For example, Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal is in the middle of a Kershaw-like run of dominance, having won the 2024 Cy Young and carrying his team to within a game of the American League Championship Series last year. But Skubal is already 28 and has 786 strikeouts.

On a night that said plenty about the 18-year relationship between Kershaw and the Dodgers and Kershaw and the fan base, the left-hander showed why he stands alone among the 20 names on the list.

Clayton Kershaw threw his 3,000th strikeout Wednesday night, becoming just the 20th player in MLB history to reach the milestone, and I need us to just think about that for a second. The majors have been around over 120 years and only 19 players in that period had thrown 3,