When Clayton Kershaw takes the mound for a postseason game, he’s facing two opponents: the other team’s hitters, and The Narrative.
The Narrative is well-documented: Kershaw, one of the best pitchers the game has ever seen, can’t get it done in the postseason. The premise feels illogical—of course the three-time Cy Young award winner can succeed in any environment—even though the conclusion has proven, time and time again, to be true.
Kershaw’s playoff numbers are objectively worse than the regular-season counterparts. This is not the space to hash out the reasons for that disparity—perhaps it’s the stiffer competition, smaller sample size or some indiscernible un-clutch gene—but rather an opportunity to view how The Narrative can be impacted by factors outside of Kershaw’s control through the lens of Wednesday night’s wild Game 2, in which the Dodgers hung on to a 6-5 win.