WASHINGTON (AP) – It is one of baseball’s enduring mysteries in recent years and will be front-and-center in Game 1 of the NL Division Series between the Dodgers and Nationals that begins Friday:
Why is LA lefty Clayton Kershaw so downright masterful during the regular season and so decidedly mediocre during the playoffs?
While a player such as Washington slugger Bryce Harper talks about thriving when the stage is biggest, the lights brightest, the TV audience broadest, Kershaw seems to spend early October dealing with questions about happens to him at this time of year. He goes from being a three-time Cy Young Award winner (with a pair of other top-three finishes in voting) who wins two out of every three decisions (126-60 career record) and owns a 2.37 ERA to just a guy: 2-6, 4.59 ERA.
“The bad ones stand out more,” he said Thursday, “for sure.”
He offered one possible explanation for the disparity, and a hopeful-sounding view of why things could be different this time around, beginning when he faces Max Scherzer and the rest of the NL East champions.