[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by rats60

I completely disagree with your hypothesis and conclusions. I don't think it is a matter of anyone playing better. It is some great players who play at their normal high level while others are not able to maintain their's. That results in superior performance from those "clutch" players. It is natural for people to freeze or shrink when put under pressure. Some it doesn't effect. Some can overcome it with experience or at times. Some are Clayton Kershaw. Sorry, but postseason games are different than regular season games. Regular season performance doesn't necessarily predict postseason performance, see Clayton Kershaw.

Kershaw has had what, 15 or so post season starts, and his stats are just dramatically different from his regular season ones. I am not sure I could defend it mathematically, but that feels like enough to say that at least so far, he does seem to have an issue with post-season pitching. 6 starts by Johnson, or 10 by Mathewson (in which he was 5-5 by the way, and yes I know the ERA) don't feel like enough to draw a meaningful comparison. I'm still handing the ball to Johnson, although I would feel pretty good about handing it to Mathewson or Young or Alexander too.