Talk to me.

Don't make me be this guy today.

You're gonna make me be this guy today.

He can't do it in one world.

Siri's.

I'm sorry he could get the monkey off his back in a way, but he can't do it in just one world.

Siri's understand Clayton Kershaw has the lowest e r a.

Ever like you have to go back to the dead ball era.

In the modern era of all starting pitchers, he has the lowest career.

E r A.

You know what that means?

He's the best, really.

It short and you could look the quality of his prime of his very best matches up with the elite primes like Sandy Koufax or Pedro Martinez or anyone you want to mention.

Except he had more longevity at a high level than those guys did.

And he's still going.

He should be going down as the greatest starting pitcher ever.

He's not why.

Look, he has.

He goes from a to 43 all time greatest Diarra in the regular season.

It balloons in the postseason and in each successive, uh, divisional Siri's it gets Siri's, the deeper you go.

It got higher finally, because he pitched six innings with a run last night.

His world, Siri's er a still over 4.5 is a little bit lower than his NLCS e r A.

Which is close to five.

Right, let me tell you how to think about Clayton Kershaw, and I'm so glad he pitched well.

I don't have to criticize him for the way he pitched yesterday, and because of this, the Dodgers have a chance to win the World Series.

Koufax won four, but really to is a study ace Valenzuela 11 Hershey's or 11 because they were all big under pressure.

Great world.

Siri's pictures.

The Dodgers haven't won in this era so far because their ace hasn't been that.

But let me tell you how to think of Kershaw.

He's Peyton Manning.

Peyton.

Did Peyton Manning silenced the critics?

Well, in a way, yes, because he wound up winning two Super Bowls and one is a stud, still right, So he silenced the critics in the sense that he couldn't win it all.

He couldn't win the big game.

He did.

But who rates Peyton Manning the greatest quarterback of all time No.

One, and he was in the regular season.

Peyton Manning was probably the best player who ever lived.

But in those serious football conversation about the greatest quarterbacks ever, no one ever brings up Peyton Manning anymore because the body of work when it mattered most didn't justify it.

He got the monkey off his back with those Super Bowls, but it doesn't erase all the futility that led up to it.

And I'm afraid of this moment.

The same is true with Clayton Kershaw.

I don't think that all gets undone with one or two great world.

Siri's games pitched, and it was an excellent game last night.

Well, the good news that I'm gonna provide Jeff Passan is that I'm not going to try to be the expert here and going that long soliloquy.

I don't need to do that.

I'll leave that to him.

You can.

You can.

You're not.

But that's all right about it.

You're actually not.

Here's the reality.

You're really not in the end Indian.

Excuse me?

A lot of people know baseball.

I just said you're not the expert.

I didn't say you don't know baseball is the deal with.

The reality is, there you go.

Thank you.

Here's the point of the matter.

Kershaw has had exceptional World Series or postseason performances.

Not, as Er is.

Double is double in the postseason.

It wasn't in the regular season, so you're not wrong in that regard.

But it's not like what we saw last night we've never seen before.

He performed against the Brewers, had a 13 strikeout performance he performed against the Astros in the World Series.

Haddon 11 strikeout performance.

He's had games.

Here's where I differ from you, Max and this on its Onley In this one thing.

If this were a Game seven with a championship on the line, obviously, because that's where the Game seven brings and you perform like that, I think that would go a long way towards eradicating all of those demons that have haunted him.

The notion that excuse me one postseason is not going to do it.

I beg to differ.

That's the only place you and I disagree.

I'm saying that it's moments that count.

Game one is not Game seven.

So you showing up in the World Series and performing in Game one, even though that's a big deal.

Still, it ain't Game seven.

But if this were Game seven or that 11 strikeout performance against the Astros of the 13 strikeout performance against Milwaukee in the postseason that I brought up, if that was a Game seven, even though that's just one postseason, excuse me.

Think about what it did for Bumgarner the way he performed.

Obviously, it wasn't just one game.

He did it over several games and in the top postseason.

I totally get it.

But what I'm saying is when he showed up on short rest in a Game seven and perform the way that he performed, that's what resonated with us.

We'll hold on to that.

And I think if Kershaw does something like that in the Game seven, I think people will view him entirely differently.

Floor's yours, Jeff.

May I just start by saying, God forbid, I'm ever compared to Peyton Manning in a negative way.

Real here.

If you end up being compared to Peyton Manning, Max and you're trying to frame it like that's a bad thing, your argument starting off in a really bad place here now, I'm also curious and you can answer this after after I'm done talking here, I'm also curious what the threshold is going to be for you to get off of the Clayton Kershaw can't pitch in October narrative that has pervaded the baseball world and in some regards fairly in some regards.

Understandably.

But it's almost like if he can't do it this postseason, if you can't do it next postseason, when can he do it?

What's the threshold?

Where is the point where you're going to start saying Clayton Kershaw is a big game picture?

Because, like Stephen, I said, there are some examples where Clayton Kershaw has pitched extraordinarily well in October.

There's also an important point, though, that I think needs to be made.

And it was illustrated last night.

Max Clayton Kershaw came out after only 78 pitches last night.

You look at yourself, you say 78 pitches.

What kind of a space gets pulled after 78 pitches?

What kind of stud goes out after 78 pitches?

He should be going out there.

He should be thrown a complete game.

He should be.

You know, all these things that's fair.

That's reasonable.

But there are limitations that starting pitchers have at this point in the playoffs, you are facing lineups typically in the world, Siri's that are so good that grind you down so much that you know what Ah, six innings start in Modern baseball is considered pretty good.

And when you go look back at the foibles of Clayton Kershaw, Max, the ones that have ballooned his er a into the fours over the course of history in the postseason.

Most of the damage has been done in the seventh inning because his managers had that trust in him.

Had that faith in him sent him back out there, maybe when he shouldn't have gone out there.

So if you wanna blame Clayton Kershaw for giving up those hits, those runs, those home runs, all the things that happened in those innings, I get it.

He did.

But in reality, I think some of what happened to him in October is due to those managers as well.

Not recognizing that, you know, maybe we shouldn't rely on this guy quite so much.

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