For example, Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal is in the middle of a Kershaw-like run of dominance, having won the 2024 Cy Young and carrying his team to within a game of the American League Championship Series last year. But Skubal is already 28 and has 786 strikeouts.

Clayton Kershaw became the latest member of MLB's exclusive 3,000-strikeouts club, painting the outside corner on Vinny Capra with a sixth-inning slider in a Los Angeles Dodgers walk-off victory at Dodger Stadium.