Clayton Kershaw And Max Scherzer Face Off 17 Years Later

Max Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw took the mound at Dodger Stadium 17 years after they first did so as rookies, filling in for Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux.

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Blink and you have missed it. Blink and nearly eighteen years flew right by, and two Hall of Fame careers unspooled behind your hooded eyes. Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer spent the past nearly two decades being two of the best pitchers of their generation.

Baseball internet blew up last week with the footage of the late, great Vin Scully previewing a Sunday afternoon game at Dodger Stadium back in 2008. Herewith:

A match-up of Randy Johnson vs. Greg Maddux became a game with some right-handed pitcher with heterochromia (two different colored eyes) making just his fourth big league start vs. a clean-shaven lefty making his 18^th. If only there had been a crystal ball at Chavez Ravine that day.

The game was relatively forgettable for the lefty (Kershaw), who left after four innings, surrendering six hits and three runs, while striking out four against a single walk. The righty (Scherzer), went one inning longer, allowed five hits, also giving up three runs. He, however, struck out 11 against a single walk. In the end, the Dodgers beat the Diamondbacks 5-3, with both pitchers getting no-decisions. Who won the match-up? Who’s to say?

Well, 17 years later these two took the mound again in what many believe will be their final seasons. If that is the case, then the two will be together again in six years in upstate New York when they enter the Hall of Fame as part of the same class. But on Friday night, back at Dodger Stadium, Scherzer, pitching for his seventh team, faced Kershaw, the hometown ace, in his 18^th year with the club.

In this edition, Scherzer again went six innings, giving up just two runs, striking out five against three walks. Kershaw, whose every outing has the fans holding their collective breaths, went six innings, gave up just a single run, and struck out four. Kershaw got the win – pushing his career record to 218-96, while Scherzer took the loss, moving his record to 218-114.

But the win totals tell only a small part of the story of these two remarkable pitchers. In early July, Kershaw recorded his 3,000^th strike out, making him the 20^th pitcher to do so. The last pitcher to reach that milestone before Kersh: Max Scherzer, nearly four years earlier, while he was Kershaw’s teammate with the Dodgers. When they started the game Friday night, they became the first two pitchers to face each other as rookies and then face each other when they both had 3,000 strikeouts, and the first time two 3,000-strike out pitchers have battled at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers selected Kershaw with the 7^th pick in the 2006 draft, while the Diamondbacks took Scherzer four slots later. Scherzer made his MLB debut a month before Kershaw – on April 29, 2008, throwing 4-1/3 perfect innings against the Astros, striking out seven. Kershaw also struck out seven in his debut – against the St. Louis Cardinals – while allowing five hits and two runs over six innings, to earn the win.

Both pitchers have won two World Series titles; both have won three Cy Young Awards, while Kershaw leads in All-Star appearances 11-8.

To go along with those three Cy Youngs, Scherzer has finished in the Top-5 in Cy Young voting five other times, while Kershaw has done so four additional times. Kershaw won an MVP Award in 2014, when he went 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA and six complete games. Scherzer has led the league in wins four times (if you are into that type of thing), while Kershaw has done so three times.

Scherzer has thrown two no-hitters to Kershaw’s single no-no. Scherzer has struck out 441 more batters than Kershaw, and will be close to or will surpass 3,500 by season’s end. Kershaw led the league in ERA on four occasions, a feat that Scherzer never accomplished. As of this writing, Kershaw’s career ERA and FIP are 2.52/2.85, while Scherzer’s are 3.18/3.20. There is no point in trying to figure out who has had a better career.

Scherzer’s Blue Jays currently lead the American League East by four games and are +400 to win the AL pennant (just behind the Detroit Tigers (+350)). Kershaw’s Dodgers lead the National League West by two games and are +145 to win the NL pennant. Odds don’t tell you everything; odds don’t play games; odds don’t win playoff series. But the odds do tell us that there is a very good chance that we have not seen the last Kershaw vs. Scherzer match-up. And if that were to happen, not only would it be great baseball, it would be great for baseball.