Opinion

Another year, another dispiriting finish for the Washington Nationals.

Yes, the Nats pushed the Los Angeles Dodgers to the maximum five games in the National League Division Series despite key injuries in the lineup and starting rotation.

Clayton Kershaw, closer.

Hey, why not? After a division series round where bullpens mattered more than ever, why not end it all with the best pitcher of our generation coming out of the bullpen to get the final two outs?

Kershaw did it, finishing off the Los Angeles Dodgers' 4-3 win over the Washington Nationals. Their matchup was the only division series to last the full five games.

Not that any of these series were easy.

The Division Series clash between the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers is the only one from either league to go the distance. That's not much of a surprise given how evenly matched the clubs were coming into the postseason.

One out from clinching the Astros' first World Series berth in Game 5 of the 2005 National League Championship Series, Brad Lidge threw a slider that didn't quite slide in Houston. At the plate, the Cardinals' Albert Pujols launched a three-run, go-ahead homer that sent the series back to St. Louis.

Max Scherzer has started 276 games in the major leagues. That includes 11 in the postseason, which have covered a World Series game and Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.

According to him, none of these compares to his assignment in Game 5 of the National League Division Series on Thursday.

Either the Cleveland Indians or the Toronto Blue Jays will represent the American League in the 2016 World Series after each team swept through the division series. Both sides figure to face much more resistance in the penultimate round of the MLB playoffs.

In Terry Francona's script for the latest season of MLB's hit drama Postseason Baseball, the most important role in the American League Championship Series may be a middle reliever.

This one just so happens to be played by one of the nastiest pitchers in the league.

For the last 107 seasons, any hope the Chicago Cubs held heading into postseason play was almost immediately followed by agony.

What took place in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the National League Division Series on Tuesday night is supposed to happen to the Cubs. Chicago is never the team that dishes out heartbreak.

Five years in, the MLB Wild Card Game is a success.

Oh, there are those who quibble with the format and argue a 162-game season should not be reduced to a single winner-take-all contest.

But as FanGraphs' Dave Cameron put it in 2015, "in terms of theatre and entertainment value, the wild-card play-in games are about as good as baseball gets right now."

Chase Utley saved Clayton Kershaw from being the goat. Again.