Dodgers Fans: Don’t Put the Loss on Clayton Kershaw
By Jamaal Artis
In Game 6 of the National League Championship Series (NLCS) the lasting image will be Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw slumped on the pitchers mound after giving up a solo home run to Cubs slugger Anthony Rizzo .
The sight of the Kershaw, baseballs best regular season pitcher since 2011 once again crushed by the weight of the unforgiving baseball playoffs. With his team down 5-0 Kershaw would be pulled in the top of the sixth inning as the Cubs pushed the Dodgers to the brink of elimination.
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On social media the narrative would be that Kershaw could not perform in the playoffs that when the games were high leverage he would fold. Of course this line of thinking forgot that without Kershaw the Dodgers wouldn’t have been 2 wins away from their first World Series in 28 years.
This postseason the Dodgers were 4-1 in games Kershaw pitched, and 1-5 in games he didn’t pitch in. He was the only starter to go five innings or more in multiple games this postseason and twice he pitched on short rest including getting a save in Game 5 of the NLDS after throwing 110 pitched two days before.
To say Kershaw was not a big time pitcher in this postseason you turn a blind eye to the Dodgers real flaw, the hitting.
In the NLDS against the Washington Nationals, the Dodgers hitting line went as follows .226 BA./.324 OBP%/.372 SLG%. That line puts pressure on a whole staff where the margin of error to win is slim, that’s why the Dodgers three wins were all one run games.
Against the Cubs in the NLCS, the Dodgers hitting line went from bad to anemic, hitting .210 BA/.292 OBP%/.301 SLG%. Yes they were able to win two games, but ultimately against a better team the Dodgers were unable to win the series.
Over the years Dodgers hitting has really let Kershaw down. During his four starts in the the NLCS, the Dodgers have scored a whopping 1 run and have been shutout in three losses. It doesn’t matter how good the Kershaw pitches if his team can’t pick him up by hitting opposition pitching.
In his last four NLCS starts, Clayton Kershaw has pitched 22 innings. He's received 1 total run of support. One.
— Justin Russo (@FlyByKnite) October 23, 2016
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One day Clayton Kershaw will be on a World Series team, and his pitching will get the team there. Baseball is a team sport wins and losses are not on just one player. If the Dodgers want to get to a World Series with their ace they’ll have to get players who can hit the ball as good as Kershaw pitches it.