Between now and the end of the season, every game Clayton Kershaw pitches like the Clayton Kershaw of old will make the Dodgers feel a step closer to a day of which they have long dreamed — and also long feared.
This is the great irony of this Dodgers season, how performances by Kershaw required for them to win the World Series could result in them losing their most important player of the last decade.
Thoughts of his departure had receded to the background in recent months, as a couple of visits to the disabled list earlier this year reinforced the perception that the 30-year-old Kershaw was a broken down pitcher.