Fansided

Picking an All-Decade MLB team for the 2010s

By Joshua Sadlock

TORONTO, ON - JUNE 17: Mike Trout #27 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim bats in the fourth inning during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on June 17, 2019 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - JUNE 17: Mike Trout #27 of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim bats in the fourth inning during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on June 17, 2019 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MAY 08: Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches during the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Dodger Stadium on May 08, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

Starting pitcher: Clayton Kershaw

Postseason disasters aside, there is no debate that Clayton Kershaw was the best pitcher in baseball for the last decade. The left-hander won three NL Cy Youngs, an MVP award and finished in the top five in Cy Young voting four additional times. Kershaw carried an ERA below 2.00 for over four years from 2013 to 2016.

For the decade, Kershaw was 156-61 with a 2.31 ERA. He struck out 9.8 per nine and had five strikeouts for every one walk issued. In his four best years, he was 65-23 with a 1.88 ERA and struck out 10.4 per nine while holding opponents to a .193/.232/.280 line. Those are reliever numbers.

There’s no getting around talking about Kershaw’s postseason struggles in the decade. The Los Angeles Dodgers have been in the postseason seven years in a row, so the 31-year-old has had plenty of chances at his signature moment. Kershaw is 9-10 with a 4.28 ERA over his last 27 playoff appearances. It’s not that he’s pitched poorly, because he has still struck out ten per nine and held opponents to a .641 OPS. He has cracked multiple times in game-changing situations, like Game 5 of the 2017 World Series or Game 5 of the 2019 NLDS.

At 31, Kershaw appears to be leaving his peak years as we enter the 2020s, but what a peak it was. He will go down as the best pitcher of his generation, playoff wins or not. Kershaw has thrown nearly 2,300 innings in the regular season and an additional 158.1 in the postseason. That’s a lot of wear on anyone’s arm, but if the Dodgers are smart about managing his innings, there’s no reason he won’t contend for at least one more Cy Young.

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