Clayton Kershaw Sends Clear Message on Dodgers' NLCS Dominance Over Brewers

Oct 8, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22) enters the game to pitch during the seventh inning against the Philadelphia Phillies during game three of the NLDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers' road to the World Series — should they hold on for one more win against the Milwaukee Brewers — will be paved by its starting pitching.

Between postseason starters Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers are spending over $107 million on their starting pitching in the 2025 playoffs.

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With only one loss in the postseason so far, it's paying off.

Through the first two games of the National League Championship Series against the Brewers, Snell and Yamamoto combined for 17 innings pitched, striking out 17 batters and allowing just one earned run.

Tyler Glasnow tossed 5.2 innings of one-run baseball in Game 3, recording eight strikeouts.

The Dodgers starting pitching rotation has been elite this postseason at not allowing hard contact, as veteran starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw noted.

"Contact's not a problem when you have good pitching, it's hard contact that's the problem. They're not giving up any of that,” Kershaw told MLB.com. "Blake yesterday, they were swinging and missing. Good pitching beats good hitting any day of the week, and you're seeing that right now."

Kershaw himself hasn't been a factor in the Dodgers rotation, as the 18-year veteran who announced his retirement earlier this season has instead been placed in a bullpen role. In his only appearance this postseason, Kershaw gave up six hits and four earned runs — including two homers — in the Dodgers' only loss of the postseason.

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Beyond just Kershaw, the bullpen that has shown throughout the regular season and playoffs that it can be unreliable in keeping leads late in games. Because of this, the Dodgers are relying on their starters, including Snell and Yamamoto, to go much longer than they might in a regular season contest.

"Well, it's just a different way to get where we want to go," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said on his postseason approach. "For me, you just look at the roster and you play the hand you're dealt and try to maximize it. This year, fortunately the health, the performance, the talent level of the starting pitching, we're showing that we're going to ride them and challenge them and kind of pivot when we need to. But it's been really good."

For more Dodgers news head over to Dodgers on SI.