MLB Playoffs: Clayton Kershaw eliminates the Nationals and a narrative
There was only one player not available to play for the Dodgers in the winner-take-all Game 5 of their National League Division Series against the Washington Nationals Thursday.
Clayton Kershaw was "absolutely not” going to pitch in Game 5.
But there he was, warming up in the bullpen in the ninth inning with the Dodgers holding a one-run lead.
And there he was, entering the contest to face Daniel Murphy, the best postseason hitter of the decade, with two on and one out in the bottom of the ninth.
And there was Kershaw, arms extended above his head in celebration seven pitches later, victorious over not only the Nationals but also the narrative that has been attached to him.
Pitching on hours of rest — he started Tuesday’s Game 4 win and threw 110 pitches — Kershaw notched his first major-league save, regular or postseason, Thursday night as the Dodgers won 4-3 to advance to the National League Championship Series.
Kershaw was able to get Murphy — who hit two homers off him in last year’s NLDS as a member of the Mets — to pop out with only two pitches.
The next batter, Wilmer Difo, didn’t stand much of a chance, did he?
The idea to pitch on one day’s rest was Kershaw’s — he said after the contest that when he saw closer Kenley Jansen enter the game in the seventh inning and hold the Nationals at bay into the ninth inning, he had to back up his guy.
Kershaw and Jansen go back a ways — the last time Kershaw saved a game, in 2006 for the Gulf Coast Dodgers, Jansen was his catcher.
“I was surprised,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Kershaw saying he could pitch at the end of the eighth inning. "It just shows the character of him — the unselfishness and the will to win."
How’s that for a narrative?
Kershaw has been maligned as a postseason underperformer, and by his impossible standards, that’s true, but Thursday’s gutsy performance has to erase that perception.
So much could have gone wrong in that situation. Kershaw could have exacerbated the knocks against him, or worse, aggravated a back that was surgically repaired less than two months ago.
Kershaw went in anyway.
What Kershaw did Thursday will be the lasting memory of what was a crazy, disjointed, burn-it-all-down contest between two teams just good enough to stay alive and not quite good enough to put the other guy away.
In the end, it was Kershaw who was the difference, not only in Game 5, but in the series as a whole.
The Dodgers went 3-0 in games Kershaw pitched in this NLDS, and while there were key hits and big saves in his starts and Thursday's contest, that baseline fact cannot be overlooked.
Now it's on to the Cubs. Will Jansen, who threw four fewer pitches than Dodgers starter Rich Hill Thursday, be able to pitch in Game 1, should the Dodgers have a lead? When will Kershaw be able to go?
Those are good problems to have — those are questions only asked because there are more games to play.
No one knows the impact Thursday’s contest will have on the looming seven-game series against the Cubs. No one wearing Dodger blue should care.
What we do know is that the impact of Thursday’s contest will last a lot longer than the next two weeks.
Clayton Kershaw is a postseason hero, and that is not up for question.
