Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw set to slay playoff demons in 2015

In an era dominated by elite pitching, one ace stands above the rest.

You’d be hard pressed to find too many around the game of baseball that would name anyone other than Clayton Kershaw as the game’s best pitcher today. Heading into 2015, Kershaw had captured three of the last four National League Cy Young Awards, finishing second in voting the one year (2012) in which he didn’t win. But it’s the numbers over the last two years that really stand out. Kershaw’s 2013 season featured a 16-9 record with a 1.83 ERA and 232 strikeouts over 236 IP. He followed that up with a 21-3 record, 1.77 ERA and 239 strikeouts in 198.1 IP in 2014 (he did all that while missing the first month of the ’14 season). Not only did he win the Cy in both years, he was named NL MVP in 2014.

To really put his accomplishments into perspective, consider that there have only been three pitchers to lead their league in ERA four consecutive times – Kershaw, Sandy Koufax and Lefty Grove. The kicker? Kershaw led the entire major leagues in ERA those four years, something neither Koufax nor Grove was able to do.

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Kershaw overpowers opposing lineups with a predatory precision that is downright scary. He just became the first pitcher to compile 300 strikeouts in a single season since 2002, when Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling both hit the mark. Gems from Kershaw have become commonplace. Double-digit strikeout games, complete game shutouts, two, one or even no-hitters are a completely reasonable expectation every single time he takes the mound. And in the regular season, he often delivers exactly as expected…

But Kershaw’s playoff numbers? Well, they are enigmatic to say the least. Kershaw is 1-5 with a 5.12 ERA in 51 IP in the postseason. That’s not even a particularly small sample size. The last two years have provided the most shock, as Kershaw’s Cy Young campaigns have been followed by consecutive postseason drubbings at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals, who bounced Kershaw’s Los Angeles Dodgers from the playoffs both years. Kershaw’s lone playoff victory came back in 2013 against Atlanta in the NLDS. In the NLCS, Kershaw is 0-3 with a lifetime 7.23 ERA.

Is there an explanation for this astounding discrepancy between Kershaw’s historically good pitching in the regular season and his below-average performance in the playoffs? Could it be an inability to handle top lineups?

Unlikely. It’s not as though Kershaw hasn’t pitched in meaningful games late in the regular season while helping the Dodgers lock down playoff spots. For his career against the San Francisco Giants, the 2010, 2012 and 2014 World Series champions, Kershaw is 16-7 lifetime with a 1.54 ERA over 227.1 IP. He also has a winning record against the Cardinals, his postseason tormentors, at 6-5 with a 3.18 lifetime ERA.

Of course, those are “just” regular season numbers. So why does Kershaw seemingly grapple with some kind of mysterious inability to perform on baseball’s biggest stage?

A more likely answer is that the Cardinals have just hit him better than most teams. The Cards’ .228 BA against Kershaw is the second highest of any NL team against him, with the exception of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ .230 mark. His 1.19 WHIP against the Cards is also tied (with the D-Backs) for his worst mark against any NL team.

A patient, potent lineup – the Cards have succeeded in making Kershaw, and many others in fact, look very human the last two years en route to deep playoff runs.

That being said, we should all expect this strange, seemingly annual fall tradition of watching baseball’s very best pitcher getting humbled in the postseason to come to an emphatic end this year. Even if he faces the Cardinals again.

Simply put, Kershaw is the best pitcher the game has seen since the heydey of Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson. Perhaps even since Koufax. He’s too good for this absurd variance between regular season dominance and postseason mediocrity to persist.

“I’ve been through it now a bunch; I think this is my fifth postseason now,” Kershaw said. “I don’t know if you can get wiser from failing all the time. I know what that feels like.”

“I look at this year in the present tense,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “There are probably only a few people in the world who could talk about Kershaw. If you don’t talk to Sandy Koufax or Bob Gibson or somebody like that, there’s really nobody else who’s on his level. I don’t need to defend him. This year is this year. We’ll see what happens.”

The notion that Kershaw is not a clutch performer or that he somehow caves to the pressure cooker atmosphere of the playoffs will last as long as his postseason struggles continue. But what is the more likely outcome? That a pitcher of Kershaw’s rare and splendid talent just keeps failing to put it all together in October time and time again? Or that all the talent breaks through, combined with the playoff experience he’s gained, and Kershaw becomes Kershaw when it matters.

Here’s betting on the latter. All the truly great players across all major sports have eventually figured out the postseason after enough exposure and experience. Once they did, the floodgates opened.

And make no mistake, Kershaw is one of those true greats.

Next: Rangers best Jays in ALDS Game 1

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