Find out what happens when MLB pitcher, Clayton Kershaw faces one of the greatest all-time teams. Can he stand up to a lineup stacked with future Hall of Famers?
Los Angeles Dodgers Clayton Kershaw has been one of the top pitchers in all Major League Baseball in recent years. In 2011 and 2013 he won the National League Cy Young award. He tossed his first career no-hitter on June 18th, an 8-0 whitewash over the Colorado Rockies in Dodger Stadium. The past 3 years he’s been an All-Star and will surely win the nod again this year. In addition to these stellar accomplishments, he received the Robert Clemente Award for his charitable work.
How about the 2006 MLB draft when the Dodgers drafted Kershaw seventh overall. Other pitchers they could have chosen were future Cy Young Award winners Tim Lincecum (who went 10th overall to the Giants) and Max Scherzer (who went 11th overall to the Diamondbacks). The star lefty for the Dodgers was younger, though developed rather quickly in their minor league system coming up within 2 years during May of 2008.
His devastating curve ball tagged him with comparisons to legendary Hall of Famer, former Dodger pitcher Sandy Koufax who won 3 Cy Young Awards before retiring at the early age of 30.
By the end of the 2013 season, Kershaw his career record stood at 77-46, a .626 winning percentage. Though he racked up 21 wins in 2011, his best season performance statistically was in 2013 with a puny 1.83 ERA, WHIP of .915, and 232 punch outs leading the league in those categories.
In January 2014, Kershaw signed a record setting 7-year, $215M contract. With bonus signing money, he’ll earn a cool $22M this season. Baseball Classics is decided it’s time to put him to the test against one of the best all-time teams in Major League Baseball history to see how he fares earning that mega payroll.
We brought out the 1975 Cincinnati Reds known as the Big Red Machine for Kershaw to face someone “his own size” so to speak. The Reds dominated the National League from 1970 through 1976. The 1975 and 1976 Reds were the first National League team to win back-to-back World Series since the 1921 and 22 New York Giants.
In our previous Baseball Classics podcast show number 6, “Best MLB Team Playoff Performance in the Modern Era“, we declared the 1976 Cincinnati Reds as the best playoff team performance of the modern era. Hall of Famer, their second baseman Joe Morgan once declared the 1976 Reds as the greatest team of all-time. That’s another debate for another time, meanwhile it’s time for the first half of the Cincinnati Reds World Series dominating teams in the 1970’s, their 1975 team lineup and bench to take on 2013 Clayton Kershaw.
To find out how this epic face-off would wind up, we used the Baseball Classics Baseball Game and the 2013 Los Angeles Dodgers Clayton Kershaw and 1975 Cincinnati Reds player cards. Here’s the starting lineup used, which was the same typical lineup used by Reds Manager Sparky Anderson that season.
Pete Rose, 3B
Ken Griffey, RF
Joe Morgan, 2B
Tony Perez, 1B
Johnny Bench, C
George Foster, LF
Dave Concepcion, SS
Cesar Geronimo, CF
Pitcher Hitter Card 2
Kershaw pitched in 33 games in 2013, thus the game play consisted of 33 total games facing that lineup and any necessary pinch hitters. He averaged facing around 27 batters per game, thus his pitching was limited to around that marker to keep his total innings pitched consistent.
2013 Los Angeles Dodger Clayton Kershaw Season Stats
Games – 33
Complete Games – 3
Shutouts – 2
Innings Pitched – 236
Hit – 164
Walks – 52
Strikeouts – 232
Earned Runs – 48
ERA – 1.82
WHIP – 0.915
We used the Baseball Classics Real-Time Decision Manager to manage the defense behind Kershaw. The Real-Time Decision Manager is a great add-on to Baseball Classics game play; it can make any and all decisions for one or both teams when playing Baseball Classics Baseball Game. From choosing the starting lineup all the way through the final out, every game time option to be made is covered.
The 1975 Reds starting lineup, including the pitcher spot is had a batting average around .275. That’s well above the National League team batting average Kershaw faced in 2013 of .251. On the flipside, the Reds faced a National League team earned run average in 1975 of 3.62, which is well above Kershaw’s 2013 ERA registering at only 1.82.
In other words, Kershaw didn’t face a consistent team batting average of .275 and the 1975 Reds starting lineup didn’t face consistent pitching with an ERA of 1.82. How much will the Reds’ offense suffer facing Kershaw and how much of a dent can the Big Red Machine make against Kershaw’s actual season performance numbers?
The final results are announced in this Baseball Classics podcast show, tune in to find out what happened and how the actual season performance statistics of Kershaw in 2013 and the Reds in 1975 turned out when facing each other over 33 games. The end results are remarkable!
Who do you think will fare better? What other types of match-ups like this would you like to see in the future? I’m looking forward to hearing from all you MLB fans out there.
Baseball Classics Resources Used For This Podcast
Baseball Classics – www.BaseballClassicsBaseballGame.com
Baseball Reference – www.baseball-reference.com
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2013 Los Angeles Dodgers Clayton Kershaw vs. 1975 Cincinnati Reds Stats Summary
2013 Los Angeles Dodgers Clayton Kershaw vs. 1975 Cincinnati Reds Scorecards