Using some very fancy advanced metrics (which I will freely admit can often times be way over my head), Paul Swydan of ESPN has ranked Clayton Kershaw and Zack Grienke as the top starting duo in all of baseball. (Note: link is for Insiders' members only).
Coming in right behind them are certainly some studs themselves: Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels of the Phillies, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer of the Tigers, Gio Gonzalez and Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals, and Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson of the Angels.
There's no doubt that's an impressive list to top. It's also a bit of a guess, as obviously we have yet to see Greinke pitch in LA. He's pitched for that OTHER LA team, if you consider them as being from LA to begin with. You get the point.
There's a chart at the bottom of the page that shows the projected WAR of each pair, as Kershaw and Greinke check in at 10.4. To try to explain WAR for those of you not in the know, it stands for Wins Above Replacement, and basically shows how many more games a player would win for his team as opposed to a lesser player in the same spot.
We will soon find out how accurate such a list will be, but Dodger fans have to like their strong chances of winning every time these two guys toe the rubber. ESPN apparently likes them as well.
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