NLDS: Dodgers Drop Diamondbacks; Kershaw Dominant

Published on 7-Oct-2017 by Alan Adamsson

MLB    MLB Daily Update

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NLDS: Dodgers Drop Diamondbacks; Kershaw Dominant

For most of the regular season, the Los Angeles Dodgers were playing like a team possessed.

They looked to be on course to match or shatter the record of 116 victories in a campaign.

Then, in August, the Bums hit the skids. Big time.

To say it tossed a helping of angst into their fan base so close to playoffs is an understatement.

But then a wondrous revelation set in.

The Dodgers weren't going to play the Cardinals in October.

In 2013 and 2014, St Louis took them out, seemingly specializing in haunting the otherwise infallible Clayton Kershaw.

Yeah. There was a lot of that. Surprisingly, left-handed hitters led the barrage.

So the fact that Kershaw's own personal kryptonite wasn't an opponent this year was huge.

Instead, the Dodgers were matched with their divisional-neighbor Arizona Diamondbacks. Kershaw sees them 18 times a year and, with the exception of Chris Ianetta -- JD Martínez is too small of a sample size, they're barely batting above the Mendoza line against him.

Interestingly, with the aid of the Dodgers' considerable offense, Kershaw did enough to hold the Snakes in check before the dinger bug bit him again:

This season, Los Angeles became accustomed to doing much more than just enough.

But this time, they'll take it.