xx days to Spring Training: 11 amazing facts about why you need to be watching Clayton Kershaw

I hope you have been appreciating Clayton Kershaw these past few seasons because the kind of dominance that comes from his left arm is a rare gem that doesn't appear on Earth very often. He's the left-handed combination of Superman's powers, Daniel Day Lewis' perfect execution and that feeling you get on Christmas Eve. 
While that may work as a metaphorical summation of his performance, today we are going to put his Randy Johnson-like domanince into statistical context. Armed with a blazing fastball, unhittable slider and a curveball that Vin Scully has deemed "Public Enemy No. 1," this is a man at the peak of his powers. And one that you should be blocking off time to watch every fifth day. 

Here are 11 facts that highlght just how good he is right now: 
1. Kershaw led the Majors in ERA four consecutive seasons from 2011-2014. That streak was only snapped last year ... when he posted a 2.13 ERA, good for third best in the NL. Even then, he led the league in innings, complete games and shutouts.
No one else has pulled off that ERA title run, either -- Randy Johnson led the National League in three of four years between 1999-02, and Pedro Martinez led the NL in 1997 before leading the AL in four of five years between 1999-03. The closest in the last 60 years is Sandy Koufax, who led the NL in ERA for five consecutive years between 1962-66, leading the Majors in three of them. 

2. He's won the Cy Young three times and hasn't finished out of the top three of voting for the award since 2010. With one more victory, he'll join Steve Carlton and Greg Maddux in a tie for third place, behind Randy Johnson's five awards and Roger Clemens' seven.  

3. His career ERA+ of 154, a stat that compares a pitcher's ERA to the league average, is tied for the highest all-time for a starting pitcher with Pedro Martinez. It's second all-time for all pitchers with at least 1,000 innings, behind only Mariano Rivera's 205. Of course, Rivera did his work an inning at a time and Kershaw has already pitched close to 400 innings more than Rivera did in his career.  
   4. Kershaw's been even better over the last three seasons, posting an ERA+ of 188 in that span. One more campaign at that level would match Randy Johnson's legendary 1999-2002 run, when he went 81-27 with a 2.48 ERA, four straight Cy Young Awards … and a 187 ERA+.
   5. His peak has been even better when looking at his peers. Justin Verlander, the last pitcher with both an MVP and Cy Young to his name, had an ERA+ of 150 in his peak seasons between 2010-12 (59-22, 2.72 ERA). While Tim Lincecum won back-to-back Cy Youngs in 2008-09, he posted ERA+'s of 168 and 171, respectively. Felix Hernandez has never topped an ERA+ of 174 in his career.
   6. In the last decade, only three other pitchers have topped a 188 ERA+ in a single season. Zack Greinke (225) and Jake Arrieta (222) pulled it off last year, Greinke did it again in 2009 (205), and then Roger Clemens managed the feat in 2005 (226).
   7. Batters have hit .207 against Kershaw in his career. That's third all-time for pitchers with at least 1,000 innings, just behind Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan. The closest active pitcher is someone you may not have been expecting: Chris Young at .224.
   8. Kershaw's hits per nine mark of 6.69 puts him second all-time among pitchers with at least 1,000 innings, behind only Nolan Ryan. He's also second among active pitchers, with Jose Fernandez's 6.48 mark taking the lead. Of course, Kershaw has also pitched 1,300 more innings than the Marlins starter. 
   9. Over the past three years, Kershaw has limited batters to hitting only .239 against his fastball -- a perfectly respectable total. But when he throws his slider, they hit only .173. His curve: .117. Over the past three years, he's struck out 306 batters on his slider alone. That's more than eight pitchers with at least 400 innings pitched in that time have in total. 
   10. Last year saw Kershaw also became the first pitcher since Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in 2002 to strikeout 300 batters in a season. 

11. While Kershaw has outpitched many of the best in the league, perhaps the best way to evaluate his abilities is when he's going up against the game's best hitters. Hunter Pence is just 5-for-56, with 15 strikeouts. Justin Upton is 4-for-43, with 14 Ks.
    Buster Posey, who has his own MVP award to go along with his Rookie of the Year trophy, is a career .310/.375.484 hitter. But in 79 career plate appearances against Kershaw, he's hit just .224/.253/.329.

Mike Trout, who is more of a demigod than a man, has no problem hitting against Felix Hernandez (.354/.389/.646), but has plenty of struggles against Kershaw. In nine plate appearances, he's 2-for-8 with a walk and three strikeouts. 

That other young player who was sent to Earth from the pantheon of the gods, Bryce Harper? He's 1-for-12 with seven strikeouts. 

Don't miss out on this career at its very peak! Watch every start and thank the stars that you are alive and conscious and able to witness history in the making. No one can say how long Kershaw can remain this dominant, mostly because there are very few pitchers who have been this dominant. For now, just make sure you can tell your grandchildren that you stayed up until 2 am on the East Coast to watch Kershaw finish off another complete game masterpiece. Because you aren't going to want to lie about that.