The words Clayton Kershaw and Postseason arenât often sued together positively, as the Los Angeles Dodgers ace has often struggled to replicate his success from the regular season in the playoffs.
Kershawâs postseason meltdowns are well-documented and he looked far from great just a week ago in Game 4 of the NLCS against the Atlanta Braves, so there were some concerns about how heâd fare in Game 1 of the World Series vs. the Tampa Bay Rays.
Gladly, the southpaw superstar was incredibly dominantfrom start to finish, throwing 6 innings and allowing just 2 hits and one earned run while striking out 8 Rays, leading his team to an 8-3 victory in the first of the series.
Clayton Kershaw Reaches Multiple Milestones In Dominant Outing In Game 1 Of The World Series
With his 8 strikeouts, the 32-year-old ace joined Justin Verlander as the only pitchers to ever strike out 200+ batters in the history of the postseason, taking down John Smoltz for second in the all-time list.
Moreover, this was the first time in his career (regular season or postseason)that his opponents swung and missed in 50+% of his throws, as they just couldnât get the ball on 19 out of their 38 swings.
And if that wasnât enough, Kershaw reached his 12th career victory in the postseason, tying Hall of Famer Roger Clemens at the fifth spot in the all-time list as well, also taking his record to .500 for the first time in a while (12-12). So yeah, so much for that Kershaw Curse.
The job isnât done yet and the Dodgers donât have any time to celebrate or be overconfident, as theyâll have to suit up tonight again for the second game of the World Series vs a resilient and hardnosed team that wonât go down without a fight.
