Clayton Kershaw will have the ball for Game 1 of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ NLDS against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night. He isn’t thrilled about it.
It’s not that Clayton Kershaw dislikes baseball. It’s not that he doesn’t want to be on the bump for his team.
Kershaw just wishes that his start fell on a different day of the week. This will be his fourth-straight Saturday start in the fall and he’s over it.
The 100-win Dodgers are favored over the 84-win Diamondbacks, but anything can happen in October! They will try to get off on the right foot by throwing their ace.
Kershaw was 13-5 with a 2.46 ERA during the regular season. However, the 35-year-old has often struggled in the postseason. He’s 13-12 with a 4.22 ERA in 38 career playoff appearances.
This year is going to be different, Kershaw hopes.
At times maybe in the past I had a fear of failure and didn’t want to go out there and fail. Now it’s just a lot more positive. It’s just the nerves are from an excitement to get to pitch in the playoffs, to get to be a part of it, to be in this moment that a lot of people in the game don’t get to be in.
— Clayton Kershaw, via Beth Harris and David Brandt of the Associated Press
Although the 6-foot-4 lefty is thrilled for the opportunity, it is the timing that bums him out. His Saturday will be spent preparing for his start, which is an intense process.
Kershaw would rather start on a Friday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. That way he could spend his Saturday watching college football.
It really messes up my college football watching.
— Clayton Kershaw
Fair enough!
Clayton Kershaw, a future first-ballot Hall of Famer, wishes that he could watch college football on Saturdays just like the rest of us. A playoff start just so happens to be in his way…