They say pitching wins championships, and that’s why names like David Price, Jon Lester, and Johnny Cueto are sought after every season at the trade deadline. Often, regular season success does not translate into October baseball though. Here are five incredible pitchers with shockingly bad postseason resumes.
Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
Kershaw is the best pitcher in baseball. At just 27 years of age Kershaw has won back-to-back Cy Young awards (three total), an MVP in 2014, and just became the first Dodger since Sandy Koufax to notch 300 strikeouts in a single season. He’s going to be in the running for greatest pitcher ever if he continues down this path.
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Unless his postseason numbers ding him.
For all his otherworldly success, Kershaw sports a 5.12 career postseason ERA. And it’s not that small a sample size either; Kershaw has appeared in six playoffs series, five as a starter. Most of his woes have come at the hands of the Cardinals. There’s no shame in that, but 18 earned runs in his last 16 2/3 innings is unsightly.
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David Price, Blue Jays
Price was a difference-maker for Toronto this season, going 9-1 with a 2.30 ERA in 11 starts while striking out 87 batters and walking only 18. He faced the Yankees four times in a Jays uniform, earning a win in three of those four outings. Pressure is not something that seems to faze Price.
But during October he’s just 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA in five starts. Two of those losses came against the Rangers in the 2010 and 2011 ALDS when he was still on the Rays. Like Kershaw with the Cards, Price has some demons to work out against the Rangers, Toronto’s opponent in this year’s ALDS.
Johnny Cueto, Royals
Cueto was in the NL Cy Young mix for much of the year before a late-season swoon, and a trade to the AL, deep-sixed his hopes. Cueto was 2-4 with a 4.76 ERA for Kansas City, an alarming number that won’t calm any nerves when it’s pointed out that his postseason ERA is 5.19 over three starts. Cueto left a 2012 NLDS start after six pitches, and was bombed for eight hits and four runs in 3 1/3 innings in 2013. The Royals spent big to get Cueto, so they’re praying he can turn it around.
Scott Kazmir, Astros
Kazmir’s resurgence continued in 2015, but his time with the Astros has been underwhelming. He went 2-6 with a 4.17 ERA in 13 starts for Houston, and isn’t a lock to start Game 2 of the ALDS. Kazmir is Houston’s most seasoned postseason player, but he hasn’t had much success in October. In five series (seven starts) Kazmir is 1-2 with a 5.20 ERA. He’s given up four or more runs in three of his seven postseason starts, and never gone longer than six innings.
Lance Lynn, Cardinals
The Cardinals won’t have Adam Wainwright or Carlos Martinez available to them in the rotation this postseason, so Lynn will be a key member of their staff. Unfortunately for the Cards, he’s got a shaky-at-best postseason resume. He wasn’t a starter until his fifth postseason series, so these numbers pick up from the 2012 NLCS.
In seven starts (nine appearances) he has posted a 4.46 ERA and failed to last six innings six times. In the only outing where he made it past 5 2/3 innings, it was six frames on the nose. Lynn has notched two wins in this nine-game span, and one of them came during a relief appearance.
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