Who is Arturs Silovs? How a rookie goalie has steadied the Canucks’ playoff run
-
Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — “Take the ball.”
Everything about those three words was an invitation. It was a way to let Arturs Silovs know that although he had already done quite a bit, he could still do so much more, because those around him believed he was capable of more.
Several months have passed since Abbotsford Canucks coach Jeremy Colliton delivered that message. In that time, Silovs has gone from a strong AHL goaltender to one who has won three postseason games for the Vancouver Canucks in one of this year’s unlikeliest situations.
Think about that. Or rather, think about it like this: Silovs is a 23-year-old goalie from Latvia, a nation whose population is smaller than metro Vancouver. For all the questions facing the Canucks about how they’d survive without injured Vezina Trophy finalist Thatcher Demko, they have found answers with Silovs’ ascension.
His first postseason start saw him come away with the victory in a Game 4 overtime win over the Nashville Predators in the first round. He gave the Canucks a chance to win Game 5, only to be one of the biggest reasons they won Game 6 as he recorded a 1-0 shutout to close out the series.
It is the sort of rise that has made him and his actions unavoidable. Silovs’ bold fashion choices led to Canucks alternate captain J.T. Miller donning the goalie’s Hugo Boss paisley T-shirt as a practice sweater. What started as a prank turned into a full-on movement with so many Canucks fans flooding Hugo Boss’ website that the “Interlock-Cotton T-Shirt with Paisley Print,” as it’s called, is sold out. Fans have worn them during games at Rogers Arena — the same Rogers Arena that roared more for Silovs than anyone else announced in the starting lineup despite the fact that he has spent the least amount of time of anyone on the Canucks’ active roster.
All because he took the ball.
“We gave him an opportunity to play three to four games [in a row] or play a back-to-back in both games and be someone that our young group could count on,” Colliton said. “I think to have that responsibility isn’t easy when you yourself are a young player. That’s a part of his growth and what you want to expose guys to as they get to another level.”
Even in such a short time, Silovs has created a discussion about whether the Canucks have something on their hands. Every one of his performances has added to that conversation, while generating a few more talking points.
Exactly who is this man? And is he for real?
Romanticism is rarely in short supply when it comes to athletes arriving at certain stages of their careers. Hockey, or rather, playoff hockey, is no different. Ideas that once seemed far-fetched suddenly appear realistic, as does the possibility that something better might be on the horizon.
Clinging to this sort of hope can be equal parts rewarding and painful. It’s what makes this particular point in the Canucks narrative so emphatic. Promise born out of pain has become the story of a season that has seen a franchise draft star homegrown players and finally build around them in a way that could mark the start of a significant culture change.
This is a point Colliton and Abbotsford goalie coach Marko Torenius stress when it comes to the culture of their parent club and how it feels so up-close-and-personal despite being a 72-kilometer drive away on the Trans-Canada Highway.
Silovs is one of those players who embodies the culture the Canucks are trying to cultivate with their prospects in the hope of creating long-term success.
Every year, NHL teams try to find a physically imposing goalie with athleticism. Silovs and his 6-foot-4 build is just that. As organizations seek to use a farm-to-table approach to build their teams, Silovs is an example of that, too.
And with more franchises using at least two goalies to get through a season, Silovs is an option who understands the balance that comes with wanting to win, while also realizing the dynamics of having one of the NHL’s best netminders at the top of the depth chart.
“In our organization, there’s [Canucks goaltending coach] Ian Clark, who recognizes those talented guys and he has his unique style to scout with his people and they have been finding those talented guys and Arty is one of those guys,” Torenius said. “He has been stepping down that path since he got here. It’s been years since [Clark] brought Arty on that journey, and those last couple seasons have been big steps, but he’s still on that journey to become a better goalie.”
Back in 2019, the Canucks drafted Silovs in the sixth round. He was part of a draft class that saw goalies such as Spencer Knight and Pyotr Kochetkov go ahead of him while Silovs was picked before Dustin Wolf.
Silovs quickly made the transition to North American hockey. The 2019-20 season was his first as a Canucks prospect and that led to him playing for the Barrie Colts in the Ontario Hockey League, where he won 16 games. He spent the next season playing on loan back in Latvia with a cameo in the AHL that amounted to him playing nine games in a 2020-21 campaign that was still feeling the impact of the pandemic.
The 2021-22 season saw him take another step. He played 10 games in the ECHL, another 10 games in the AHL while finding success on the international stage. Silovs went 3-3 but had a 0.87 goals-against average and a .968 save percentage in his international games that season.
All the patience that was exercised throughout his development saw a breakthrough in 2022-23 when Silovs cemented himself as a full-time AHL goaltender. He parlayed that success into being the goalie who led Latvia to a bronze medal finish with an overtime victory against the United States at the IIHF men’s world championship. That led to him being named the goaltender of the tournament.
The growth he showed last season is why Colliton, among others, challenged him to take the next step in 2023-24. It’s what opened the door for him to get called up to the Canucks when Demko went down with a knee injury back in March. He won three of his four starts and had a 2.58 goals-against average while working in tandem with Casey DeSmith.
Demko started Game 1 with a win, but sustained another injury and hasn’t played since. DeSmith took over in Games 2 and 3 of the first round, but reportedly suffered a lower-body injury along the way, prompting Canucks coach Rick Tocchet to turn to Silovs, who won the necessary games to get them into the second round for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
“He gives us confidence,” Canucks defenseman Nikita Zadorov said. “It’s not like we’re giving him confidence. You see him stay calm, make big saves. You can see it in his face, his body language — that’s what us in the D-corps talk about. That this guy is ready to play and he’s unreal. It’s not like we’re giving him confidence. He gives us confidence.”
Discussing what has allowed Silovs to become such an improbable figure for the Canucks leads Zadorov to talk about how this has happened before. He mentioned how Jordan Binnington took time to develop and when he was ready, he was one of the biggest reasons why the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup in 2019.
Not that Zadorov was comparing Silovs to Binnington, but his point was that there’s a precedent for goaltenders who might have been largely unknown at one stage of the season becoming a pivotal figure in the playoffs.
That’s another reason Colliton and Torenius underscore the culture the Canucks are trying to implement. Torenius said Clark has made a point of seeking goaltenders who aren’t afraid to work and have a competitive drive, while also emphasizing that every goalie in their system must care about details down to the most granular level.
Torenius explained how it’s about letting goaltenders be who they are as people while also helping them become the sort of players who can turn into significant contributors.
“There is that awareness with how you read the game, how you use your vision, and it’s also that technical part where we want our guys to be on top of the pace of the game,” Torenius said. “You don’t want to be behind the game. We want to be on top and you build those tools over time and with repetition. It gives you a game plan for every individual we have here.”
Winning in the NHL can be achieved in numerous ways. The Canucks’ formula has seen them make the type of free agent signings and trades under general manager Patrik Allvin that have given them options throughout their lineup.
Yet building around a homegrown core is considered the most prominent path toward winning. The Canucks have seen homegrown talent come through and depart, with the current roster including six players they drafted (that doesn’t include the recent influx of Black Aces that joined the team after Abbotsford’s season ended in the playoffs).
Silovs is among those six, and the only one who wasn’t drafted in the first two rounds. Even if his run is brief, it helps show that later-round draft picks can find success in the Canucks system.
“I do think it’s important for the guys who are here to see that success and to see that it’s there, that it’s available,” said Colliton, who coached the Chicago Blackhawks for three-plus seasons. “If you want to put in the work and prepare yourself for your opportunity — we’ve had that a lot. I think it’s very motivating for the guys who are here that it’s a big step, but you’re close if you can keep fighting.”
That visibility isn’t limited to prospects. It’s also on display for an entire nation to observe. Silovs is just the 28th Latvian player and only the sixth Latvian goalie in NHL history, according to QuantHockey. It’s a group that includes former NHL defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh and former goaltender Arturs Irbe.
As for Silovs, he’s one of five Latvians to play at least one game this season, a list that includes Canucks center Teddy Blueger, who has the fifth-most points by a Latvian player in NHL history.
Eric Savics, who is the honorary consul for the Latvian Embassy in Vancouver, notes that there is a 10-hour time difference between Vancouver and Riga, the nation’s capital. Even with that gulf in time, he said, many people back home have made a point to watch Silovs because of what it means to the nation.
One of the nation’s daily newspapers, Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze, has posted numerous stories on its website about Silovs. Entering Game 2, the most read story on the site was about how Silovs has turned into a cult figure among Canucks fans on social media. The headline, when translated to English, reads, “‘Give the Latvian god a million dollars!’ A real cult of Silovs is emerging in Vancouver.”
“They would follow him if he was a tennis player, a bowler or God knows what,” said Savics, who was born in Latvia and immigrated to Canada as a child. “As long as he is world class, they will follow whatever he does. That’s the pride of the country and that’s the idea. People there see it as ‘one of our athletes is making it.'”
This could just be the start for Silovs.
What he did in the quarterfinals paved the way for him to start against the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference semifinal. Although he allowed four goals, he still made the needed third-period saves to aid his teammates in coming back from a three-goal deficit to complete a 5-4 win to open the series.
Tocchet said between Games 1 and 2 that Silovs had earned the right to start the second game. Tocchet, however, also said DeSmith could be an option for Game 2, only to declare at morning skate of Game 2 that Silovs would start.
Silovs would stop 27 of the 31 shots he faced in the Canucks’ 4-3 overtime loss Friday that tied the series at 1-1. It’s possible that Silovs will remain in net for Game 3 with the understanding that Demko could potentially return by Game 5 at the earliest, according to a report from Daily Faceoff.
“He was really good,” Tocchet said after Game 2. “Arty — I’m really proud of him. I thought he was really good.”
Now that they’ve seen how Silovs has responded to the demands of being a starting goaltender in the playoffs, his performances could also give Allvin and his front office staff a decision to make in the offseason.
Silovs, who earned $786,111 this season, will be a pending restricted free agent. DeSmith, who is a pending unrestricted free agent, made $1.8 million. The Canucks could determine that Silovs and his team-friendly cap hit can be trusted to be Demko’s backup, or they could keep DeSmith or sign another experienced option just to be safe.
Yet the potential savings Silovs provides could allow the Canucks to maximize what CapFriendly projects will be $24.778 million in available space. The Canucks have a pending UFA class that includes Ian Cole, Dakota Joshua, Elias Lindholm, Tyler Myers and Zadorov, while Filip Hronek will become a restricted free agent.
“He knows he has a lot to prove and he has come from afar,” Torenius said of Silovs. “He’s lucky that there are guys like Clarkie who knows what it takes. He has been filtering that information from those guys about how to get to the top level. … When your eyes are open and your ears are open, you can learn something from them and he’s been ready to learn.”
-
Bradford Doolittle
The 3,000-strikeout club has grown by one, with Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers whiffing the Chicago White Sox‘s Vinny Capra in the sixth inning Wednesday at Dodger Stadium, becoming the 20th pitcher in baseball history to reach that milestone.
The 3K pitching club doesn’t generate as much hullabaloo as its hitting counterpart, but it is more exclusive: Thirty-three players have reached 3,000 hits.
When you look at the list of pitchers with 3,000 strikeouts, and Kershaw’s place on it, a few things jump out.
• None of them pitched at Ebbets Field, at least not in a regular-season game. I frame it like that to illustrate that this level of whiffery is a fairly recent phenomenon. The Dodgers bolted Brooklyn after the 1957 season, and at that point, Walter Johnson was the only member of the 3,000-strikeout club. A career Washington Senator, he never pitched against the Dodgers. Every other 3K member made his big league debut in 1959 or later. Half of them debuted in 1984 or later. Three of them (Kershaw, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander) are active.
• For now, Kershaw has thrown the fewest career innings of any 3K member, though he’s likely to eventually end up with more frames than Pedro Martinez.
• Kershaw has the highest winning percentage of the 20 (.697) and the best ERA+ (155), though his edges over Martinez (.685 and 154) are razor thin.
• Kershaw tops the list in average game score (61.9) and is tied for second (with Bob Gibson) for quality start percentage (68%), behind only Tom Seaver (70%).
• Kershaw lags behind in bWAR, at least among this group of current, future and should-be Hall of Famers with 77.1, ranking 16th.
So where does Kershaw really rank in the 3K club? I’m glad you asked.
First, what should be obvious from the above bullet points is that the response to the question will vary according to how you choose to answer it. The ranking below reflects not only how I chose to answer the question but how I’d like to see starting pitchers rated in general — even today, in the wildly different context from the days of Walter Johnson.
1. Roger Clemens
FWP: 568.8 | Strikeouts: 4,672 (3rd in MLB history)
Game score W-L: 477-230 (.675)
The top three pitchers on the list, including Rocket, match the modern-era top three for all pitchers, not just the 3K guys. (The string is broken by fourth-place Christy Mathewson.) Before running the numbers, I figured Walter Johnson, with his modern-era record of 417 career wins (the old-fashioned variety), would top the list. But Clemens actually started more games (relief appearances don’t factor in) and had a better game score win percentage.
2. Randy Johnson
FWP: 532.9 | Strikeouts: 4,875 (2nd)
Game score W-L: 421-182 (.698)
Since we’re lopping off pre-1901 performances, the method does Cy Young dirty. Only two pitchers — Young (511 wins) and Walter Johnson got to 400 career wins by the traditional method. By the game score method, the club grows to nine, including a bunch of players many of us actually got to see play. The Big Unit is one of the new 400-game winners, and of the nine, his game score winning percentage is the highest. The only thing keeping Johnson from No. 1 on this list is that he logged 104 fewer career starts than Clemens.
3. Walter Johnson
FWP: 494.7 | Strikeouts: 3,509 (9th)
Game score W-L: 437-229 (.656)
Don’t weep for the Big Train — even this revamping of his century-old performance record and the fixation on strikeouts can’t dim his greatness. That fact we mentioned in the introduction — that every 3K member except Walter Johnson debuted in 1959 or later — tells you a lot about just how much he was a man out of his time. Johnson retired after the 1927 season and surpassed 3,000 strikeouts by whiffing Cleveland’s Stan Coveleski on July 22, 1923. It was nearly 51 years before Gibson became 3K member No. 2 on July 17, 1974.
4. Greg Maddux
FWP: 443.3 | Strikeouts: 3,371 (12th)
Game score W-L: 453-287 (.612)
There is a stark contrast between pitcher No. 4 and pitcher No. 5 on this ranking. The wild thing about Maddux ranking above Nolan Ryan in a group selected for strikeouts is that no one thinks of Maddux as a strikeout pitcher. He never led a league in whiffs and topped 200 just once (204 in 1998). He was just an amazingly good pitcher for a really long time.
5. Nolan Ryan
FWP: 443.1 | Strikeouts: 5,714 (1st)
Game score W-L: 467-306 (.604)
Ryan is without a doubt the greatest strikeout pitcher who ever lived, and it’s really hard to imagine someone surpassing him. This is a guy who struck out his first six batters in 1966, when Lyndon Johnson was in the White House, and his last 46 in 1993, when Bill Clinton was there. Ryan was often criticized during his heyday for his win-loss record, but the game score method clears that right up. Ryan’s revised winning percentage (.604) is markedly higher than his actual percentage (.526).
6. Max Scherzer
FWP: 385.7 | Strikeouts: 3,419 (11th)
Game score W-L: 315-145 (.685)
Here’s another club Mad Max is in: .680 or better game score winning percentage, minimum 100 career starts. He’s one of just eight members, along with Kershaw. The list is topped by Smoky Joe Wood, who dominated the AL during the 1910s before hurting his arm and converting into a full-time outfielder. The full list: Wood, Martinez, Randy Johnson, Lefty Grove, Mathewson, Kershaw, Stephen Strasburg and Scherzer.
7. Justin Verlander
FWP: 385.0 | Strikeouts: 3,471 (10th)
Game score W-L: 349-190 (.647)
Like Scherzer, Verlander is fresh off the injured list. Thus, the two active leaders in our version of FWP have resumed their tight battle for permanent supremacy. Both also resume their quests to become the 10th and 11th pitchers to reach 3,500 strikeouts. Verlander, who hasn’t earned a traditional win in 13 starts, is 4-9 this season by the game score method.
8. Pedro Martinez
FWP: 383.5 | Strikeouts: 3,154 (15th)
Game score W-L: 292-117 (.714)
By so many measures, Martinez is one of the greatest of all time, even if his career volume didn’t reach the same levels as those of the others on the list. His 409 career starts are easily the fewest of the 3K club. But he has the highest game score winning percentage and, likewise, the highest score for FWP per start (.938).
9. Steve Carlton
FWP: 379.8 | Strikeouts: 4,136 (4th)
Game score W-L: 420-289 (.592)
When you think of Lefty, you think of his 1972 season, when he went 27-10 (traditional method) for a Phillies team that went 59-97. What does the game score method think of that season? It hates it. Kidding! No, Carlton, as you’d expect, dominated, going 32-9. So think of it like this: There were 32 times in 1972 that Carlton outpitched his starting counterpart despite the lethargic offense behind him.
10. Tom Seaver
FWP: 371.3 | Strikeouts: 3,640 (6th)
Game score W-L: 391-256 (.604)
Perhaps no other pitcher of his time demonstrated a more lethal combination of dominance and consistency than Seaver. The consistency is his historical differentiator. As mentioned, his career quality start percentage (70%) is tops among this group. Among all pitchers with at least 100 career starts, he ranks fifth. Dead ball era pitchers get a leg up in this stat, so the leader is the fairly anonymous Jeff Tesreau (72%), a standout for John McGraw’s New York Giants during the 1910s. The others ahead of Seaver are a fascinating bunch. One is Babe Ruth, and another is Ernie Shore, who in 1917 relieved Ruth when The Babe was ejected after walking a batter to start a game. Shore replaced him, picked off the batter who walked, then went on to retire all 26 batters he faced. The other ahead of Seaver: Jacob deGrom.
11. Clayton Kershaw
FWP: 370.9 | Strikeouts: 3,000 (20th)
Game score W-L: 301-137 (.687)
And here’s the guest of honor, our reason for doing this ranking exercise. As you can see, Kershaw joined the 300-game-score win club in his last start before Wednesday’s milestone game, becoming the 38th member. In so many measures of dominance, consistency and efficiency, Kershaw ranks as one of the very best pitchers of all time. When you think that he, Verlander and Scherzer are all in the waning years of Hall of Fame careers, you can’t help but wonder who, if anyone, is going to join some of the elite starting pitching statistical clubs in the future.
12. Don Sutton
FWP: 370.6 | Strikeouts: 3,574 (7th)
Game score W-L: 437-319 (.578)
For a post-dead ball pitcher, Sutton was a model of durability. He ranks third in career starts (756) and seventh in innings (5,283⅓). During the first 15 seasons of his career, Sutton started 31 or more games 14 times and threw at least 207 innings for the Dodgers in every season.
13. Ferguson Jenkins
FWP: 353.8 | Strikeouts: 3,192 (14th)
Game score W-L: 363-231 (.611)
Jenkins is in the Hall of Fame, so we can’t exactly say he was overlooked. Still, it does feel like he’s a bit underrated on the historical scale. His FWP score ranks 17th among all pitchers, and the game score method gives him a significant win-loss boost. That .611 percentage you see here is a good bit higher than his actual .557 career winning percentage. He just didn’t play for very many good teams and, in fact, never appeared in the postseason. He’s not the only Hall of Famer associated with the Chicago Cubs who suffered that fate.
14. Gaylord Perry
FWP: 335.6 | Strikeouts: 3,534 (8th)
Game score W-L: 398-292 (.577)
Perry, famous for doing, uh, whatever it takes to win a game, famously hung around past his expiration date to get to 300 wins, and he ended up with 314. Poor Perry: If my game score method had been in effect, he’d have quit two wins shy of 400. Would someone have given him a shot at getting there in 1984, when he was 45? One of history’s great what-if questions.
15. Phil Niekro
FWP: 332.5 | Strikeouts: 3,342 (13th)
Game score W-L: 408-308 (.570)
Knucksie won 318 games, and lost 274, the type of career exemplified by his 1979 season, when he went 21-20. We aren’t likely to see anyone again pair a 20-win season with a 20-loss season. His .537 traditional winning percentage improves with the game score method, but he’s still the low man in the 3K club in that column. Niekro joins Ryan and Sutton on the list of those with 300 game score losses. Sutton, at 319, is the leader. The others: Tommy John, Tom Glavine and Jamie Moyer. Of course, they were all safely over the 300-game-score win threshold as well.
16. CC Sabathia
FWP: 323.2 | Strikeouts: 3,093 (18th)
Game score W-L: 339-221 (.605)
Sabathia will be inducted into the Hall of Fame next month, and his place in this group only underscores how deserving he is of that honor. Sabathia debuted in 2001, and to reach the 250 traditional-win level (he won 251) in this era is an amazing feat. The only pitcher in that club who debuted later is Verlander, stuck at 262 wins after debuting in 2005. Right now, it’s hard to imagine who, if anyone, will be next. Of course, if we just went with game score wins, that would be different.
17. Bob Gibson
FWP: 321.0 | Strikeouts: 3,117 (16th)
Game score W-L: 305-177 (.633)
Gibson, incidentally, also won 251 games — and also gets enough boost from the game score method to climb over 300. His revised percentage is better than his traditional mark of .591. His average game score ranks third in this group, a reflection of his steady dominance but also of the era in which he pitched. Gibson is tied for eighth in quality start percentage among all pitchers. In 1968, when Gibson owned the baseball world with a 1.12 ERA, he went 22-9 by the traditional method. The game score method: 26-8. You’d think it would be even better, but it was, after all, the Year of the Pitcher.
18. Bert Blyleven
FWP: 320.2 | Strikeouts: 3,701 (5th)
Game score W-L: 391-294 (.571)
It took a prolonged campaign by statheads to raise awareness about Blyleven’s greatness and aid his eventual Cooperstown induction. He finished with 287 traditional wins, short of the historical benchmark. Here he would fall short of the 400-win benchmark, but, nevertheless, he is tied with John and Seaver for 11th on the game score wins list. His actual winning percentage was .534.
19. Curt Schilling
FWP: 307.1 | Strikeouts: 3,116 (17th)
Game score W-L: 281-155 (.644)
There are 31 pitchers who have broken the 300 FWP level, and it’s hard for me to imagine how anyone in that group could be left out of Cooperstown. You can sort this out for yourself in terms of baseball and not baseball reasons for this, but the group not there is Clemens, Schilling, John and Andy Pettitte, plus the greats (Kershaw, Verlander, Scherzer) who are still active.
20. John Smoltz
FWP: 273.8 | Strikeouts: 3,084 (19th)
Game score W-L: 290-191 (.603)
Smoltz won 213 games the traditional way, and he falls just short of 300 by the revised method. But all of this is about starting pitching, and with Smoltz, that overlooks a lot. After missing the 2000 season because of injury, he returned as a reliever, and for four seasons he was one of the best, logging 154 saves during that time. He’s the only member of the 200-win, 100-save club.
-
Alden Gonzalez
LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw‘s 3,000th career strikeout was preceded by a scary, dispiriting moment, when Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy injured his left knee and had to be helped off the field Wednesday night.
Muncy is set to undergo an MRI on Thursday, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said initial tests have them feeling “optimistic” and that the “hope” is Muncy only sustained a sprain.
With one out in the sixth inning, Muncy jumped to catch a throw from Dodgers catcher Will Smith, then tagged out Chicago White Sox center fielder Michael A. Taylor on an attempted steal and immediately clutched his left knee, prompting a visit from Roberts and head trainer Thomas Albert.
Muncy wrapped his left arm around Albert and walked toward the third-base dugout, replaced by Enrique Hernandez. His injury, caused by Taylor’s helmet slamming into the side of his left knee on a headfirst slide, was so gruesome that the team’s broadcast opted not to show a replay.
Taylor also exited the game with what initially was diagnosed as a left trap contusion.
The Dodgers went on to win 5-4 on Freddie Freeman‘s walk-off single that scored Shohei Ohtani.
-
Alden Gonzalez
LOS ANGELES — His start prolonged, the whiffs remained elusive, and the Dodger Stadium crowd became increasingly concerned that Clayton Kershaw might not reach a hallowed milestone in front of them Wednesday. Finally, with two outs in the sixth inning, on his 100th pitch of the night, it happened — an outside-corner slider to freeze Chicago White Sox third baseman Vinny Capra and make Kershaw the 20th member of the 3,000-strikeout club.
Kershaw came off the mound and waved his cap to a sold-out crowd that had risen in appreciation. His teammates then greeted him on the field, dispersing hugs before a tribute video played on the scoreboard, after which Kershaw spilled out of the dugout to greet the fans once more.
Kershaw, the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ longtime ace, is just the fourth lefty to reach 3,000 strikeouts, joining Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton and CC Sabathia. He is one of just five pitchers to accumulate that many with one team, along with Walter Johnson, Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton and John Smoltz. The only other active pitchers who reached 3,000 strikeouts are the two who have often been lumped with Kershaw among the greatest pitchers of this era: Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, the latter of whom reached the milestone as a member of the Dodgers in September 2021.
Kershaw’s first strikeout accounted for the first out of the third inning — immediately after Austin Slater’s two-run homer gave the White Sox a 3-2 lead. Former Dodger Miguel Vargas fell behind in the count 0-2, becoming the ninth batter to get to two strikes against Kershaw, then swung through a curveball low and away. The next strikeout, No. 2,999 of his career, came on his season-high-tying 92nd pitch of the night, a curveball that landed well in front of home plate and induced a swing-and-miss from Lenyn Sosa to end the fifth inning.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts did not even look at Kershaw as he made his way back into the dugout, a clear sign that Kershaw would not be taken out. The crowd erupted as Kershaw took the mound for the start of the sixth inning. Mike Tauchman grounded out and Michael A. Taylor hit a double, then was caught stealing on a play that prompted Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy to come down hard on his left knee, forcing him to be helped off the field.
The mood suddenly turned somber at Dodger Stadium. Then, four pitches later, came elation.
Kershaw reached 3,000 strikeouts in 2,787⅓ innings, making him the fourth-fastest player to reach the mark, according to research from the Elias Sports Bureau. The only ones who got there with fewer innings were Johnson (2,470⅔), Scherzer (2,516) and Pedro Martinez (2,647⅔).
The Dodgers came back to win 5-4, capping their rally with three runs in the bottom of the ninth.
Before the game, Roberts called the 3,000-strikeout milestone “the last box” of a Hall of Fame career — one whose spot in Cooperstown had already been cemented by three Cy Young Awards, 10 All-Star Games, an MVP, five ERA titles and more than 200 wins.
Kershaw’s 2.51 ERA is the lowest in the Live Ball era (since 1920) among those with at least 1,500 innings, even though Kershaw has nearly doubled that. He was a force early, averaging 200 innings and 218 strikeouts per season from 2010 to 2019. And he was a wonder late, finding ways to continually keep opposing lineups in check with his body aching and his fastball down into the high 80s.
Kershaw went on the injured list at least once every year from 2016 to 2024. A foot injury made him a spectator last October, when the Dodgers claimed their second championship in five years. The following month, Kershaw underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee and a ruptured plantar plate in his left big toe, then re-signed with the Dodgers and joined the rotation in mid-May. He allowed five runs in four innings in his debut but went 4-0 with a 2.08 ERA in his next seven starts, stabilizing a shorthanded rotation that remains without Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki and Tony Gonsolin.
Since the start of 2021, Kershaw has somehow managed to put up the sixth-lowest ERA among those with at least 400 innings.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike