While the Los Angeles Dodgers have made a strong case to be the latest MLB dynasty by winning back-to-back World Series titles and three in the last six years, their franchise history and success since 2000 is a mixed bag.
Up until the current era, there were middling levels of postseason accomplishments since the turn of the century. But there have also been impressive individual performances and players who carved out a special place in the Dodgers’ franchise history.
The DodgerBlue.com staff has ranked the best Dodgers players in the last 25 years. Among various factors considered, the all-time Dodgers list was compiled by evaluating a player’s contributions and significance to the franchise.
Dodgers quarter-century all-time team
No. 1: Clayton Kershaw
Eighteen seasons, three World Series championships, three National League Cy Young Awards, one NL MVP, one no-hitter, and countless other accolades — all with the Dodgers.
Entire libraries could be filled with descriptions of what Clayton Kershaw accomplished as a member of the Dodgers. And yet, it could never be enough to accurately describe what he meant to the organization, city of Los Angeles and the game of baseball as a whole.
At 18 years old, Kershaw was selected by the Dodgers with the seventh overall pick in the 2006 MLB Draft. He had committed to Texas A&M University but turned down the scholarship offer to begin his professional career.
By 2008, the left-hander was promoted to the Majors straight from Double-A Jacksonville. It only took 48 games between rookie ball, A-ball and Double-A for Kershaw to reach the Majors.
Kershaw made his MLB debut on May 25, 2008 in a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Against the first batter of the game, the future Hall of Famer collected the first of what would become 3,052 career strikeouts. Kershaw finished the game with seven strikeouts while pitching six innings and allowing two runs.
He was the youngest player in MLB — 20 years, 67 days — when he debuted, a title he held until Fernando Martínez played in his first MLB game in May 2009.
By his second season, Kershaw was already demonstrating his knack for keeping runners from crossing the plate. His 2.79 ERA was the eighth-lowest in the Majors for the 2009 season, a drastic improvement from his rookie year.
Later in 2009, Kershaw started the opener of the NL Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies at just 21 years old, which made him the third-youngest pitcher to ever start a playoff series opener. Fernando Valenzuela in the 1981 NL Division Series and Rick Ankiel in the 2000 NLDS are the only two players to best that mark.
Kershaw fell just outside the top-10 for ERA during the 2010 season but did reach the 200 inning mark for the first time in his career.
By the 2011 season, the baseball world began to recognize how special of a player he truly was. In the midst of his fourth Major League season with 568.2 innings under his belt, Kershaw had collected 32 wins, a 3.15 ERA and 593 strikeouts.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 23-year-old became the first pitcher to ever have that many victories, an ERA that low and average more than one strikeout per inning since ERA became an official statistic after 1910.
Kershaw’s 2011 season was his first all-time great campaign. He won the pitching Triple Crown in the NL after finishing with 21 wins, 248 strikeouts, and a 2.28 ERA. Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers had also won the Triple Crown in the American League, marking the first Major League season to feature Triple Crown-winning pitchers in both leagues since 1924.
With more than 240 strikeouts in a single season before age 24, Kershaw joined Vida Blue as the only left-handers to achieve the feat.
The Dodgers’ left-hander won his first NL Cy Young Award in 2011, making him the youngest recipient since Dwight Gooden of the 1985 New York Mets. He also was awarded with the first and only Gold Glove Award of his career.
Kershaw went over 200 innings again in 2012, becoming the 12th Dodgers pitcher with three or more seasons of 200 or more innings. He was the first to accomplish this since Orel Hershiser did so five times from 1985-1989.
Kershaw also became just the fifth Dodger pitcher to record three straight 200-strikeout seasons. He finished the season with a 14–9 record, an MLB-best 2.53 ERA, 229 strikeouts, and 227.2 innings pitched.
It was a season worthy of a second straight NL Cy Young, but Kershaw only received two first-place votes and finished second behind R. A. Dickey.
Kershaw avenged the snub the following season, leaving no room for debate in the Cy Young race with a 1.83 ERA and 232 strikeouts in 236 innings. He managed to outdo himself in 2014, winning another Cy Young Award and the NL MVP. This season also featured his no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies.
For as elite as Kershaw was throughout his career, the stretch from 2011-2014 was truly a cut above. If not for a questionable decision by voters, he could have completed a streak of four straight Cy Young Awards, capped by becoming just the 25th full-time pitcher to be named MVP.
Kershaw continued to take the league by storm beyond the 2014 season and continued to break records and join exclusive clubs. In 2015, he became the 11th player in MLB history to strike out 300 batters in a season, and the first player to do so since Randy Johnson did it in 2002.
After carrying the Dodgers on his back for most of his career, the team around Kershaw began to pick up some of the slack during the back half of his career. He was still highly effective from 2016 onward, but injuries kept him off the field often and his dominance wasn’t as thorough as it used to be.
Regardless, Kershaw won his first World Series championship in 2020 after more than a decade of frustration and proceeded to add two more by the time he retired at the end of last season.
He finished his career with a 2.53 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 3,052 strikeouts in 2855.1 innings. He is one of only 20 players in MLB history to reach the 3,000 strikeout mark. Among pitchers with at least 2,000 innings pitched in their careers, Kershaw’s 2.54 ERA is the second-lowest of the Live Ball Era dating back to 1920.
No. 2: Shohei Ohtani
No. 3: Mookie Betts
No. 4: Justin Turner
No. 5: Corey Seager
No. 6: Freddie Freeman
No. 7: Kenley Jansen
No. 8: Max Muncy
No. 9: Yoshinobu Yamamoto
No. 10: Matt Kemp
No. 11: Will Smith
No. 12: Cody Bellinger
No. 13: Adrián Beltré
No. 14: Walker Buehler
No. 15: Andre Ethier
No. 16: Eric Gagné
No. 17: Shawn Green
No. 18: Manny Ramirez
No. 19: Gary Sheffield
No. 20: Adrián González
No. 21: Yasiel Puig
No. 22: Chris Taylor
No. 23: Russell Martin
No. 24: Kiké Hernández
No. 25: Miguel Rojas
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