There’s no getting around the fact that Kershaw has been a playoff disappointment. Of course, the Braves would’ve won anyway even if he’d been better.
That sort of thing doesn’t always define you in the long run. We have a thread about Joe Morgan, and I looked him up and to my amazement, Joe batted .182 in the playoffs (50 games, so not a small sample.) I had no idea, and I’ve never heard anyone say he was a playoff choker. Of course, the Reds did win the World Series twice, and no one notices if you have a bad World Series if your team won anyway.
Barry Bonds was a choke artist when he was with the Pirates (until the last 2 or 3 games of the NLCS in 1992). IIRC, a different story when he migrated to the Giants. I agree that playoffs don’t define a guy. It’s tough to get through an elite lineup 3 times without giving up some runs, and my own amateur, armchair manager’s opinion is that Dave Roberts leaves pitchers in too long. I’ve seen him do this several times.
On playoff disappointments - Willie Mays has terrible postseason stats, although he’s remembered for that one catch against Cleveland in a series his team won.
I’ll give Willie a pass. In his 22 seasons, he played a total of 25 playoff games, and in about one-third of those he was 40 years old or above. In the 12-year peak of his playing career, when he was absolutely killing the ball, the Giants only made the playoffs twice, for 11 total games. A pretty small sample size.
Exactly, though; it’s why generally speaking great players’ playoff performance hasn’t mattered much. Ted Williams did nothing in the one World Series he was in; Ty Cobb helped his team lose three World Series in a row. We always remember the ones who were awesome in the postseason - if I said “Mr. October” you know exactly who I mean - but not the ones who weren’t.
Until today’s much more expansive playoffs, there wasn’t a single player ever whose Hall of Fame case depended, one way or another, on playoff performance. Well, maybe Bill Mazeroski. I think playoff performance SHOULD matter, but until recently most guys didn’t play enough playoff games for it to matter.
Now it kinda does. Mariano Rivera’s playoff performance was a significant part of his case, and David Ortiz’s is helped by it, too. I think Manny Ramirez is a Hall of Famer without playoffs, but I KNOW he’s a Hall of Famer with them.
On a more general note, fuck MLB for their fucking stupid game times and their fucking ridiculously long games. Last night’s AL game started at 9.00 Eastern, and the nine-inning game went for just over four hours, until after 1.00 in the morning.
MLB ought to go back to late afternoon start times on the west coast and reasonable start times in the east.
Also, as someone who cut the cord a while ago, I can’t follow the playoffs anymore. I could see rewarding cable or MLB.com subscribers with exclusive division round playoffs, but to take away the entire LCSs makes it hard to be a fan unless you’re willing to overpay for cable, which I’m not.
If you’re an elite hitter, teams do whatever they can to make sure you get nothing to hit. They’ll pitch away from you and take their chances with the hitters after you or intentionally walk you. Part of the reason Ortiz hit the cover off the ball in his postseason appearances is because the Red Sox frequently had solid lineups. That was the case in 2013 and certainly true in 2007 and 2004, although it must be said that his 2013 performance in the WS was one for the ages.
He’s now retired 15 of the 16 batters he’s faced, including the last 13 in a row. 49 pitches through five innings, and just six pitches to get through the fifth. Still 3-0, bottom of five.
This year will be my 21st World Series since I moved to the United States, and no matter which of the three remaining teams win, it will be the 14th different winning team in the time I’ve lived here. That’s pretty good. When the Orioles are out of it (which is nearly all the time ), I always cheer for the possibility of a “new” winner, one that I haven’t seen before.
Yeah, even though the Rays have never won a World Series, their championship drought is shorter than either of their potential rivals. We are looking at a cumulative 47 to 54 years of futility depending on the NL champ.
In all fairness, I think the cheating thing is overblown. No question, it needed to be sanctioned/penalized in some way, but the Astros are a legit good team (might not be after this season though).
The Braves won in 1995, defeating the Cleveland Indians 4-2. But it was the year that the league returned from the strike, which would make this year another asterisk championship if they were to win it all, lol. Dodgers won in 1988.
), I always cheer for the possibility of a “new” winner, one that I haven’t seen before.