Clayton Kershaw finishes 2nd in National League Cy Young Award voting

LOS ANGELES — Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw was the runner-up in National League Cy Young Award voting, finishing second to Nationals starter Max Scherzer in results announced Wednesday by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Kershaw received three first-place votes, 25 second-place votes and 126 total points, with Scherzer capturing 27 first-place tallies and 201 total points. Scherzer’s Washington teammate Stephen Strasburg finished in third place.

Each Cy Young ballot is five names deep, with points awarded on a 7-4-3-2-1 basis.

Kenley Jansen finished in fifth place this season, with Alex Wood tied for ninth place with a single fifth-place vote.

Kershaw finished first in the National League in ERA (2.31) — his fifth career ERA crown — ERA+ (180), wins (18) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.73), finished second place in WHIP (0.949), third in OPS allowed (.602), fourth in FIP (3.07) and eighth in strikeouts (202).

Scherzer topped the senior circuit in WHIP (0.902), OPS allowed (.566) and strikeouts (268), was second in ERA (2.51), ERA+ (177) and FIP (2.90), was third in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.87) and fourth in wins (16).

The key difference between the two was in innings pitched, with Scherzer (200⅔) outpacing Kershaw (175) by 25⅔ innings, with Kershaw missing over five weeks with lower back tightness. Scherzer held a sizeable lead over Kershaw in WAR, in both the Baseball-Reference (7.3 to 4.6) and FanGraphs (6.0 to 4.6) versions.

This is the seventh consecutive year Kershaw finished in the top five in Cy Young balloting, joining Greg Maddux (1992-98) as the only pitchers to ever do that. In addition to his three wins (2011, 2013, 2014), Kershaw has also finished second twice (2012, 2017), third (2015) and fifth (2016).

Kershaw receives a $500,000 bonus for finishing second in the Cy Young Award voting.

Kershaw now ranks fourth all-time in Cy Young Award shares with 4.56, trailing only Clemens, Johnson and Maddux.