The Los Angeles Dodgers have had the luxury of future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw’s talents for 18 seasons.
Despite his three Cy Young awards, an MVP, five ERA titles, and countless accolades, he has had a negative narrative surrounding his postseason resume. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman spoke on how much of the scrutiny from the public should be avoided.
More news: Dodgers’ Tanner Scott Admits Expectations of $72 Million Contract Weighed on Him
“I think that narrative,” Friedman said, “is so off base. You look at Kersh and the great starts he’s had in October, how much he’s come back on short rest, how much he got left out longer than he should have because bullpens weren’t as good as what people felt like he would do, and left out there longer than you should have.
“You never heard one peep about it from him. I think so much of that has clouded the overall body of work that, when we had big games and he was rested, there was nobody we’d rather have on the mound than Kershaw.”
Kershaw has a career 2.54 ERA across 453 regular season games, but his postseason ERA of 4.49 across 39 total appearances gets most of the negative attention.
Manager Dave Roberts seemed to confirm that the workload Kershaw has faced from the regular seasons prior, paired with the sequencing of events, has played into the October struggles.
“Especially when you look back at the circumstances of some of the things that happened,” said Roberts, “whether it’s the 240 innings or pitching on very short rest multiple times in a postseason and never running from that, that responsibility as the ace. With that, you’ve got to take on a lot of scrutiny or potential failures. Everything wasn’t optimal for him.”
The past blemishes to Kershaw’s otherwise pristine body of work are in the past, as the only thing that matters before Kershaw officially hangs it up is a third World Series ring to add to his collection.
More news: Dodgers’ Brusdar Graterol Unlikely to Pitch This Year in Unfortunate Update
Photo Credit: Rob Schumacher-Arizona Republic
Have you downloaded the new Dodgers Nation app yet? Click here for Apple Users and here for Android Users to be a part of the redesigned app to give fans everything they need, all in one place. Don’t miss out on live GameCast with play-by-play, news and analysis, Dodgers Nation podcasts and videos, all the stats you want and more!
2 Responses
I actually trust Kershaw a lot more than Tyler Glasnow based on what I have seen this year…
How do you feel about Kershaw joining the bullpen for the post season?