Dodgers' Kershaw wins 3rd Cy Young in 4 years

Clayton Kershaw's year ended with playoff heartbreak. His offseason is already off to a much better start.

The Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander secured his third NL Cy Young Award in four years Wednesday, successfully defending last year's honor with the unanimous support of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Kershaw received all 30 first-place votes to become the youngest pitcher to win the award three times. He's the first pitcher to win three Cy Youngs in four years since Randy Johnson won four straight from 1999-2002.

''Pretty cool,'' Kershaw said on MLB Network after the announcement. ''As far as the regular season is concerned, it was a ton of fun."

Cincinnati Reds right-hander Johnny Cueto finished second in voting, nearly 100 points behind Kershaw, while St. Louis Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright placed third.

Wednesday's announcement capped a dominating effort from the Dodgers' lefty that included his first career no-hitter and league-leading 1.77 ERA. Kershaw's the first pitcher to lead the majors in ERA four straight seasons.

Kershaw joined Dodgers legend Sandy Koufax as the only pitchers in franchise history to receive the honor three times.

The hard-throwing southpaw went 21-3 for the NL West-winning Dodgers before struggling in Los Angeles's division-series playoff loss. Kershaw allowed 11 runs over 12 2/3 innings against the Cardinals in the NLDS.

Luckily for the Dodgers' ace, votes were in before the postseason began.

Kershaw's performance this year made him the runaway favorite for the award and a contender to become the first NL pitcher since Bob Gibson in 1968 to sweep the MVP and Cy Young prizes.

The 26-year-old Kershaw nearly threw 200 innings for the fifth straight year despite missing a month of the season with back inflammation. Kershaw's dominance included a career-best 31.9 percent strikeout rate, 1.41 walks per nine innings and 0.86 WHIP. 

He's just the third pitcher (Dwight Gooden and Pedro Martinez) in 43 years to record a FIP under 2.00.