If you asked Tommy Lasorda — former Los Angeles Dodgers manager, beloved Dodgers icon and guy who has a restaurant named after him at Dodger Stadium — who he thinks is the 2014 National League MVP, you figure he'd be pretty loyal to the Dodger blue.

Clayton Kershaw, of course, is one of the three finalists for the award after going 21-3 this season with a 1.77 ERA and 239 strikeouts in 198.1 innings.

He's certain to win the NL Cy Young and you can make a good case that Kershaw is also the league's overall MVP.

That thinking — that a pitcher, a guy who only plays every five days, is the most valuable player in the whole league — is a bit new age for some folks. And you can count Lasorda among them.

As a guest on MLB Network Radio on Monday, Lasorda took a surprising stance:

Now, if we're talking about Madison Bumgarner or Adam Wainwright, Lasorda's opinion wouldn't be surprising at all. But he's so closely associated with the Dodgers, you figure Lasorda would think Kershaw should be MVP, Cy Young, Comeback Player of the Year, Manager of the Year, MLB Commissioner, President of the United States and the winner of "American Idol."

Of course, many people around baseball agree with Lasorda's assessment. That's the reason there's a little bit of doubt whether Kershaw takes home the award when it's given out on Thursday. But he's still the favorite.

History isn't on Kershaw's side. A National League pitcher hasn't won the MVP since Bob Gibson in 1968. The last pitcher to do in the American League was Justin Verlander in 2011. Before that it was Dennis Eckersley in 1992.

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Mike Oz is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz