Dodgers Dugout: Who's better, Clayton Kershaw or Sandy Koufax?

Los Angeles Times

08-07-2025

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Sorry we are a day late, asthma, plus a cold, plus smoke in the air from fireworks equals bad breathing.
For the next part of our 'Ask....' series. Jaime Jarrín, the Spanish-language voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers, for 64 seasons before retiring after the 2022 season, will answer selected questions from readers. Jarrín is in the Baseball Hall of Fame as a broadcaster and was the longtime interpreter for Fernando Valenzuela. Please send your questions to [e-mail] before 10 p.m. Friday.
When Clayton Kershaw reached the 3,000 strikeout mark, Bill Plaschke wrote a column saying it clinched Kershaw being the greatest pitcher in Dodgers history, greater than Sandy Koufax.
I could give you pages of stats and biographical information on both men, but I'm guessing most of you already know about them. Books have been written about Koufax, and books will be written about Kershaw.
A few weeks ago, I wrote 'Kershaw and Koufax are the two best pitchers in Dodgers history,' and I got inundated with emails from angry Koufax fans, wondering why I would mention them in the same sentence, let alone list Kershaw first (um, alphabetical order). So, I broach the topic very carefully.
The thing to keep in mind is they are both great pitchers. Both first-ballot Hall of Famers. Both have won World Series, Cy Young Awards and MVP awards.
So how do you determine who is the best? It depends on how much you value certain things. Let's look at some arguments.
1. Koufax had only five great seasons, and they all came when the rules of the time favored the pitcher.
2. In his prime, Koufax pitched 300 innings a season and had multiple complete games (Koufax had 27 complete games in 1965 and 1966. Kershaw has had 25 complete games in his career and never pitched more than 236 innings in a season). Keep in mind that Kershaw never wanted to come out of games, he was really an old-school pitcher stuck in modern times.
3. Koufax is the best postseason pitcher in history with an 0.95 ERA in eight postseason games, all in the World Series. Of all pitchers with multiple Cy Young Awards, Kershaw is easily the worst in the postseason, going 13-13 with a 4.49 ERA. If we just limit it to the World Series, it's not much better, as he is 3-2 with a 4.46 ERA.
4. Koufax pitched in three World Series that the Dodgers won. Kershaw pitched in only one.
5. Koufax didn't have to pitch in multiple postseason rounds like Kershaw did. If he had to pitch in three rounds just to get to the World Series, his numbers likely wouldn't be as good.
6. Kershaw had a much, much longer career where he was one of the best pitchers in baseball. Depending on what you call a great season, it's 10, 11 or 12. Koufax had 'just' the five.
7. Kershaw has a career ERA+ of 155, meaning he was 55% better than a league average pitcher in his career. Koufax's was 131, meaning he was 31% better. Of course, Kershaw didn't pitch into the eight and ninth all that often, helping save his ERA somewhat.
Those are just a few of the arguments. As to what I think? If I had to pick one, in their prime, to start a winner-take-all game, I'd pick Koufax. If you said 'You can have this guy's regular-season career, starting from Game 1, for your team,' I'd go with Kershaw. So, it depends on what you consider great. They were both great.
Read Plaschke's column, which has several good arguments, by clicking here.
Have you read it? Then please vote in our survey, 'Who was better, Clayton Kershaw or Sandy Koufax?' Heck, you can vote even if you didn't read Plaschke's column. You can vote by clicking here.
Of all teams to be swept by, it had to be the Houston (no relation) Astros? They did expose some problems the Dodgers have had all season: Banged-up players and bad pitching.
Max Muncy, who was their best hitter in the last six weeks, is on the IL (more on that below). Tommy Edman has a broken toe. Teoscar Hernández fouled a ball off his left foot Saturday, and is still plagued by the groin injury that put him on the IL earlier this season. He isn't close to 100%. Kiké Hernández went on the IL Monday with elbow inflammation. Mookie Betts hasn't seemed to recover from losing 25 pounds just before the season and is hitting a paltry (by Betts' standards) .252/.324/.397. Last season he hit .289/.372/.491. He is currently on track for the worst offensive season of his career. Add in the fact that Teoscar is just a brutal fielder in right, and you have to wonder if a move back to right is being considered, not that they'd talk openly about it. I mean, it was so bad that Michael Conforto hit fifth Sunday.
Pitching wise, Ben Casparius is suddenly having trouble getting people out. Noah Davis, with a career ERA of 8.95 was on the staff and gave up 10 runs Friday. Most of the guys in the bullpen are having bad seasons compared to their career norms. The bullpen ERA (4.41) is 24th of the 30 teams. In the rotation, they have one reliable guy (Yoshinobu Yamamoto), two erratic guys (Dustin May and Kershaw), one guy who might be solid, but it's too soon to tell (Emmet Sheehan), one guy who pitches well but hasn't gone more than two innings (Shohei Ohtani) and a bunch of wishes and prayers for everyone else.
We keep hearing that Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell are returning soon (Glasnow perhaps this week), but I'll believe it when I see it, and given their history, how long before they get hurt again?
Does this mean it is time to panic? Of course not. Despite all of the above, the Dodgers have one of the best records in baseball and have a comfortable lead over the Giants and Padres. They will make the postseason. If you recall, they struggled at times with similar issues last season, and that season ended OK if I remember correctly.
Andrew Friedman has shown that he is not afraid the make moves at the trade deadline. You can count on a move or two before the deadline this season (July 31 at 3 p.m. PT). The roster right now will not be the roster on day one of the postseason. So, let's see what happens.
You have to feel bad for Max Muncy. He finally had turned things around and was one of the team's best hitters again. Then, his knee is injured when Michael Taylor of the White Sox slides into it while trying to steal third. It looked terrible, as your knee isn't designed to bend that direction. It looked like he had torn everything in his knee and would be out for the season.
However, the Dodgers say an MRI exam showed just a bone bruise and he should be back in six weeks. Hopefully, that's what happens and he doesn't lose his swing while he's recovering. However, the Dodgers have been historically vague when talking about injuries. If you remember, Muncy hurt his elbow on the last day of the 2021, in a similar situation, only the runner collided with his elbow at first instead of his knee at third.
After that injury, the MRI was described as the best-case scenario, and Dave Roberts said, 'I just don't want to, we don't want to, close the door on a potential down-the-road postseason appearance.' Muncy and the club kept insisting he could return for the postseason if the Dodgers advanced to the World Series.
A month or so after the Dodgers were eliminated from the postseason, Muncy said he had torn the UCL in his elbow and knew he wasn't going to play in the postseason.
So, hopefully his new injury is the best-case scenario, but I'm not holding my breath. With this injury, the Dodgers said they won't be actively exploring a deal for a third baseman since Muncy will be back, meaning we will know a lot more about the accuracy of what they are saying if they actually don't trade for a third baseman.
The five Dodgers who will be on the All-Star team this season:
StartersFreddie FreemanShohei OhtaniWill Smith
PitchersClayton KershawYoshinobu Yamamoto
Kershaw was named as the commissioner's 'Legend Pick.'
Christian Walker continues to be a Dodger killer. He had a big series for the Astros, and is one of only nine opponents with at least 20 homers at Dodger Stadium. The list:
Barry Bonds, 29George Foster, 23Henry Aaron, 22Dale Murphy, 22Mike Schmidt, 22Willie Stargell, 21Paul Goldschmidt, 20Dave Kingman, 20Christian Walker, 20
In his career against the Dodgers, Walker is hitting .259/.318/.563 with 10 doubles, 28 homers and 64 RBIs in 340 plate appearances. Some have emailed wondering if they should just intentionally walk Walker in every at bat. No. That would be foolish. Just walk him when the situation calls for it (second and third, one out, for example, depending on who is pitching). There is no one in baseball history you should walk every at bat.
Dodgers pitchers Clayton Kershaw, Yoshinobu Yamamoto named to all-star game roster
Hernández: Dodgers must aggressively pursue pitchers before the trade deadline
With Max Muncy expected back from knee injury, Dodgers stick with trade deadline plans
Max Muncy heads to IL with what Dodgers are calling a left knee bone bruise
Jaime Jarrín's Hall of Fame speech. Watch and listen here.
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