Kershaw not worried about his legacy
LOS ANGELES >> A three-time Cy Young Award winner with a 2.39 career ERA in the regular season, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is just 9-9 with a 4.28 ERA in 23 postseason starts and six relief appearances.
Trying to improve his image as a lessthan-stellar postseason pitcher is not a concern.
“I don’t really care about legacy. I don’t really care what people think of me or perceive of me,” he said Saturday. “Game 5 is a very important game to win the World Series, and I’m looking forward to pitching that game and hopefully putting us in a great spot going back to Boston. And that’s really all I care about. All that other stuff, people are going to have their opinions, you know, and that’s fine. I’m not here to change them. I’m here to pitch. And all that other stuff will take care of itself.”
Viewership for the 18-inning Game 3 dropped 15 percent from last year, hurt by a game that ended at 12:30 a.m. PDT.
The Dodgers’ 3-2 win, which took a Series-record 7 hours, 20 minutes, averaged 13,251,000 on Fox, the network said Saturday. That was down from an average of 15,483,000 for Houston’s 5-3 win over the Dodgers last year, a game that lasted 3:46. This year’s Game 3 was the lowest viewed since an average of 13,722,000 tuned in for the Mets’ 9-3 win over Kansas City in 2015.
Boston’s 8-4 win in the opener averaged 13,755,000 and its 4-2 victory in Game 2 averaged 13,442,000, Fox said.
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The Dodgers shortened batting practice to 30 minutes and made it optional.
Manager Dave Roberts said he is set to go after a short night of sleep.
“We’re in a good mental space right now. I slept a few hours. I’m three cups of coffee deep,” Roberts said. “It’s the World Series. If you can’t get up for this, we have to find something else to do.”
Game 3 was the longest game in World Series history at 7 hours, 20 minutes.