Kuzul

Entering play Sunday, the Los Angeles Dodgers were in a free fall.

They’d dropped six straight to the lowly Miami Marlins and punchless San Diego Padres. They’d slid a game below .500 and were looking less and less like big-spending, three-time defending division champs.

Then Clayton Kershaw swooped in and, for an afternoon at least, single-handedly stopped the nosedive in a 1-0 victory at Chavez Ravine. All that was missing was a cape and tights.

Really, at this point, we’re running out of adjectives to describe Kershaw. Brilliant, dominant, filthy, transcendent—all apply, plus a bunch more. Grab your thesaurus and go to work.

The latest evidence of the lanky left-hander’s amazingness came at the expense of the Pads. For nine frames, Kershaw was utterly in control, racking up 14 strikeouts with nary a walk and only a trio of singles between him and perfection.

Heck, only two of his 27 outs left the infield, as MLB.com’s Jack Baer and AJ Cassavell noted.

As if that weren’t enough, Kershaw also picked up the Dodgers’ lackluster offense, driving in the game’s only run with a single in the third and possibly inspiring the following internal monologue, courtesy of the Los Angeles Times‘ Andy McCullough:

In the process, Kershaw did something that hasn’t been done in more than three decades, per ESPN Stats & Info:

With Sunday’s glistening gem—his 13th career shutout—Kershaw now sports a 1.96 ERA to pair with an MLB-leading 54 strikeouts in 46 innings.

Yes, on Tuesday Los Angeles will face another game without Kershaw on the mound (or at the plate) as it heads east to open a two-game set against the Tampa Bay Rays. He can only do his thing every fifth day.

As long as he’s wearing Dodger blue, however, this team is dangerous. It’s that simple.

Oh, there’s talent on the rest of the roster. Despite an anemic streak during which the team has plated a scant 12 runs in seven games, the hits will come courtesy of reliable studs like first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and budding stars like shortstop Corey Seager. 

And while Kershaw’s former co-ace, Zack Greinke, split for a massive payday with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Japanese import Kenta Maeda looks like a more-than-capable No. 2 after posting a 1.41 ERA through a month of starts.

The Dodgers aren’t perfect. There are questions at the back end of the rotation and in the bullpen. And mercurial outfielders Joc Pederson and Yasiel Puig need to find consistent grooves.

But this team is good enough to fend off the D-Backs and even-year San Francisco Giants.

If that happens, it’ll begin and end with Kershaw. He’s the franchise linchpin. The guy with the case full of Cy Young trophies and a National League MVP Award. 

He might have temporarily ceded the title of best pitcher in baseball to the Chicago Cubs‘ Jake Arrieta. 

But make no mistake: Kershaw is a generational talent, the type of arm that will be referenced in subsequent decades. As in: This guy is so stellar, he’s positively Kershaw-esque. 

Here’s one instructive measure of Kershaw’s greatness, per MLB.com’s Michael Clair:

Over the last three seasons, Kershaw has posted a 188 ERA+, a statistic that normalizes performance and compares it to the league average (which is 100). [Justin] Verlander’s best season: 172. [Tim] Lincecum’s: 171. [Felix] Hernandez: 174. That means Kershaw has been better, on average, over the past three years than any one of those guys was in his very best season.

We could go on, piling stat on top of stat. You get the idea, though. Watch Kershaw do what he did Sunday, or the next time he does something similar, and you don’t even need numbers. Your eyeballs tell the tale.

Rookie skipper Dave Roberts has liked what he’s seen, via MLB.com’s Jon Cooper:

It’s incredible. Every day I get to learn him a little bit more and kind of see how he goes about his business. No one is more critical of himself than [Kershaw] is. He just kind of finds a way. He’s as competitive a person as I’ve ever seen, and he just kind of sometimes wills himself and wills the team to victories.

Insane ability. Unending drive. A blazing competitive fire. Mix those ingredients and stir, and you’ve got the recipe for a baseball-slinging superhero capable of halting any free fall.

Are the Dodgers in trouble? Just say the magic words: Clayton Kershaw to the rescue.

All statistics current as of May 1 and courtesy of MLB.com and Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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It’s high noon in the NL West. Into a deserted clearing step Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Madison Bumgarner. A breeze rolls tumbleweeds across the ground.

What happens next?

Clearly there’s going to be a damn good fight for the not-so-official title of the division’s best ace. Kershaw, Greinke and Bumgarner have been three of the National League’s top pitchers over the past three seasons, and are certainly head-and-shoulders above all other NL West pitchers.

As for which of them will be the last ace standing, that part is complicated. Let’s break it down.

The Case for and Against Madison Bumgarner

On either side of his historically awesome postseason in 2014, Bumgarner has been remarkably consistent. Since 2013, the San Francisco Giants ace is the only pitcher to top 200 innings with an ERA under 3.00 each year.

What’s more, Bumgarner is still just 26 and seemingly only getting better. As I highlighted last week, he’s gained complete control over his unusual delivery and has further baffled hitters with an approach that calls for fastballs up and off-speed pitches down. As a result, he’s improved as a strikeout artist and as a walk artist.

So, color us unsurprised that the projections expect more of the same from Bumgarner in 2016. At FanGraphs, for example, Steamer and ZiPS both see another season of 200-plus innings with an ERA under 3.00 in his future.

The thing is, though, the left-hander hasn’t started 2016 off on the right foot.

Bumgarner was slowed by injuries in spring training, and he posted an 11.12 ERA in four starts. The hard times continued in his 2016 debut at the Milwaukee Brewers, as he surrendered three earned runs on five hits (including two home runs) and five walks in five innings.

Since Bumgarner was supposedly battling the flu, his poor performance may prove to be a one-and-done affair. In particular, better health could help his fastball velocity, which was roughly two miles per hour below its 2015 norm in his debut.

Unless said velocity loss is something that’s about to be unveiled as permanent, that is. According to this Brooks Baseball chart of Bumgarner‘s velocity over the past year, it’s a distinct possibility:

Ever since it peaked last June, his velocity has been on a downward slope. And though he’s still plenty young, research by Bill Petti at FanGraphs suggests Bumgarner is right around the age when he would start losing velocity.

Because Bumgarner still has a delivery that makes it incredibly tough for hitters to track the ball as well as an approach to pitching that further ups the difficulty level, he should still be able to pitch like an ace even if this velocity loss is for real. But since smaller velocity readings tend to mean a smaller margin for error, it’s fair to wonder if his ceiling for 2016 only goes so high.

The Case for and Against Zack Greinke

In case anyone missed it, Greinke is no longer a Los Angeles Dodger. They were open to bringing him back this winter, but instead he followed the scent of a $206.5 million contract to Arizona.

The Diamondbacks aren’t wrong to view Greinke as the ace their rotation sorely lacked in 2015. He’s posted a 2.30 ERA across 602.2 innings over the last three years, culminating in an MLB-best 1.66 ERA in 222.2 innings last season.

Sure, the 32-year-old Greinke isn’t young anymore. In a related story, the electric stuff he had in his Kansas City Royals days is long gone. But without his best stuff, he’s basically become Greg Maddux. Through pinpoint command and expert sequencing, Greinke is in control of hitters at all times.

Or most times, anyway. Greinke wasn’t in a lot of control in his 2016 debut against the Colorado Rockies. He lasted only four innings, giving up seven runs on nine hits, three of which exited the park.

The bright side, such as it is, is that Greinke has the same excuse as Bumgarner for his poor debut. As Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports found out from his sources, Greinke was also battling the flu:

Another bright side is that Greinke‘s stuff didn’t suffer as much as Bumgarner‘s did. His fastball velocity was only down 0.8 miles per hour from where it was in 2015. To boot, his velocity in his debut was actually better than where he was last April.

With this being the case, Greinke is probably right in thinking that subpar command is to blame for his poor first impression.

“I know I probably threw too many pitches away early in the game and didn’t throw in enough,” he told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. “Sometimes that’ll let the other team feel more comfortable in the box.”

Another thing that didn’t help is that Greinke didn’t get many called strikes outside the strike zone. That’s something he excelled at in 2015, as Baseball Savant reports that 10.9 percent of his balls were called strikes. Only four of his 53 balls, or 7.5 percent, got that treatment in his debut.

But just as Bumgarner‘s lesser velocity may be a trend in the making, Greinke struggling to get favorable calls could be in the same boat. As noted by Brad Johnson at FanGraphs, Greinke is making the switch from an elite strike-framer in Yasmani Grandal to a mediocre strike-framer in Welington Castillo.

The odds of Greinke posting another 1.66 ERA are slim no matter what. But if Castillo’s catching doesn’t allow him to pitch like he’s used to, Steamer and ZiPS may be right about his ERA being likely to fall in the 2.75-3.00 range.

The Case for and Against Clayton Kershaw

HOT TAKE INCOMING: Kershaw is really good. 

As in, really good. The Dodgers ace led the majors in ERA each year between 2011 and 2014. And even in breaking the streak in 2015, he still posted a 2.13 ERA, struck out 301 batters and was rated as baseball’s top pitcher by several advanced metrics.

And where Bumgarner and Greinke began 2016 with a thud, Kershaw did this to the San Diego Padres:

Seven shutout innings? Only one walk and one hit allowed? A sharp 93-95 fastball? A disappearing high-80s slider? A mind-bending curveball? 

Yup, that all sounds like Kershaw.

And there’s more! Though it’s not pictured above, Mike Axisa of CBS Sports captured a look at a changeup that Kershaw used to make Alexei Ramirez look silly:

That’s something you don’t see often, as Kershaw‘s changeup has accounted for less than 3 percent of the 28-year-old’s career pitches. And for the most part, his changeups haven’t been good.

That one sure was, though. And that may not be an accident. Though Kershaw has struggled to master the pitch, he hasn’t given up on learning the changeup. And this spring, he sought advice from a guy who had a great changeup in his day.

“He came up to me and asked how I threw my changeup,” former Dodgers closer and Cy Young winner Eric Gagne told Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. “He’s never satisfied with whatever his numbers are. He just wants to get better. That’s the difference between a good pitcher and one-of-a-kind.”

If the changeup that Kershaw broke out in his 2016 debut is the result of his one-on-one with Gagne, hitters may be screwed. He’s only needed a fastball, slider and curveball to become the best pitcher of modern times. If he now has a changeup too, he might literally morph into Superman.

As for the catch…well, that’s actually a good question.

Kershaw is still in his prime years, and it’s hard to spot red flags. His velocity is fine. He’s gotten good at pounding the strike zone. Between that and his stuff, it makes sense that he excels at walks, strikeouts and contact management.

The only concern may be whether Kershaw will be hurt by the Dodgers defense. With an offense-first shortstop in Corey Seager and older defenders at first, second and third, Kershaw‘s tendency toward ground balls might not be an automatic recipe for success.

But since that’s basically it, it’s hard to disagree with Steamer and ZiPS projecting Kershaw for well over 200 innings and an ERA in the low 2.00s. That’s just what he does.

The Grand Conclusion

Let’s return to our homage to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. If it’s a shootout that Kershaw, Greinke and Bumgarner are getting into this season, who’s the man to beat?

Here’s how I’d rank ’em:

1. Kershaw
2. Greinke
3. Bumgarner

Shocking for a guy who just ranked them the exact same way a week ago, I know. The only difference this time is that I’ll admit that Bumgarner vs. Greinke is probably a push. If Greinke regresses from last year’s 1.66 ERA as much as he should, his production will end up looking a lot like Bumgarner‘s.

But regardless, it’s difficult to imagine either having a better year than Kershaw. He’s been dominating more than any other pitcher for a half-decade now. And going into this season, you practically need a microscope to find nits to pick with his potential.

Put another way, the best pitcher in baseball can probably handle being the best pitcher in the NL West.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

JUPITER, Fla. — Is that coconut smell sunblock or a pina colada? Tough to tell in the Grapefruit League…

1. Yadier Molina Is All Thumbs

Along about December, Yadier Molina noticed his left hand just didn’t feel right.

Now, here is where it may have been a blessing that he damaged his right thumb enough to warrant surgery in 2014. Because when he did the same thing to his left thumb—a torn ligament, a year later—and underwent surgery just after the 2015 season ended, he recognized a few weeks later that the surgery didn’t take. Because in recovery, it wasn’t feeling like the right thumb had.

So he underwent the knife a second time, in December. And now here baseball’s best catcher is, rehabbing 45 minutes a day, working his hand through a bucket of rice, racing the calendar to be ready for Opening Day.

“It was discouraging,” Molina told Bleacher Report the other day on the subject of being forced to undergo a second surgery this winter; and after all this, thank goodness he doesn’t have a third thumb.

“You’re always nervous. Every time you have surgery, there are always risks.

“Right now, I’m happy where I am. The thumb is responding to all of the therapy work they’re doing.”

The Cardinals are determined to take it slow with their prized catcher. If he misses Opening Day, so be it. They want him for the long haul. And after a couple of consecutive injury-plagued years, keeping Molina on the field is one of the chief priorities for St. Louis this spring.

Molina is as valuable to this team as any single individual player to any other club in the majors. He is the quarterback in a baseball town that just lost its NFL franchise, an eight-time Gold Glove winner, a seven-time All-Star and a permanent security blanket for manager Mike Matheny and pitchers from Adam Wainwright to Michael Wacha.

“I will tell you this: As far as catching goes and the manager-catcher relationship, he has been a priceless asset to me as a manager and to us as a club,” Matheny said. “For him to do his job as well as he does it makes just about everybody around here better.”

Talk about freak stuff. Molina, 33, suffered the injury to his left thumb on a play at the plate when tagging Anthony Rizzo as the Chicago Cubs first baseman slid last Sept. 20.

Just 14 months earlier, in July 2014, he suffered a torn ligament in his right thumb while sliding into third base.

“It happens; it’s baseball,” Molina said. “It’s weird, but it can happen.”

He is walking, talking, squatting proof. He eased into a few light catching drills Friday, and while the Cards will keep a tight leash on him, Molina is determined to be ready by Opening Day.

Meanwhile, playing the role of the catcher few in St. Louis want to see (nothing personal, of course) is veteran Brayan Pena, whom the Cards signed over the offseason.

And don’t worry, Cardinals fans. He knows you don’t prefer him in the lineup very often, and he understands.

“Yadier is one of those guys who is so great and so awesome that everybody is pulling for him,” said Pena, 34, an 11-year veteran who also has spent time with the Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Royals, Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds.

“Me, personally, I understand my role. I have a responsibility to be ready whenever my name is called. I’m excited about it. You’re excited to have the opportunity.

“But I understand I have a future Hall of Famer in front of me, and I’m playing next to a legend.”

While the rice bucket is one key to Molina whipping his hand back into shape, he’s also using weights and laser therapy to try to push things along.   

The big worry, of course, is that Molina is creeping toward his mid-30s, and he’s playing one of the game’s most punishing positions. The right thumb cost him 40 games in ’14, and his 110 games played that summer were his fewest since his rookie season in 2004 (51 games).

Last year, he played in 136 contests but came up lame at the end and was nowhere close to himself while gallantly playing three games in the National League Division Series loss to the Chicago Cubs.

“You spent the whole year healthy, and then at the end you get hurt,” he said. “Two, three years in a row now (he spent time on the disabled list in August, 2013, with a knee sprain).

“I’m not giving up on myself. I’m trying to get better. I’m trying to get back on track with my thumb. I’m looking forward to the season.”

2. New Program for the Panda

We’ll see how this turns out: Maybe going grim-faced and laser-focused will help Pablo Sandoval produce a strong bounce-back season in 2016.

But following some unfortunate introductory comments upon his arrival to camp this spring, the Panda has shut things down. He is not talking to the media—at least, that’s what he told B/R on Monday—after his weight again tipped the scales of poor PR against him.

Sandoval told Boston reporters when he arrived that he didn’t worry about losing weight over the winter:

He also didn’t seem that bothered by his disappointing 2015 season, basically saying, hey, that’s baseball; sometimes you have good years, and sometimes you don’t.

That is exactly what they don’t want to hear in Boston, where the 2013 World Series title barely has made up for last-place finishes in three of the past four years.

Stay tuned.

3. Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood Has Gone Cuckoo

New sliding rules take effect this year—call it the Chase Utley Rule—and it is something else for everyone to try to figure out this spring.

The biggest issue is the “neighborhood play,” which now is subject to instant replay, which means second basemen and shortstops will need to actually touch the base with a foot instead of swiping the general area before throwing to first.

The reason they’ve been allowed to brush past the base without touching it for so long is self-preservation: With a baserunner barreling in, everybody agreed it was in the infielder’s best interest to get out of the way quickly.

The new rules force the runner to slide into the base and not target the infielder, which isn’t a bad thing. But as sure as cheeseburgers are delicious, you can be sure that subjecting it to instant replay is going to bring unintended consequences this season.

“We’re making a slide rule that keeps you on the bag…and now you’ve got to make a decision on the neighborhood play that you’ve got to stay on the bag,” Mets manager Terry Collins, a former infielder, said the other day in Port St. Lucie, Florida. “You know what that is going to mean? Somebody is going to get their clocks cleaned.”

In Jupiter, Florida, Matheny said he is still digesting the rule but that the team will continue to teach its middle infielders the same things it always has in terms of technique around second base.

“Protect yourself and do what’s expected,” Matheny said.

As for veteran Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia, he says he hasn’t paid much attention to it yet and will figure it out as he goes along. Surely, he won’t be the only one.

4. Clayton Kershaw Left His Impression on Cuba

Cardinals catcher Brayan Pena traveled along with Clayton Kershaw, Yasiel Puig, Miguel Cabrera, Nelson Cruz, Jose Abreu and others on an MLB goodwill trip to Cuba in November and still cannot get over Kershaw’s kindness and accessibility.

“I really love that guy because he was unbelievable in the way he embraced kids and my people,” Pena, a native of Cuba, told B/R. “You have to appreciate that. He’s a future Hall of Famer, he’s taking time away from his family to help kids, he’s speaking Spanish.

“The guy stole my heart. I know why God put him in that position. I was so impressed with the way he embraced the Cuban people.”

5. Rumbling Afield with Miguel Sano

It is 8 a.m. on a chilly Florida morning, and there Twins phenom Miguel Sano is, out in right field on Field 6, with newly minted coach Torii Hunter as his tutor.

Sano, 22, is in the midst of one of the game’s most fascinating transitions. He is 6’4″ and 260 pounds with a big enough body and an important enough bat that you wonder two things: Can the man who primarily has played third base throughout his professional career play right field without hurting the Twins defensively? And can he do it without hurting himself?

The Twins like Trevor Plouffe at third base, and with Joe Mauer at first and newly signed Byung Ho Park ready to step in at designated hitter, right field was the natural move for Sano.

“We feel the move is doable,” Twins general manager Terry Ryan told B/R. “Miguel wants to play; he doesn’t want to DH. We don’t want him to DH. He’s athletic enough. He’s a surprisingly good runner for the size of the man.

“We understand it’s going to take time.”

The recently retired Hunter, in camp as a special instructor, is charged with attempting to shorten that time. Sano told Hunter that back home in the Dominican Republic, he played shortstop, third base, first base, outfield and whatever else was asked of him.

“He’s not afraid because he’s been there before,” Hunter said. “I’m trying to show him things like how to block the lights, how to line up, how the ball comes off of the bat differently from a left-hander than from a right-hander, the spin, slice, topspin. Trying to help him recognize that.”

Hunter and Butch Davis, who is the Twins’ outfield coach, are working overtime, and they have a willing student.

Given that Sano slammed 18 homers and racked up 52 RBI in just 80 games for the Twins last year, the possibilities are tantalizing.

6. Heart of 29

The most touching moments of the week were watching Hall of Famer Rod Carew in uniform as a special coach for the Minnesota Twins. Carew nearly died after suffering a massive heart attack five months ago.

Carew was in uniform Saturday while the Twins held their first full-squad workout, and in tribute to him they all wore red “Heart of 29” T-shirts, citing the name of the charity through which Carew is working to raise money for the research and prevention of heart disease.

“I wanted to be here real bad,” said Carew, 70, who is four months away from a heart transplant. “I knew it would help as far as my spirits went to be around all of the guys.”

The Twins have been pushing Carew’s Heart of 29 cause since they nearly lost the man who took a serious run at hitting .400 in 1977 when he hit .388 to win the sixth of seven batting titles.

“I told them I want to save lives,” Carew said. “I want people to understand that they’ve got to take care of their ticker.

“The worst thing I did was not take my medication. I just threw it away. And I never went back to the doctor. You think you’re healthy, and it knocked me on my butt, just like that.”

7. Weekly Power Rankings

1. New Sliding Rules: Utley should tour Grapefruit and Cactus League camps to demonstrate.

2. Academy Awards: #OscarsSoWhite, #ChrisRockSoFunny.

3. Ian Desmond: The loss of Josh Hamilton (sore knee) is Desmond’s gain in Texas. Still, a hollow gain it is on a one-year, $8 million deal after Desmond declined a seven-year, $107 million extension offer from the Nationals before the 2014 season.

4. Exhibition games: Welcome back, games. Who isn’t ready to take this thing onto the field this week? But, hey, who is No. 75? And 81? And 92?

5. Grouper: Thanks for being so delicious during spring training in Florida, grouper. Now, can someone please pass a slice of key lime pie?

8. Mets Look to Ride Yoenis Cespedes’ Coattails

Lou Truppa is on the front lines of what has been the biggest story going on right now with the New York Mets.

No, he is not the latest phenom for the defending National League champions. He is 80.

And he stands sentry at the gate to the players’ parking lot in Port St. Lucie.

“It is on everybody’s mouth,” Truppa, now in his eighth year guarding the players’ parking lot, told B/R. “They’re all looking for him.

“What’s he driving today?”

First day here, the flamboyant slugger stopped and asked Truppa where he could park his Ford F-250 pickup truck.

“He stops to say hello every day,” said Truppa, who since has watched Cespedes roll by in a three-wheel Polaris Slingshot, a fire-breathing Lamborghini and, Thursday, a $250,000 cherry red, two-seat Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, complete with his No. 52 on the wheels.

Some of the Mets are amused by the show; others simply do their best to ignore it.

Come April, the only thing the Mets will care about Cespedes driving is fastballs. They did not sign him to a three-year, $75 million deal following their inspirational run to the World Series in October simply to drive up the value of their parking lot.

Cespedes already had a reputation as something of a diva, which some in the industry said over the winter is why he wasn’t getting the expected five- or six-year monster contract offers.

The gaudy cars will do nothing to quell that.

Nor will the fact that he sent someone to Target the other day to purchase a round waffle-maker for the clubhouse chefs. Previously this spring, the Mets had been forced to eat, horrors, square waffles.

Quirky is amusing early in camp, and who doesn’t love waffles (ahem, round or square); and, yes, the auto show has given Cespedes the attention he apparently craves.

From here on out, though, it’s all about parking baseballs.

Not whatever Cespedes is parking in the Mets’ lot.

“Always different cars,” said Truppa, whose favorite Mets in 16 years of working spring training here are Mike Piazza, John Franco, Al Leiter and Pedro Martinez.

Meanwhile, over there in a space under a palm tree is Truppa’s car: a 2009 dark blue Kia with 165,000 miles on it.

“I’ve never had a more comfortable ride,” he said, smiling, as the Mets shifted hard into 2016 gear.

9. Joe Girardi Will Take Depth from Anywhere

But can this little guy hit?

Guess he won’t be in today’s lineup…

9a. Rock ‘n’ Roll Lyric of the Week

Don’t blame me for this one. I’m just passing along what I heard in the Minnesota Twins clubhouse at 7:30 a.m. the other day in Fort Myers, Florida (and, why, yes, it is jarring to hear this blasting that early in the morning)…

“Cottonwood fallin’ like snow in July

“Sunset, riverside, four-wheel drives

“In a tail-light circle

“Roll down the windows, turn it on up

“Pour a little crown in a Dixie cup

“Get the party started

“Girl you make my speakers go boom boom

“Dancin’ on the tailgate in the full moon

“That kinda thing makes a man go mmm hmmm”

—Luke Bryan, “Drunk on You”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

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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.

Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.

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FINAL SCORE: Dodgers 3, Mets 1

Trailing 2-1 in the National League Division Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers answered the call to force a final game with a 3-1 victory over the New York Mets in Game 4 at Citi Field on Tuesday night.

The Dodgers took an early lead by scoring three runs in the third inning off Steven Matz. Adrian Gonzalez hit a bloop single that scored Enrique Hernandez from third, and Justin Turner later followed with a double down the left field line that scored Howie Kendrick and Gonzalez.

Daniel Murphy put the Mets on the board in the fourth with a solo home run off Clayton Kershaw. It was his second homer off the lefty in this series.

That, however, was the only blemish on Kershaw’s line. He was dominant, allowing just three hits in seven innings while striking out eight batters. He didn’t come out for the eighth, but the Dodgers bullpen was able to shut the door after some drama at the end of the eighth, when the Mets managed two baserunners.

Kershaw was finally able to get through a seventh inning in the postseason without having disaster strike. On three days’ rest, he was pulled before the next inning, but he probably could have come out for one more.

Aside from the third, Matz did his job through five innings, allowing six hits while striking out four and walking two. The Mets bullpen, including starting pitcher Bartolo Colon, also did its job in holding the score at 3-1.

Now, it’s all hands on deck for Game 5. Both teams will feature their best pitcher in what could be their final game of the year. Jacob deGrom, the winner of Game 1, will start for the Mets, while Zack Greinke, who won Game 2, will start for the Dodgers. Both bullpens will be ready to go at any point in the game with almost all pitchers available.

The momentum seemingly will head back to Los Angeles with the Dodgers, who were able to string together some timely hits and hold New York’s bats in check. Based on the starting pitching, Game 5 could come down to which team is able to play small ball and take advantage of any mistake the opposition makes.

The winner of Game 5 will move on to the National League Championship Series to face the Chicago Cubs, who beat the St. Louis Cardinals in four games. Only one thing is for certain: Los Angeles is going to be rocking Thursday night.

You have to love October baseball.

Follow the writer on Twitter @lundinbridge.

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April through September, Clayton Kershaw dwarfs the gorgeous San Gabriel Mountains backdrop at Dodger Stadium.

In October, those same mountains make him look small.

It has become one of the most inexplicable rituals of autumn, like Linus awaiting the Great Pumpkin and why so many people love candy corn. Kershaw, one of the greatest pitchers of our generation, steps into the postseason, and the Big Blue Train careens off the track.

So here he comes again, set to start Game 4 on short rest against the New York Mets on Tuesday night, another chance at redemption, another autumn with the Dodgers depending on their ace to keep their season alive.

And their fans continue to wonder: When, Clayton, when?

When will he toss the Dodgers on his back and carry them to glory?

When will he produce a postseason for the ages, the way San Francisco‘s Madison Bumgarner did last fall?

When will he avoid the one bad inning that keeps biting him like a poisonous snake?

Reputations are built during the regular season. Legends are built in the month of October.

Despite three Cy Young Awards (2011, 2013 and 2014) and one NL MVP award (2014), October construction remains in full force for Kershaw.

Over his past five postseason starts dating back to 2013, the left-hander is 0-5 with a 6.44 ERA. The first four of those losses were delivered by St. Louis. The most recent came courtesy of Jacob deGrom and the Mets in Game 1 of this NL Division Series.

The Dodgers have complete trust in him and respect him immensely, which is why as this astounding losing streak lengthens, their clubhouse has taken on the look of someone victimized by an unexpected hit-and-run driver.

“As your teammate and one of your best friends, it kills you,” catcher A.J. Ellis told Bleacher Report late Friday night as the Dodgers cleaned up the pieces of another Kershaw postseason loss.

“The narrative that is being written about him in October is totally unfair.”

Kershaw has been ambushed by bad luck, like the two infield singles in the seventh inning during Game 4 of last fall’s Division Series against St. Louis.

He has thrown 100-plus sensational pitches in playoff games only to be felled by one or two random bad pitches, like the curveball Matt Adams smashed for a homer following those two infield singles, and the fastball Daniel Murphy crushed for a homer in Game 1 against the Mets on Friday.

He has been sabotaged by the historically soft bullpen behind him in Los Angeles, as when Pedro Baez surrendered a two-run single to the first batter he faced after replacing Kershaw, David Wright.

“I challenge anyone to come sit next to me in the video room,” Ellis continued. “In St. Louis (Game 4, ’14), he threw six dominant innings. Tonight, he had 11 strikeouts.

“I think what’s sometimes lost in the shuffle with Clayton is that, in these situations, we’re playing against the best teams and the best pitchers. Everyone’s adrenaline is up, and it seems like their batting eye is better at the plate.”

No question.

And yet that is why, when singularly great pitchers like Kershaw continue rolling the boulder up the mountain in the postseason only to see it continually come rolling back down, other aces’ postseason performances are elevated even higher. Bumgarner last year. Curt Schilling with the 2001 Diamondbacks and 2004 Red Sox. Kershaw’s friend, Sandy Koufax, with the 1965 Dodgers.

If it were that easy, Bumgarner would not have stood out so much last year.

“That’s one of the better games we’ve seen pitched against us all year,” Dodgers first-base coach Davey Lopes said of deGrom. “Both guys were pretty stingy. We knew that going in.”

Kershaw was perturbed at the fastball to Murphy, a 94 mph missile that missed its spot. As good as deGrom was going, there simply was no margin for error. And it was Kershaw who made the first error.

Left-handers had hit him slightly better than right-handers in 2015, a .203 batting average vs. .192, respectively. Righties had 10 homers against him in 688 plate appearances, lefties five in 202 plate appearances.

Credit Mets manager Terry Collins for not shying away from lefties. Three were in the lineup against Kershaw in Game 1: Murphy, Curtis Granderson and Lucas Duda.

“I said this before the game: He’s so good, it doesn’t really matter what side of the plate you’re on,” Mets manager Terry Collins said after the Mets’ 3-1 win. “But if you have all right-handers against him and he gets into a groove, he’ll carve you up.

“So you’ve got to give him something different to look at, in my opinion.”

Within that is another clue as to why rivals have touched Kershaw in October: This time of year, opponents do not reach the point of mentally waving the white flag when Kershaw is on the hill, as some undoubtedly do during the regular-season grind. That goes back to what Ellis was talking about: adrenaline, more sharply honed batting eyes, etc.

David Price has run into the same thing over the years, in Tampa Bay, Detroit and, now, in Toronto. Anybody would want Price on the mound in a key postseason game, yet after taking the loss in Game 1 of the Blue Jays‘ Division Series against Texas, Price was 1-6 with a 4.79 ERA in 11 postseason games (six starts).

“Would you not take David Price on your roster?” Lopes asked. “I’d take him.

“It’s a quirky thing, what happens sometimes. I’m sure he’s not happy about it. But I’ll guarantee you: Before David and Clayton are done, they’ll get it.

“They’ll get that monkey off of their backs. You can’t be as good as they are and not do that.”

Kershaw will get his next chance Tuesday night with his third career postseason start on short rest. He beat Atlanta in a Division Series game in 2013 (six innings pitched, no earned runs) and lost to St. Louis in a Division Series game last year (six innings pitched, three earned runs).

“We just feel like he’s that guy, no matter if we’re down 2-1 or up 2-1,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly explained to reporters succinctly before Game 3 on Monday.

“I appreciate the confidence that Donnie has, the confidence in me to do it,” Kershaw said. “It’s a good feeling to know your manager wants you out there. It makes you want to prove him right.”

The Dodgers are certain that one of these days, Kershaw will do just that.

The question is: When?

Reputations are earned during the regular season. Legends are forged in October.

“Ninety-five percent of the time, Clayton is still proving he is among the elite of the elite,” Ellis said of his buddy’s checkered postseason history.

“You’ve gotta keep on keeping on, basically,” Dodgers outfielder Carl Crawford said. “It’s going to happen at one point.

“That’s what you’ve got to keep telling yourself.”

Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.

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One man. One pitch. That is what stands in the way of the New York Mets potentially taking a 1-0 National League Division Series lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.

The man is Los Angeles ace Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw, maybe the best pitcher in Major League Baseball when he is on, will take his 16-7 regular-season record to the hill versus the Mets. The 27-year-old struck out 301 batters in 2015, and he has a 0.88 WHIP (h/t ESPN). Kershaw‘s impressive resume speaks for itself.

The southpaw’s incredible curveball is the pitch. It is a pitch that has baffled opposing batters for years, and it is one that could haunt the Mets all night long on Friday.

The Mets being subpar versus a particular pitch is, on its own, not a massive concern. Kershaw is many things as a pitcher. Average or ordinary doesn’t make the list. Along with bringing his dynamic arm to the mound for Game 1, Kershaw will also be looking to shake off his postseason demons as he attempts to guide the Dodgers to a series lead.

Anybody who has followed the Dodgers and/or Kershaw over the years is probably familiar with his playoff stats. Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register presented those numbers on October 8:

Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw has a 1-5 record and 5.12 ERA in 11 career playoff appearances (including three relief appearances in 2008 and 2009). His past four postseason starts have ended in ugly defeats – two in elimination games for the Dodgers. Kershaw has a 7.15 ERA in those games.

Kershaw, per Plunkett, is aware of his past. It will be on his mind when he faces the Mets:

“I don’t need to be fueled by too much,” Kershaw said when asked the inevitable questions about past failures providing greater motivation to succeed this postseason. “I definitely remember. But it’s a new team, new season and hopefully for me a new outcome.”

One way a lineup can combat a pitcher who has a devastating curveball is to hope for first-pitch fastballs, and then come out swinging early and often. Kershaw is not a conventional pitcher, and he may not, as explained by Joel Sherman of the New York Post, give the Mets any openings early in at-bats:

Two keys: Can you lay off his back-foot slider and is he landing his 12-to-6 curve? If he has that curve working, Kershaw will get ahead with it and can finish off a hitter going backdoor. If not, then that is a pitch you can eliminate as a hitter, especially the one that starts low and ends in the dirt.

Mets manager Terry Collins could go with up to four left-handed hitters against Kershaw on Friday. Both Curtis Granderson and Lucas Duda are, according to Jonah Keri of Grantland, expected to be in the lineup for the Mets versus Kershaw. Those two have, per Sherman, gone a combined 2-for-20 when facing the ace. Granderson went .183 against southpaws this season, per Keri.

The sad stats, as explained by Keri, continue. Daniel Murphy hit .254 against lefties. Left-handers held Michael Conforto to a .214 average. Kershaw could realistically eliminate half of the New York lineup without allowing those men on base once on Friday. 

Looking for any hope for the Mets? Look toward the New York captain. Ignore any stats and numbers when considering how well or how poorly David Wright will play against the Dodgers. Instead, think back to the emotional boost that he provided the New York clubhouse upon his return in August.

This is the same Wright who bleeds orange and blue. The same Wright who was with the Mets during the heartbreaks of 2006 and 2007. The same Wright who hung around when the Mets were the forgotten baseball team of New York for several seasons.

Wright could set the tone for Game 1 and for the series against the Dodgers when he strolls to the plate in the first inning. Imagine, just imagine, what could unfold if a patient Wright gets his pitch and crushes it for a home run. How much energy would that give to the Mets? How would Kershaw react to history possibly repeating itself? 

Other than Wright, the task of taking Kershaw down will fall upon Yoenis Cespedes. Cespedes, a true NL Most Valuable Player candidate after joining the Mets before the trade deadline, is more than just a solid bat. He is a man who can clear the bases with one swing of his bat, and he has proved in the past that he thrives in the postseason.

Cespedes, per Jorge L. Ortiz of USA Today, batted .350 in 10 playoff appearances for the Oakland Athletics in 2012 and 2013. It is also worth noting that Cespedes is chasing a big payday that will come this offseason. Every good playoff series Cespedes has only increases the worth of his future contract.

Whether or not the Mets are able to get to Kershaw could, in the end, fall on Kershaw. SweetSpot blogger/ESPN writer David Schoenfield:

As Molly Knight wrote at Sports on Earth in her look back at Kershaw‘s postseason history, “Pitcher wins and losses don’t mean much, except when you’re the best pitcher of your generation and you lose elimination games, two years in a row, to the same godforsaken team in excruciating fashion, and have to spend 12 months dealing with hecklers and keyboard warriors calling you a choker when you are perhaps one of the most mentally tough athletes on the planet …”

So, yes, Kershaw is the best pitcher on the planet. Now he has to prove he’s the best postseason pitcher on the planet. Fair or not, that’s his legacy heading into these playoffs. Molly believes Kershaw is ready. I think he’s going to have that signature game … or three.

Kershaw will eventually have a dominant postseason outing for the ages. He is too good to not give at least one to the Dodgers. This Mets lineup is made to be blown away by Kershaw. Kershaw will be facing a New York team in prime time and in front of a national television audience. Bet against him at your own risk. 

Fans of the Mets should not enter a panic room if Kershaw is untouchable on Friday. A series is a marathon, not a sprint. Leaving Los Angeles with a split will still be possible if Kershaw throws nine innings of shutout baseball. Yes, the Mets have to face Cy Young Award candidate Zack Greinke in Game 2.

New York will have to worry about that on Saturday.

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Normally, one player stands out as the undisputed key to a team’s championship run.

Last year, Madison Bumgarner stepped up and helped lead the San Francisco Giants to a third World Series title in five years.

Before that, David Ortiz launched a monster shot off Joaquin Benoit to help the Boston Red Sox gain momentum, surge past the Detroit Tigers and eventually win a championship.

Can someone put together a similar performance in 2015 and live in postseason lore forever?

Let’s take a look at a critical player for each playoff team.

Begin Slideshow

Last October gave us one of the most impressive one-man performances in Major League Baseball postseason history. 

Madison Bumgarner made seven appearances for the San Francisco Giants in the 2014 postseason, and they needed every single inning he gave them as they marched to their third World Series title in five years.

Bumgarner had a 1.03 ERA in 52.2 innings, and his five shutout innings in relief in Game 7 of the World Series against the Kansas City Royals was one of the more memorable relief outings of any playoffs in the game’s long history.

Bumgarner is not in this year’s postseason, but that does not mean there are no candidates to put together the kind of month that would rival his. While pitchers are part of the pool, there are also position players in the mix who could carry their clubs the way Carlos Beltran did for the Houston Astros in 2004.

As this postseason gets underway Tuesday, we’ll look at some of the players poised to have that kind of impact. While all of them are entirely capable, the last one listed has the best chance to replicate Bumgarner’s success.

Begin Slideshow

Clayton Kershaw has won multiple Cy Young Awards, a Most Valuable Player Award and thrown a no-hitter over his illustrious eight-year MLB career. On Sunday, the Los Angeles Dodgers ace checked another accomplishment off his checklist: throwing 300 strikeouts in a single season.

Kershaw entered the day needing six strikeouts in order to hit the impressive mark.

In the top of the third inning, the left-hander fanned San Diego Padres outfielder Melvin Upton Jr. to record his sixth punch-out of the Dodgers’ regular-season finale. Somewhat fittingly, Upton went down hacking at Kershaw’s devastating curveball, per MLB:

Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling were the last pitchers to reach 300 strikeouts after they recorded 334 and 316, respectively, in 2002.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, Kershaw is only the second Dodger pitcher to hit 300, with Sandy Koufax being the other.      

“It’s definitely a cool thing,” Kershaw said after the game per the Associated Press, via ESPN.com. “Obviously not the most important thing in the world. If my pitch count got there and I didn’t have 300, I would have come out. Being fresh for the playoffs is more important than 300 strikeouts.”

Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan found it somewhat ironic the 27-year-old has reached such a high standard in terms of strikeouts, but has otherwise had a disappointing season by his ridiculous standards:

To a certain extent, the high rate of strikeouts in MLB today somewhat dilutes Kershaw’s achievement. According to FanGraphs, this year’s strikeout rate (20.4 percent) is tied for the highest mark (with 2014) dating back to the 1871 season. In fact, the eight highest strikeout rates have all come between 2008 and 2015, further demonstrating just how significant the trend is.

At the same time, Kershaw’s 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings entering Sunday equaled Johnson’s during his 2002 campaign, per Baseball-Reference.com, so the two are comparable in that respect.

Of course, much of Kershaw’s work in the regular season could be undone, should he and the Dodgers once again fall short of making the World Series this year.

His struggles in the postseason have been well-documented, and for some, Kershaw won’t establish himself as one of the greatest ever until he gets that monkey off his back.

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