by Cary Osborne and Mark Langill
Rookie pitchers had a combined 111 strikeouts when they first met at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 7, 2008.
Now, future Hall of Famers Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer of the Toronto Blue Jays will make history Friday, as the first matchup of starting pitchers with at least 3,000 career strikeouts in the 64-year history of the ballpark.
Kershaw, 37, became the 20th member of the exclusive 3,000 strikeout club on July 2 against the Chicago White Sox. He currently has 3,010 strikeouts in 2,808 1/3 innings.
The last time two members of the 3,000 K club matched up against each other was Sept. 6, 2023, in Arlington, Texas, when Scherzer (then a Texas Ranger) faced off against Justin Verlander (then a Houston Astro).
Verlander struck out six over seven innings and earned the win. Scherzer struck out four and allowed seven runs over three innings.
The first meeting of members of the 3,000 strikeout club was June 10, 1981, when all-time strikeouts leader Nolan Ryan of the Astros faced off against Steve Carlton of the Phillies.
Carlton became the sixth member of the 3,000 strikeout club on April 29, 1981.
In the Ryan vs. Carlton matchup, Carlton K’d nine over eight innings, and Ryan struck out eight over 7 2/3 innings. Carlton walked away with the victory, though Ryan allowed only one run.
There were two other meetings of club members that season — Cincinnati’s Tom Seaver against Carlton on Aug. 18, 1981. Each pitcher struck out five batters in the game.
Seaver also opposed Gaylord Perry on Sept. 27, 1981. Seaver struck out one batter to Perry’s five.
Scherzer, 41, has played for seven teams since 2008, including the Dodgers when he was acquired at the trading deadline in 2021. During his brief Los Angeles tenure, Scherzer became the first pitcher to record his 3,000th strikeout in a Dodger uniform (Sept. 12 against San Diego’s Eric Hosmer at Dodger Stadium).
Scherzer now has 3,451 strikeouts in 2,919 innings.
In addition to Scherzer, the only former Dodgers to reach 3,000 career strikeouts include Don Sutton, Maddux and Pedro Martinez, who began his career with Los Angeles in 1992 and had 127 strikeouts in two seasons.
Sutton was part of the first matchup of future 3,000 strikeout club members at Dodger Stadium on June 17, 1966. Sutton, then a rookie, opposed Perry. Each struck out eight batters that night.
That gave Sutton 88 career strikeouts.
He ended his career with 3,574.
The 3,000K Club matchup: Kershaw opposes Scherzer was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.