Top 25 MLB players to watch in October

1. Clayton Kershaw

Recent losing streak notwithstanding, the Dodgers have been the best team in baseball the entire year. Up until three weeks ago, they would have been everyone’s first choice to win the World Series. Their long losing streak — no team has ever won a World Series in a year where they lost 15 of 16 — has revealed more than a few flaws, but the Dodgers still have the hammer in a playoff series. They have Clayton Kershaw.

Kershaw missed close to a month again this year with a back injury, but he has been so good that the NL Cy Young should be his. He leads the major leagues with 17 wins and a 2.12 ERA. Although he has made only 24 starts, Kershaw has done enough to cement his fourth Cy Young. He is the best pitcher in the league, and it’s not even close.

For all of his dominance in the regular season, Kershaw has run into trouble in the playoffs almost every year. In 18 career appearances in the playoffs and 89 innings, the left-hander has a 4.55 ERA. Kershaw has been much better the past two years. His reputation as a postseason choker is unfair. In Kershaw’s early years with the Dodgers, the team’s bullpen was awful and he was often forced to pitch deep into games or saw his ERA inflated by inherited runners coming into score.

Missing a month with a minor back injury may prove to be a blessing in disguise. He will enter the playoffs fresh. At his best, Kershaw is the ultimate equalizer in a playoff series where he can pitch three times. Even with their flaws exposed, the Dodgers can still win the World Series if the best pitcher on the planet pitches like the best pitcher on the planet.