By Julie Buehler
Some friends, who shall remain nameless, but whose baseball opinions I generally respect, wondered out loud if Madison Bumgarner, the man who dominated this MLB postseason was baseball’s best pitcher.
“Better than Clayton Kershaw?” I asked.
“Yup.” These nameless pot-stirrers replied.
My answer was swift, emphatic, and pithy. “No chance. Now stop it.”
How on earth can you justify the sprint of the postseason, however dominant a player may be, being MORE important than consistent dominance through the grueling marathon of the regular season in any sport, let alone the uniquely arduous war-of-attrition known as baseball’s regular season?
Kershaw did something no one else in baseball’s history has done when he, for the 4th straight season, had the lowest ERA in all of baseball.
He finished the regular season 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA.
Now, to his credit, MadBum collected the 3rd lowest ERA of any pitcher who pitched at least 30 innings and he did pitch more than 50 innings, something no one else had ever done in a single post season, but it’s comparing apples to donuts when you consider the regular season and postseason.
First: there’s the issue of team chemistry. In the hot crucible of the postseason, perhaps the single most important factor for a team’s success is that illusive, unquantifiable quality known as chemistry.
The Giants have it, as evidenced in their 10 straight playoff series wins. The last 3 years they’ve made the playoffs, they’ve won it all. That’s chemistry.
The Dodgers don’t. Don Mattingly, despite baseball’s biggest payroll, gets bulldozed out of the postseason each year with new and creative gaffs leaving Dodgers fans not even mad, but kind of impressed.
Second: Consistency is the mark of greatness, not the ability to dominate opponents that may or may not be experienced in postseason pressure.
Those who argue against Clayton Kershaw’s dominance claim he pitches against a weak NL West and can’t dominate quality competition. Well, MadBum pitched in the NL West too and in 217 innings of work, finished the regular season with 2.98 ERA, allowed 21 homeruns, and opponents’ batting average to be .240. He went 18-10. Solid year, for sure.
But Kershaw, again, 21-3, same division, 198 innings of work, an ERA that’s 68% lower than Bumgarner’s and allowed only 9 homeruns with opponents batting a skinny .196.
Did I mention he’s led the league in ERA for 4 straight years? Did I mention NO one else has done that? Ever. If a dude can dominate the league for 4 straight years, it’s not the lack of competition; it’s a dude dominating the league.
Third: Team sports are team sports, even in baseball and even as a pitcher, you must consider the context in which stats are procured. From quality of team and leadership surrounding a player to quality of opposition they faced.
Did you know Mark “I invented fumbling off a teammates butt” Sanchez has a better post-season passer rating that Tom Brady?
Did you know that Joe Montana has thrown 3x the number of postseason interceptions than Joe Theisman?
Yet NO ONE would consider Sanchez better than Brady. And IF you meet some who thinks Theisman is in the same stratosphere as Montana, call them a cab. They should NOT be driving anywhere.
It’s amazing that we understand the concessions required in football or other sports, but in baseball, Kershaw’s extensive body of work in the regular season is negated because the team he takes into the postseason is a couple steps above hot garbage.
I’m not taking anything away from Bumgarner’s historic and dominance postseason. It was remarkable and deserves its place in baseball history.
Clayton Kershaw is baseball’s best pitcher, and likely will be that way for years to come. If he had the team Bumgarner had around him, he’d likely have similar postseason success.
We’ll never know for sure, but no one should equate one man’s mark historic mark in the postseason, which is a ¼ of the size of the regular season, with the 4 years of dominance of Clayton Kershaw.
Julie Buehler hosts the Coachella Valley’s most popular sports talk radio show, “Buehler’s Day Off” every day from 3-6 on 1010 KXPS, the valley’s all sports station. She can also be seen every morning between 6-7am on KMIR sharing the coolest stories in sports. She’s an avid gym rat, slightly sarcastic and more likely to recite Steve Young’s career passing stats than American Idol winners. Tune in M-F 3-6 pst at www.team1010.com or watch “Buehler’s Day Off” on Ustream and KMIR.com for her sports reports.
