Kershaw was honored after the season with player of the year awards from both The Sporting News and Baseball America . He won three awards at the Players Choice Awards including Outstanding NL Pitcher , Player of the Year and the Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award . He also won his third ( and second straight ) Warren Spahn Award . On November 12 , he was awarded his third Cy Young Award in four seasons ( a unanimous vote ) . The following day , he was elected as the NL MVP , the first National League pitcher to win the award since Bob Gibson in 1968 and the first Dodgers player to win the award since Kirk Gibson in 1988 .