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15 awesome things about the Los Angeles Dodgers

Behind a complete-game shutout from Clayton Kershaw, the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the NL West pennant on Tuesday night with an 8-0 win over the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park. The club won its division for the third consecutive year and fifth time since 2008, and will look to advance to the World Series for the first time since its championship season in 1988.

Here are 15 awesome things about the Los Angeles Dodgers:

1. Clayton Kershaw

kershawcurve

Behold: The best pitcher in the universe. Kershaw actually looked human in the early part of the 2015 season, but he returned to being Clayton Kershaw in late May and hasn’t looked back. Kershaw’s curveball, as seen in this GIF, tends to draw the most attention, but everything he throws is excellent. This is what a Hall of Famer in his prime looks like, and it looks spectacular. Kershaw fanned 13 Giants on Tuesday to end the Dodgers’ four-game losing streak and finally put the division race to bed.

2. Zack Greinke

Zack Greinke

Zack Greinke (USA TODAY Sports Images)

Greinke’s awesome for a bunch of reasons, including, certainly, his candor and his scouting eye. But he’s listed here because he has had the best season of any pitcher in the league, wire to wire. The righty owns an outrageous 1.65 ERA, a 0.848 WHIP, and a career-best 5.14 K:BB ratio. He’s quite good.

3. Kershaw and Greinke

(PHOTO: Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images)

(PHOTO: Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images)

It bears repeating: The Dodgers have the best pitcher in the world and also the pitcher having the best season. Predicting the postseason is largely a fool’s errand, but the smart money should almost always go on the team with the best front-end starting pitching. In this postseason, that’s most definitely the Dodgers. And while anything can happen, it hardly seems worth putting too much stock in Kershaw’s past postseason struggles. It’s five lousy starts, and he’s Clayton Kershaw. Take the larger sample. Also, as a fun bonus, both Kershaw and Greinke rank among the Majors’ best hitting pitchers. They play good defense, too.

4. Their home park

Dodger Stadium

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

Like Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Dodger Stadium is one of the best examples of a generally underrated era of ballpark design now largely lost to time. It’s a gorgeous place, and this site endorses its Jetsons-esque retro-future style.

5. All their famous fans

(Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports Images)

(Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports Images)

Hey, look! It’s George Lopez serving as a Dodgers ballboy earlier this season. As with many events in Los Angeles, a fun part of the Dodger Stadium experience is seeing which famous people show up. And few things are more entertaining than looking into the first rows behind home plate during Dodgers broadcast and seeing Larry King staring out at you like he has just asked you a tough question and now awaits your response.

6. Offensive depth

Andre Ethier (PHOTO: Richard Mackson/USA TODAY Sports)

Andre Ethier (PHOTO: Richard Mackson/USA TODAY Sports)

The Dodgers’ offense cooled off a bit after a rollicking start, but they can still boast one of the game’s best and deepest lineups. If and when hot-hitting rookie shortstop Corey Seager plays, they can field an entire team of above-average MLB hitters. That’s no small feat, and though the Dodgers’ biggest power threats — Adrian Gonzalez and Joc Pederson — have both cooled considerably in the second half, the length of the club’s lineup should help it sustain some rallies in the postseason.

7. Vin Scully

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

National broadcasts in the postseason mean we won’t get to hear Vin Scully call Dodgers home games, but he remains a very awesome thing about the Dodgers. Dude is a legit national treasure, the longest tenured broadcaster in sports history, and still — age age 87 — a sharp and insightful play-by-play guy.

8. Kike Hernandez’s banana suit

(PHOTO: MLB.com screengrab)

(PHOTO: MLB.com screengrab)

In an extra-innings game late last month, injured Dodgers utilityman Kike Hernandez appeared in the dugout in a banana suit at GM Andrew Friedman’s behest. For some reason, Kike Hernandez owns a banana suit and apparently sometimes wears it around the Dodgers’ clubhouse. So that’s cool. Also, for all the talk of the Dodgers’ infinite payroll, they’ve done a great job coaxing good performances from versatile journeyman types like Hernandez in recent seasons. But let us not forget…

9. Their infinite payroll

Matt Kemp Juan Uribe

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

If you’ve got it, flaunt it. Everything the Dodgers do — like paying $87.5 million for playings no longer on the team, buying prospects by eating salaries, and blowing past MLB’s luxury-tax threshold with a payroll approaching $300 million — is well within the rules, whether or not it seems fair to fans of the 29 other teams. The Dodgers’ brand of freewheeling financial ways doesn’t necessarily guarantee success in the Majors, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. And at least no one can accuse their owners of being tightfisted when putting their team together.

10. The Pederson family

(PHOTO: New Era)

(PHOTO: New Era)

Rookie center fielder Joc Pederson first made headlines this season with his monstrous homers and great defense in center field. But come the All-Star Break, thanks to a heartwarming interaction with Albert Pujols at the Home Run Derby, attention turned toward Pederson’s relationship with his older brother Champ, who has Down Syndrome. Champ and Joc unveiled a new cap to benefit the Best Buddies charity earlier this month.

11. Their control of the skunk kingdom

[mlbvideo id=”146632883″ width=”660″ height=”370″ /]

Usually in Southern California, that smell is coming from Snoop Dogg. But at a game in Dodger Stadium in June, a group of four skunks invaded the Cardinals’ dugout. Animal control agents trapped them under the photographer’s box nearby, which could not have made for a relaxed atmosphere for the visiting players. The Dodgers’ dominion over the skunk world could lead to the first-ever post-clinch tomato-juice celebration this postseason.

12. Brandon McCarthy’s Twitter jokes

(PHOTO: Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports)

(PHOTO: Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports)

Righty starter Brandon McCarthy went down with a UCL tear just four starts into his four-season deal with the Los Angeles, but the time off has at least given him a chance to continue honing his Twitter wit. McCarthy’s not just a funny baseball player, he’s a funny dude by any standards.

13. Whatever Yasiel Puig is doing right now

(PHOTO: @YasielPuig/Instagram)

(PHOTO: @YasielPuig/Instagram)

The Dodgers’ electrifying young outfielder has had an atypically quiet season as he has struggled through hamstring issues that have limited him to only 77 games. Puig is currently rehabbing in Arizona with an eye on returning to the Dodgers in time for the postseason. Whatever else he’s doing while there is probably full of wonder and feats of remarkable strength, and it will presumably lead to some delightful Instagrams.

14. Justin Turner’s ginger power

Justin Turner

(Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports Images)

How ’bout this guy? The Dodgers signed Justin Turner after the Mets didn’t tender him a contract following the 2013 season. At that point, Turner had a career .684 OPS over 841 at-bats. In 667 at-bats since, he has an .870 mark. On a team with a payroll just shy of $300 million in 2015, Turner, who’s making $2.5 million, has quietly been the Dodgers’ best hitter. He’s also become a pretty good defensive third baseman who can fill in everywhere else in the infield in a pinch.

15. Kenley Jansen’s cutter

(GIF via CBSSports.com)

(GIF via CBSSports.com)

Jansen follows the Mariano Rivera playbook for being a great closer, in that he throws an incredible cutter, everyone knows it’s coming on practically every pitch, and no one can do a damn thing about it. Look at it move! Baseballs shouldn’t move like that, especially when they’re traveling that fast.

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