ARLINGTON, Texas – Clayton Kershav’s 2020 season at some point looks like a dream come true. There was Vintage Summer, who saw him tapping into the kind of lost stuff forever. And the dominant posts ason Zen opener, a perfect reminder of the flaws in his playoff career story. And the setting for his October October bulk – a few minutes away from his home in Dallas, a perfect stage for the World Series trophy that still excludes him in a popular way.
The wake-up call came on Saturday afternoon, during a regular bullpen session, with Kershaw experiencing pain in the shooting numerous times before. His back dropped. The rest of this storybook’s season – the National League Championship Series – was suddenly in jeopardy. The Los Angeles Dodgers training staff spent the next 48 hours working hard on time to get Kershaw’s back pain to start his game on time, until he woke up Tuesday morning and realized it.
Instead, he will take the ball in Thursday’s Game 4, following the Dodgers’ season-saving 15-3 rout at the Atlanta Braves, with some of the highest innings he has ever faced.
This is the difference between tying the NLCS in two games or trailing by -1-1, a hole only 1 %% teams have turned back into the best-seven series. This is the difference between being able to breathe new life into a very talented team or put it on the shore before expecting a season.
Could this be the most important start to Kershaw’s career?
Well, maybe.
There was also Game 6 of the 2013 NLCS, when Kersha allowed seven runs in four-plus innings to end the Dallas’ season; Game 4 of the 2015 NL Division Series, when he hit seven innings of one-run ball to push to the crucial Game 5; The NLCS game of 201 N, when he was charged with five runs in the first five innings of defeating the Chicago Cubs; And in Game 5 of the Game World Series, when he took a four-run lead and then a three-run lead to help the Houston Astros balance.
But the Dodgers, so good that they went through their eight consecutive division titles, never This Good. There are many teams. Even the disappointment of not reaching the final round with the group will provoke a new level of frustration for the Dodgers fans base, which is still a contender for the first title of the season. The loss on Thursday will not require just three consecutive wins; That requires beating both Max Fried and Ian Anderson, two well-developed young starters who have limited the D innings jerseys to one run in 10 innings in the series.
There’s a big difference between Kershaw’s regular-season ERA (4.3343 in 4,33333 innings) and the Postseason Era (despite the dominance of the Milwaukee Brewers in the wild-card round) and what is possible. Tell her about her response for the big moments. But surface numbers don’t tell the whole story. There have been some dudes along the way, certainly. But there has also been a bit of luminosity. And there have been many instances when Dodgers put the cursors in an uncontrollable position, either by lengthening them too long or by using them with a little rest outside the bullpen.
For the most part, however, Kershaw’s idea of ”choker” is one of the most famous.
A big performance in Game 4 – his back injury, against high power offense, his hometown, with his team, he could change some.
.
