For the third time since 2011, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw will be winning the National League Cy Young Award.

His performance this year was incredible. Kershaw posted a 21-3 record, with 1.77 earned runs against average. He even gave the Dodgers six complete games, and many baseball experts believe he will win the National League Most Valuable Player Award as well.

Kershaw's 2014 regular season performance was constantly compared to other all-time great pitchers such as Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson.

Yet, for some reason, Kershaw just seems to fall apart in the postseason.

In his last outing, against the St. Louis Cardinals, Kershaw pitched just 6.2 innings and allowed eight runs. Despite leading the game 6-1 in the sixth inning, Kershaw fell apart in the seventh inning surrendering that lead.

Cardinals win Game 1 in Los Angeles, 10-9.

Kershaw's career ERA in the postseason is now 5.20, and he is just 1-4 in his five starts.

Mr. Unreliable?

How can a pitcher who dominates all season long, year after year, fall apart like this? This latest debacle was the most surprising and disappointing of all for a number of reasons. First, Kershaw was pitching on more than a week's rest. The Dodgers and manager Don Mattingly have been resting Kershaw all season long, as he pitched less than 200 innings in a season for the first time since 2009. Secondly, the Dodgers were at home; this was their home opening playoff game.

Just as a reference to other all-time postseason greats, who Kershaw is constantly compared to, such as Gibson and Koufax, Kershaw falls very short. Gibson's playoff ERA was 1.89 with a 7-2 record. Former Dodgers great Koufax had an eye-opening 0.95 playoff ERA. Kershaw has yet to even match the greatness of former New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time we've seen Kershaw crumble under the pressure.

In last year's National League Championship Series (against the Cardinals again), Kershaw was 0-2. In the final game, the Cardinals hit 10 balls off Kershaw and scored seven runs. But this isn't just a Cardinals problem. In the 2009 postseason, the Philadelphia Phillies dominated Kershaw in the NLCS.

The Dodgers have a problem. Former Los Angeles Lakers great Magic Johnson watched and attended the game, but even his clutch gene couldn't rub off on the Dodgers pitching staff.

Most of the time, Kershaw is making baseball history for the right reasons, but after Friday's defeat he found himself on the wrong side of history. Kershaw is now the first and only pitcher in Major League Baseball history to allow seven or more runs in consecutive playoff starts.

Of course Kershaw shouldn't give up, but with postseason woes coming so early, concerns are growing in Los Angeles. It will get tougher before it gets easier from here.

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