Kershaw caps historic season with 300th strikeout

Though Clayton Kershaw may fall shy of his third straight Cy Young award, the 27-year-old left-hander punctuated another brilliant season Sunday afternoon with a milestone no pitcher has reached in more than a decade.

Kershaw picked up his 300th strikeout of the campaign when he fanned Melvin Upton Jr. in the third inning of Sunday's regular-season finale against the San Diego Padres, becoming the first pitcher to reach the vaunted plateau since Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in 2002.

"Just pitch normally," Kershaw said of his mindset heading into Sunday. "If my pitch count got there by the time I got the six strikeouts, I would've came out of the game," Kershaw said. "Just the importance factor of trying to be fresh for the playoffs is more important than 300 strikeouts."

Shortly thereafter, with two outs in the top of the fourth, Kershaw was removed by acting manager Jimmy Rollins, leaving to a standing ovation from the Dodger Stadium crowd with 301 strikeouts for the season.

(Videos courtesy of MLB.com)

Kershaw, who eviscerated his previous career-high of 248 strikeouts on Sept. 2, is just the 11th pitcher to record 300 strikeouts in a season since the mound was lowered ahead of the 1969 campaign. Only five of those hurlers have done it more than once, with Johnson and Nolan Ryan holding the record with six 300-strikeout seasons apiece.

Heading into Sunday's start, Kershaw had crafted a 33.5 percent strikeout rate this year, the best single-season mark since Johnson managed a 37.4 percent mark back in 2001, when he won his third of four straight Cy Young awards.