The narrative winds through every October, constantly connecting this postseason with the last one for the past eight years, with many terrifying twists and turns in Stephen King’s novel. Will Clayton Kershaw, the best player of his generation, finally celebrate the World Series title with his teammates?
Kershaw is back to the mound of Sunday’s Game 5 with a chance to top the Los Angeles Dodgers after the final gut-punch of Saturday night’s loss to the Lord Angeles Dodgers. With a 13-strikeout game against the Brewers in the wild-card round and a 2.88 ERA at the start of more than four, he will make this post se effective. One of his rough outings was crucial, though; In Game of the National League Championship Series, he conceded four runs in five innings as LA went on the verge of eliminating before the ring before winning the final three matches. It is noteworthy that Kershwa did not win any of those three. Walker Buhler is now considered Dodgers’ ace, and Kershaw has not had to win every game for many years, at the wrong time – as expected. He is still one of the most valuable players on the roster, but the Dodgers have many valuable players.
That Kershaw doesn’t start with any less intriguing, though. I suspect that even if you’re not a Dodgers fan, you’ll be pulling yourself together for Kershaw at this time of year. In his career in the regular season, he is 175-76 with a 2.43 ERA. In his career in the postseason, he is 12-12 with a 4.22 ERA. I saw the same list below in a recent broadcast. Since the Wild Card debuted in 1995, Kershaw has the fifth-worst postseason IRA in a pot with at least 70 innings:
David Price: 4.62
Charles Nagy: 4.46
Al liter: 4.38
CC Sabathia: 4.28
Clayton Kershaw: 4.22
Zack Greenke: 4.22
It is out of the p 36 pot. Mariano Rivera tops the list, followed by Madison Bumgunner and Kurt Schilling. What makes the above rankings stand out more, of course, is the difference between the postseason era and the player’s career era:
Price: +1.31
Nagy: -0.05
Litter: +0.58
Sabathia: +0.54
Kershaw: +1.79
Greenke: +0.85
Kershaw has been so dominant in the regular season that it has only made his results in the playoffs more disappointing. On top of that, it will catch an impossible standard. It is expected to duplicate the heroic performances of World Series legends like Sandy Cofax and Bob Gibson – who care that they come from different eras and have to pitch in only one series each year – or like the contemporary to match the October match And the rival BumGunner was for the Giants in 2014.
The start of Sunday night will be a big test for Kershaw for another main reason: This post time zone is the first time he will make a second start in the series. I had a theory that most of Kershaw’s post-season struggles came a second time when he faced a team in the series. Before putting the theory on paper, I checked the numbers. I went back to 2013, went inside after becoming the best pitcher of the game.
First game in the series: 102⅔ IP, 78H, 44R, 42ER, 23BB, 118SO, 14HR, 3.15 Ira
Subsequent releases: 65⅓ IP, 55H, 37R, 34ER, 16BB, 72SO, 11HR, 5.44ARA
Hence the principle. The main points of Kershaw have mostly come around for the second time. One thing I’ve heard people say is that Kershaw has been pushed hard in the postseason, having previously had to rest for three days several times before this race, as well as seeing several reliefs along the way. That’s right; He Was Strict pressure from Don Mattingley and then Dave Roberts. The trouble with that theory is that Kershaw has a really good chance at a short break. He has made four starts from a three-day break, all in Division 4 Game 4 and his second start of the series:
2013 NLDS vs. Brave: 6 IP, 0 ER, 6 SO
2014 NLDS vs. Cardinals: 6 IP, 3 ER, 9 SO
2015 NLDS vs Mets: 7 IP, 1 ER, 8 SO
2016 NLDS vs. Citizens: 6.2 IP, 5 ER, 11 SO
It’s an era of 3.16, and the game against the Citizens is also a bit misleading. He left with two outs and a base load in the seventh inning, but Bullpen allowed all three runners to score. That same year he came to the rescue to get the final two defeats in Game 5. He then started Game 2 of the NLCS on a two-day break (or rested four days after his Game 4 started). Do you know? He hit seven scoreless innings against the Cubs. It was the second start of his series in Game 6, when the Cubs knocked him around for two home runs and five runs in five innings.
So it doesn’t really do that the short rest has damaged the corsets. Now, sure, maybe there’s a cumulative effect here. Game. Maybe he was gasped when he faced the cubs in the game. Part of the secret to coping with Kershaw is that it doesn’t look like any other watch with that hesitation and its windup and over-top delivery. Maybe the familiarity of watching it a few days later will help – the way offensive numbers are jumped by order for the third time (part of which is pitcher fatigue, but part of which the hitters have already seen a big pitcher pour for two at bat)) .
I went back to the 2015 posts ason Sun and checked the number of starters for their first start in the series and then their second. It lists 80 pitchers (and starts at 81 seconds, as Corey Kluber started three times in the 2016 World Series).
First start: 444⅓ IP, 344H, 160R, 153ER, 148BB, 454SO, 51HR, 3.12ER
Second start: 399⅓ IP, 338 H, 181 R, 168 ER, 138 BB, 434 SO, 61 HR, 3.79 ARA
So, yes, the pitchers don’t even hire a second time in the series. Their average innings range from 5.6 to 4.9. He runs nine innings per home from 1.03 to 1.37. His IRA is up 0.67 runs – but Kersha’s IRA is up 2.29 runs.
It should be noted that Kershaw did not land as badly as his era suggests. Compare that nine-starter number with the other 81 starters per nine innings:
Kershaw: 7.6 H, 2.2 BB, 9.9 SO, 1.52 HR, 5.44 ARA
Others: 7.6 H, 3.1 BB, 9.8 SO, 1.37 HR, 3.79 ARA
Its raw number is basically the same as the control group – except for the IRA. For whatever reason, his runs in the postseason often come in crooked numbers or a bad innings.
Even so, the Dodgers know this. Roberts won’t let him go for very long, and the Dodgers have plenty of weapons in the bullpen. In his four starts in this postseason, Kershaw has thrown 93, 87, 87 and 78 pitches. He will be pitching at a four-day rest. He gave up just two hits in six innings, winning 1 ray in the game. All signs point to another good start. I hope so.
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