Regular Season Greats

Manning and Kershaw Share Postseason Blues

It might have been perfect timing that Peyton Manning announced that he will return to the Denver Broncos for the 2015 season about a week before Clayton Kershaw reports to spring training for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The timing had me thinking that since Manning and Kershaw are two of the all time greats at their respected game, how are they so bad in the playoffs? Is being “clutch” in your DNA or is it just hard work and dedication paying off?

If it was in your DNA, then both Manning and Kershaw would each have several championships under their belts. Manning has 41 fourth quarter comebacks in his regular season career, but only 1 in the playoffs. Kershaw has 17 complete games, 9 shutouts, and a no-hitter in his regular season career. In his playoff career, he has done nothing.

Lets start with Manning since after committing to the Broncos for the 2015 season, this could truly be the last chance to win another Super Bowl. Manning is 2^nd all time in wins with a chance to pass Brett Favre for the most around mid season. 70 percent of the time Peyton steps out on the field he wins. In the playoffs, he doesn’t even win half of the time and the numbers are kind of skewed by his three Super Bowl runs that equal eight of his eleven playoff wins. In his other 11 playoff runs, he is 3 and 11 and didn’t even win a game in 9 of those years. Peyton will be a first time ballot Hall of Fame inductee whenever he is eligible, but will always be known as a player that could not get it done in the playoffs.

Kershaw has put together one of the most dominant four year stretches in baseball history. He has been the National League Cy Young winner three out of the last four years with a record of 72 and 26. In the last two years alone he has a 1.8 earned run average and has thrown nine complete games. In his seven-year career his record stands at 98 and 49 with a 2.48 era. When he takes the mound it is highly unlikely that the Dodgers are going to lose. Unless it is in October. Playoff baseball is a little different than other sports because one guy can lead you to a championship. In Kershaw’s case, his dominance has disappeared. With his career record being 1 and 5 in 11 starts, he wins less that 10% of the time. His postseason era stands at 5.12. After his dominance in the 2014 regular season, in his two trips to the mound in last year’s playoffs, he went 0 and 2 with an era of 7.82.

Kershaw has plenty of time in his young career to change his ways, but the same use to be said about Manning. Every sport has people that have Hall of Fame regular season careers and carry their winning ways into the postseason. Manning will always be compared to Tom Brady, who has won 4 out of his 6 Super Bowl appearances and is one of the all time “clutch” postseason quarterbacks. Kershaw, who is about to start his eighth season with the Dodgers, has been compared to Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, who have both had dominant regular and postseasons.  Unlike football, one great postseason in baseball can make your career and Kershaw has a lot of postseason games in front of him.

We will never know the answer to why some legends of the game end up on the wrong side of the fence in the postseason, but the lack of success will always haunt their legacy. As for Peyton Manning, a lot of great quarterbacks do not have a Super Bowl ring, but most of them didn’t have fourteen tries at it either. Kershaw can turn his 1 and 5 postseason record into one above .500 with one postseason run.

There will always be all-star quality players that cannot perform in win or go home situation. Manning and Kershaw might just be two of the ones we remember in our generation of sports.

MAYDAY JAY JAY

Twitter @MayDayJJSports