotation took this year, they need Kershaw to come back for one more year. I would think Greinke has to be at least tempted to go for 3000, but with the year he had...
ReplyDeleteAssuming he starts the season with the rest of the league... I wonder when he'll reach 3k. Late April? May? Early June?
ReplyDeleteSo what does your gut tell you as far as if either is gonna come back next year?
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