Clayton Kershaw is the National League MVP. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who won the National League Cy Young Award on Wednesday, was selected the 2014 National League Most Valuable Player on Thursday night.
Kershaw is the first NL pitcher to sweep both awards since the St. Louis Cardinals’ Bob Gibson in 1968.
Detroit Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander won both American League awards in 2011.
“When you see that ‘most valuable’ in front of something, to have people think you really mean that much to your team, it really is a huge honor for me,” Kershaw told MLB Network after the announcement. “It’s one of the coolest things ever.”
Kershaw got 18 of 30 first-place votes and 355 points in balloting by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton finished second, getting eight first-place votes and 298 points. Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen, last year’s NL MVP, finished third with four first-place votes and 271 points.
Despite missing more than a month with a back injury early in the season, Kershaw led the majors in wins and ERA, finishing the season with a 21-3 record and a 1.77 ERA.
Kershaw also threw his first career no-hitter on June 18, when he had 15 strikeouts and did not walk a batter against the Colorado Rockies.
The 26-year-old lefty struggled in the playoffs, going 0-2 with a 7.72 ERA, but voting for the MVP takes place before the postseason begins.
The only NL pitchers to win the Cy Young Award and MVP in the same season are Kershaw, Gibson, the Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax (1963) and the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Don Newcombe (1956).
Six American League pitchers accomplished the double: Verlander, the Oakland Athletics’ Dennis Eckersley (1992), the Boston Red Sox’s Roger Clemens (1986), the Detroit Tigers’ Willie Hernandez (1986), the Milwaukee Brewers’ Rollie Fingers (1981) and the Athletics’ Vida Blue (1971).
Stanton led the NL with 37 homers and a .555 slugging percentage. He came in second in the NL with a .395 on-base percentage and 105 RBIs, though was first in RBIs when he was hit in the face by a pitch Sept. 11, ending his season due to facial fractures and dental damage.
McCutchen topped the NL with a .410 on-base percentage and a .952 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. He hit .314 with 25 homers and 83 RBIs.
Rounding out the top 10 in the NL MVP ballot, in order, were Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy, Washington Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon, San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey, Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright, Pirates third baseman Josh Harrison and Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo.
