Clayton Kershaw wins 2013 NL Cy Young Award

The Dodgers’ ace captured 29 of 30 first-place votes in winning his second Cy Young Award in three seasons.

Nov 13, 2013, 11:51 PM UTC

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw won his second National League Cy Young Award on Wednesday, capturing 29 of the 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America. Kershaw beat fellow award finalists Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals and Jose Fernandez of the Marlins.

More Dodgers: A look back at Kershaw's amazing 2013

Coupled with his 2011 NL Cy Young Award, Kershaw is the 17th pitcher in MLB history with multiple Cy Youngs.

Kershaw was the overwhelming favorite to win the award after the best season of his career to date. The 25-year-old led the league in ERA (1.83), strikeouts (232) and WHIP (0.92) in 2013 while also demonstrating excellent command and rarely making mistake pitches.

The 2013 season marks the third consecutive year Kershaw has topped the league in both ERA and WHIP. He also led in strikeouts during his 2011 Cy Young campaign and finished one behind R.A. Dickey for the league lead in 2012. Dickey beat Kershaw handily for the Cy Young that year.

Kershaw joined Lefty Grove (1929-1931) and Greg Maddux (1993-1995) as the only pitchers to lead MLB in ERA for three consecutive seasons.

Kershaw is also likely to garner a good number of MVP votes in voting this season, as well. He finished 12th and 16th for the award the last two seasons, and the 2013 award results will be announced on Thursday. His ERA this season was the best by a qualified pitcher in 13 years. He was fourth in Fangraphs’ Wins Above Replacement to Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Gomez and Matt Carpenter in the NL.

The Dodgers are hoping to sign the now two-time Cy Young winner to a monster contract extension this offseason. Kershaw and the Dodgers are rumored to have discussed a contract in the $300 million range early in the 2013 season.