The Los Angeles Dodgers retook management of the World Sequence Friday night time, rolling over the Tampa Bay Rays 6-2 in a well-rounded Recreation Three efficiency.

With the win, the Dodgers are actually two victories away from claiming the franchise’s first World Sequence championship since 1988. And should you look forward on the schedule, there’s an opportunity the celebs may be aligning for Clayton Kershaw to lastly get his final postseason redemption.

Due to the off day on Thursday, the Dodgers will solely want 4 beginning pitchers within the sequence. After beginning — and profitable — Recreation 1 on Tuesday, Kershaw can be out there to begin Recreation 5 Sunday on common relaxation. If the Dodgers win Recreation Four on Saturday, then Kershaw can be beginning with an opportunity to clinch the World Sequence and exorcise each postseason demon that has adopted him round for the final 13 years.

Recalling Clayton Kershaw’s postseason distress

Eight years of disappointment is rather a lot to beat, however the final eight days have positioned Kershaw to just do that.

After Recreation Four of the Nationwide League Championship Sequence, it appeared like Kershaw was heading into one other offseason surrounded by disappointment. On that night time, the three-time Cy Younger award winner was outpitched by Atlanta Braves rookie Bryse Wilson, permitting 4 runs in five-plus innings in a loss that pushed Los Angeles to the brink of elimination.

On a private stage, the loss was Kershaw’s 12th within the postseason. And that does not even embody final 12 months’s blown save in opposition to the Washington Nationals in Recreation 5 of the NLDS. Not each setback has been his fault, however Kershaw has been entrance and heart time and time once more in season-defining video games that did not go the Dodgers approach.

Simply specializing in the Dodgers’ seven journeys to the NLCS throughout his profession, Kershaw is 3-6 with a 4.84 ERA. That is a far cry from Kershaw’s customary common season efficiency, which over 13 seasons has netted an ERA precisely half of that — 2.43.

Here is the largest distinction in 2020: The Dodgers have had Clayton Kershaw’s again.

Story continues

They stormed again to win the NLCS in seven video games. In Recreation 1 of the World Sequence, Los Angeles scored eight runs in assist of Kershaw, who struck out eight batters over six innings of one-run ball. Now, they’ve taken management of the World Sequence and created a state of affairs the place, doubtlessly, Kershaw shall be pitching to win a championship moderately than pitching to save lots of a season.

Might Clayton Kershaw’s postseason saga lastly get a cheerful ending? (Robert Gauthier/ Los Angeles Occasions by way of Getty Photographs)

Can resilient Rays forestall Clayton Kershaw’s shot at redemption?

The Dodgers nonetheless have critical work to do to offer Kershaw this chance. As we have seen all through the postseason, the Tampa Bay Rays are a resilient group, priding themselves on overcoming odds and taking down baseball’s titans. Simply ask the Yankees and Astros. The Rays won’t go away quietly. They may make the Dodgers earn it, and if the Dodgers falter in Recreation 4, then the tenor of Kershaw’s Recreation 5 begin — and the sequence normally — will fully change.

Working within the Dodgers’ favor is the end result of Friday’s pivotal Recreation 3. They solved Charlie Morton, the Rays right-hander who had been unbeaten in his final eight postseason begins. Additionally they confirmed the world they will win baseball video games in each conceivable approach. Now the stress is on Tampa Bay to seek out solutions, and that will not be simple for a crew that did not know who their Recreation Four starter can be — they’ve since introduced Ryan Yarbrough — whereas Recreation Three was going down.

The Dodgers? They know Julio Urías will begin Saturday and he is given them no motive to lack confidence.

What about Recreation 7?

Even when absolutely the best-case state of affairs would not pan out for Kershaw and the Dodgers, there’s at all times an opportunity this sequence will go seven video games. Maybe we must always even anticipate that after watching the ALCS, NLCS and final 12 months’s World Sequence all go the gap.

The Dodgers haven’t hesitated to make use of Kershaw in a reduction position in previous postseasons. The outcomes have been blended, with a slight lean towards not good. However the Dodgers bullpen isn’t with out flaws, both, which might create a necessity for bullpen Kershaw to make one other dramatic postseason look.

Perhaps we’re being overly optimistic pondering that redemption is in Clayton Kershaw’s close to future. Perhaps the ending shall be all too acquainted and the narrative will proceed constructing. Both approach, there’s no approach the ending of this World Sequence shall be written with out the identify and legacy of Clayton Kershaw being an enormous a part of the story.

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