finest

so, the dodgers clinched last night, and things are set up pretty well for the rotation going into the playoffs.  i am not one of those who are adamantly opposed to pitchers winning the mvp, although it would take a very special case for me to support not giving the award to an everyday player.  that said, clayton kershaw is your national league mvp.  here's his 2014 topps finest card

when it came to choosing my favorite dodger from among the young crop of players including kershaw, james loney, russell martin, and matt kemp, i chose kemp over kershaw largely because of the everyday thing.  here's his 2014 topps finest card

i haven't had a pitcher as my favorite dodger since the lean years of the early 1990's, and i'm not giving up on kemp, but holy shnikes kershaw is fantastic!  consider that the dodgers are 23-4 in his starts this year, and 68-64 in everybody else's.  he's going to lead the national league in era for the fourth straight season (hello, sandy koufax), and he leads the national league in war - not just for pitchers, but for all players. kemp hasn't been so bad either, working back from the injuries that sucked the life out of his 2013 season.  he probably won't challenge 40/40 again, but his slugging percentage is getting back up towards .500 which is nice.

those are the only two dodgers i have from this year's finest release, but i do have a couple of 20-year old finest cards languishing in the scanned folder.  here are delino deshields

 and pedro astacio

kemp and kershaw, they are not.