NEW YORK — Clayton Kershaw got through the seventh inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers got through the fourth game.
And all it means is that this National League Division Series is headed where it was always supposed to end up.
We’ve been through Chase Utley, and we’ve been through the old and new stories of Kershaw’s postseason performances. We’ve seen Yoenis Cespedes hit baseballs as hard as anyone can and run as fast as anyone can. We’ve seen Justin Turner, a guy the New York Mets once non-tendered, emerge as such a star that in the fifth inning Tuesday night, the Mets intentionally walked him, and the sellout crowd at Citi Field booed him.
And all it did was set up what could be a winner-take-all Game 5 for the ages—a Thursday night Dodger Stadium matchup between Jacob deGrom and Zack Greinke that looks so good and so evenly matched that even Kershaw didn’t want to pick a favorite.
“You know what, it’s probably dead even, to be honest,” he said after a 3-1 Game 4 win that mattered more to him than he wanted to admit. “As good as Zack is and has been the whole year, deGrom has been the same.”
The Dodgers built a $300 million team with only two dependable starting pitchers, but at least they’re both great pitchers. They felt OK falling behind two games to one because they had their two aces lined up, and after Kershaw delivered Tuesday (one run on three hits in seven innings), they’re fine with counting on Greinke to do the same Thursday.
The Mets built their $100 million team around their young starters, and while they would have loved to wrap the series up behind Steven Matz on Tuesday, they’re fine counting on deGrom on Thursday.
“We feel confident,” David Wright told reporters. “Jacob threw a great game out there the last time.”
DeGrom was brilliant in Game 1 on Friday, back when the story was still that Kershaw’s seventh innings in the postseason never end well. That one ended with Wright’s two-run single off reliever Pedro Baez and with Kershaw losing his fifth straight postseason start.
Dodger fans can remember them all, including the Game 4 last year that ended their season in St. Louis. You know Kershaw remembers, too. His main goal Tuesday was to push this series to Game 5, but by doing so, he was going to change the way people talked about him, too.
“You could sense some relief after he came out of the game,” said A.J. Ellis, Kershaw’s personal catcher and close friend.
Ellis said Kershaw seemed a little too amped up early in Game 4, when his fastball was a little faster than usual but his curveball wasn’t as crisp. Kershaw went to a three-ball count on each of the first three batters, but the Mets didn’t score, and he settled in, looking like the three-time Cy Young Award winner he is.
The Dodgers got him a lead with their three-run third inning, and Kershaw held it. He gave up a solo home run to Daniel Murphy (just like in Game 1), but he didn’t allow another runner to get into scoring position.
The Mets did get the leadoff runner on base in the seventh, when Cespedes’ dribbler went off Kershaw’s glove in front of the mound. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly admitted to “Here we go again” thoughts, and so did Ellis, who went to the mound.
“Just trying to keep positive thoughts in there,” Ellis said later.
This time, Kershaw got through the seventh, with the help of a fine play by Turner to stop Wilmer Flores’ two-out shot down the third-base line. This time, a Kershaw start in October ended the way so many Kershaw starts from April through September have ended.
He was a Cy Young candidate again this year, although he’ll likely finish third in the voting behind Jake Arrieta of the Chicago Cubs and Greinke. DeGrom could get votes, too, and would get a lot more if voters were allowed to consider his seven shutout innings and 13 strikeouts in Game 1.
“He’s just very impressive, you know, just very tough to square up,” Kershaw said. “If you can get strikeouts on heaters like he can, it’s really tough.”
DeGrom was the winner in Game 1. Greinke was the winner in Game 2, albeit with the help of Utley’s infamous takeout of Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada.
Now they match up in Game 5, which means anyone who wanted this to be a great series is already a winner. The Chicago Cubs, who wrapped up their division series Tuesday night, might enjoy it most of all, because with Games 1 and 2 of the National League Championship Series set for Saturday and Sunday, they know they won’t see deGrom or Greinke in either one.
The Dodgers’ two-starter strategy might not work too well if they reach the NLCS, since pitchers other than Kershaw and Greinke would need to start three of the seven games. But it might be enough to get them there.
It has gotten this series to the Game 5 it deserves, to the Game 5 the rest of us had hoped for. This series looks a little like the division series the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies played in 2011—the one that ended with Chris Carpenter facing Roy Halladay in Game 5.
That one ended up 1-0 in favor of Carpenter. No one would be surprised if this one does, too.
Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.
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