6th Tense: Kershaw. Cubs. Wrigley. Clinch?
Cubs fans have waited 71 years and 23 days for their team to clinch another World Series berth, but that interval may be down to its final hours. An event that last occurred on Sept. 29, 1945, could see a reprise tonight at Wrigley Field, but it won't be easy.
Standing between the Cubs and the Fall Classic that has eluded them all these decades, however, is the best pitcher on the planet.
Clayton Kershaw will take the ball for the Dodgers, trying to extend the National League Championship Series to a winner-take-all Game 7 on Sunday.
• NLCS Game 6: Tonight, 8 ET/7 CT/5 PT on FS1
The stakes in tonight's Game 6 are almost as high as they can get, especially for the Cubs, who are pursuing their first World Series championship since 1908.
Kershaw twice helped the Dodgers avoid elimination in the NL Division Series. He'll be asked to do the same tonight, with the Cubs one win away from advancing to meet the Indians in the World Series, which starts Tuesday in Cleveland on FOX.
• Kershaw's new angle may prove handy in G6
Kershaw's counterpart in Game 6 will be Kyle Hendricks. Kershaw will have to turn around the momentum of the Cubs, who rolled to two easy victories at Dodger Stadium after the Dodgers won two of the first three games.
• Hendricks excited, but mindset won't change
Kershaw beat the Cubs, 1-0, in Game 2. If the Dodgers win Game 6, left-hander Rich Hill will meet Jake Arrieta in the deciding game.
"If [Kershaw] is on top of his game, it's going to be another very close, low-scoring game," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "We just have to do our best to eek out as many runs as we can. And on the other side, you have to pitch better than good pitching to win. ... Nothing has been decided, obviously. We have to go back there and play our A-game to beat these two -- or the first outstanding pitcher, and hopefully that's all we have to face."
With Kershaw sidelined for more than two months this season with a back injury, Hendricks used his command and trademark changeup to become the first Cub since 1945 to win the NL ERA title. He was 16-8 with a 2.13 ERA over 190 innings, and grew more effective late in the season (7-1, 1.72 in his last 11 starts).
Kershaw knows that Hendricks could steal the spotlight from him, as he did the ERA title.
"Well, he obviously had an amazing year," Kershaw said. "He's kind of like the Greg Maddux of this generation, with his ability to sink the ball, cut the ball, and put it in spots where hitters are enticed to swing at it, but you can't put the barrel on it. He's really good at mixing speeds, changing it up. He's a tough guy to go against, for sure."
Hendricks worked 5 1/3 innings in the 1-0 loss to Kershaw in Game 2, with the difference in the game a second-inning homer by Adrian Gonzalez off an 89-mph fastball. He allowed only three hits but walked four, the latter more a sign of how carefully he was pitching than a lack of control.
"It's not like anything was out of whack," Hendricks said. "I've just got to dial it in, basically, for this start. It wasn't terrible again. I knew who I was going up against, so with that being said, I knew I couldn't give in. After I gave up the one run, I knew I had to keep it there to give us a chance.
"You really have to toe the line in the playoffs. Because one run against a guy like that could be huge. I was just trying to do all I could to keep it a 1-0 game."
In the 2003 NLCS, the Cubs also returned to Wrigley with a 3-2 series lead, but they couldn't finish the job against the Marlins, even though they led in the eighth inning of Game 6. The Marlins were one of 10 teams in MLB history to win Games 6 and 7 on the road in a best-of-seven series, and the 2004 Red Sox were the last club to do it, coming back from a 3-0 ALCS deficit vs. the Yankees.
While Maddon has done a great job downplaying that storyline in his two seasons in Chicago, the painful history will hang over the franchise until it writes a different ending.
For the Cubs to avoid the angst of a winner-take-all Game 7, they've got to figure out a way to do something they couldn't in Game 2 -- do damage against Kershaw. His curveball wasn't its best, but he allowed only three runners to reach base in seven innings of the Dodgers' shutout victory on Sunday at Wrigley Field.
• How to attack Kershaw? Cubs must be aggressive
Kershaw is trying to help his team reach the World Series for the first time in his sixth postseason, including NLCS losses in 2008, '09 and '13. He said he can't describe how he'll feel when it's time to play, but he is hoping for normalcy.
"I don't know if I have a word for it," Kershaw said. "But I think you do everything you can to try and keep it just like another start at the beginning. Then obviously the magnitude and the situation of the game kind of raises everybody's adrenaline and things like that. But trying to keep it the same right now."
Kershaw pounded the strike zone with fastballs that averaged 94 mph. He threw 50 fastballs out of 84 pitches, giving up two hits and one walk before manager Dave Roberts turned the lead over to closer Kenley Jansen.
Kershaw has used his command of pitches and unusual delivery to rack up three NL Cy Young Awards, and probably would be in line for a fourth this season had he not been limited to 21 starts because of a mild herniated disk in his lower back.
Maddon offered a good description this week of what sets Kershaw apart from other left-handers.
"Delivery," Maddon said. "Deception has a lot to do with it, even out of the stretch. He just falls. Like he comes in and he just falls toward home plate. He's got a good move [to first base], so you have to honor that. But the way he comes set and falls toward the plate, I'm certain there's got to be a deception."
Maddon said he thought Kershaw "had to be really tired by the time he came out of [Game 2]" because he was working for the fourth time in 10 days.
"I was really impressed with his command and his velocity," Maddon said. "I was anticipating neither to be that sharp or that good. I was hoping, but they were, and that was the difference-maker. Plus, he's so competitive. He's hyper-competitive, and he's got a tremendous level of self confidence."
Kershaw was 12-4 with a career-low 1.69 ERA during the regular season but didn't reach the 162-inning limit to qualify for the ERA title. His postseason work is probably better measured by the Dodgers' 4-0 record in his appearances than his 3.72 ERA over 19 1/3 innings.
Kershaw said he was available to start Game 5 on three days' rest if needed, but Roberts and the Andrew Friedman-led front office decided to take the patient approach. He will be working on an extra day's rest, and has thrown only 168 1/3 innings between the regular season and postseason.
That could be an edge for him, not that he needs one.
"If you haven't done something, you're probably fresher,'' Kershaw said. "But I never really felt bad in previous Octobers. I've always felt the same. So I don't know. I don't think it really works like that, honestly. But I feel good."
History awaits.
Phil Rogers is a columnist for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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