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For five seasons, as the Dodgers dominated the NHL in the regular season, the team developed their plan for the month of October around Clayton Kershaw's left arm. He was there with their staff and anchored their list. He pitched as much as possible – during a series in 2016 he put Game 4 on short rest and closed Match 5 two days later. He was the sun around which the team orbited.
This year will be different.
Tuesday night, two days before the first game of the Division series of the National League against Atlanta, the Dodgers made a staggering announcement: Hyun-Jin Ryu, not Kershaw, would start the first game. Kershaw would start the second game with Walker Buehler and Rich Hill aligned for the next two games.
The decision followed a troubling month for Kershaw (9-5, 2.73) and a great month for Ryu (7-3, 1.97). The team has changed its rotation to support both. By exchanging the two pitchers, Ryu will benefit from five days of rest instead of six while Kershaw will enjoy a fifth day of rest before his release.
Both pitchers will be available for a potential match on next Wednesday. The Dodgers would not have made that decision if the starter of game 2 could not start match 5, according to people close to the team. Buehler not being available for the start of this series after playing the 163 match against Colorado on Monday, team officials still consider Kershaw as the best option for a playoff game.
On the eve of reaching the status of free agent, Kershaw stumbled during the last month of the regular season. In six outings, he gave 18 points, 16 of which were won. His score of 3.89 is the highest in a month since his 3.97 count in May 2015. Ryu replied with only nine points allowed, including four undeserved, out of five starts.
While the Dodgers were competing for a division title last month, Kershaw had to face tougher competition than Ryu. The team set its rotation so Kershaw and Buehler set off on a crucial series against competitors like Colorado, Arizona and St. Louis. Ryu faced weak opponents such as the New York, San Diego and Cincinnati Mets.
Yet the last weekend of the regular season has presented an instructive contrast. Ryu played six baseball heats against San Francisco Giants players. A day later, Kershaw allowed five points in five innings, one of his worst recent-season regular-season defeats, while facing the same offense.
The Dodgers started getting rid of Kershaw in the playoffs last season, when the team acquired Yu Darvish in hopes of easing Kershaw's burden. Kershaw did not start in short play in the 2017 playoffs. But he started the first game of the three series. After a disastrous loss to Houston in the fifth World Series game, he made four scoreless innings on the two-day rest after the Darvish burn in Game 7.
Kershaw is unlikely to have a short break in October. He held two different positions on the disabled list in the first period, first with tendonitis of the biceps and then with the lower back. Kershaw has had back injuries in each of the last three seasons.
Kershaw is two years old and has $ 65 million left for his extension, but he can retire at the end of the season.
As the team sprayed champagne to celebrate Saturday's playoff spot, the winners, despite a discouraging Kershaw outing, said he was not sure what would follow.
"Honestly, I did not think about it," Kershaw said. "I can not give an answer because I really do not know what lies ahead. I know we have playoffs coming up.
"It's a good distraction. And if we did not play in the playoffs, I probably would have thought more about the direction we're going and the one I'm going to personally, but for now I can not do it. There is not enough room up there for both.
Twitter: @McCulloughTimes
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