This piece, written by Baseball Prospectus’s Ashley Varela, forms part of the main site’s comprehensive coverage of the postseason, “Playoff Prospectus”.
Sandy Koufax was the first to do it, as you may well imagine.
On a Wednesday in 1963, in front of 69,000 fans bleeding navy and white pinstripes over the wooden seats of a pre-2009 Yankee Stadium, Koufax struck out 15 Yankees en route to the Dodgers’ first of four straight wins in the World Series.
Bob Gibson was the next to do it, laying down 17 strikeouts in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series; then Nolan Ryan and reliever Charlie Kerfeld with 15 strikeouts in Game 5 of the 1986 NLCS; then a trifecta of Braves hurlers with another 15 in the 1993 NLCS: John Smoltz, Kent Mercker, and Mark Wohlers, the last of whom would later be immortalized as the third-fastest pitcher in the major leagues. The last team to do it was the 2013 Tigers, who were knocked out of the ALDS by the Athletics shortly after Max Scherzer, Drew Smyly, and Joaquin Benoit combined for 16 whiffs in Game 1.
On Tuesday evening, Cleveland’s pitchers added their names to the list, becoming the 11th team in major-league postseason history to strike out at least 15 batters with three or fewer pitchers in a game. Their weapons of choice? First was Corey Kluber, who set down eight batters in the first three frames and totaled nine strikeouts on the night. That’s better than Bob Gibson, Randy Johnson, and Orlando Hernandez, all of whom racked up just seven strikeouts through the first three frames of their respective World Series appearances.
Kluber retired six of nine batters via sinker, reserving his fastest heater of the evening–a 93.4 mph fastball–for a first-inning strikeout of Kris Bryant, and returning with his curveball in the third inning to catch Addison Russell and Bryant low in the zone. His command of the strike zone was as impressive as the results it garnered: through six innings, Kluber dispatched 11 first-pitch strikes and raised a full count to just three of 22 batters faced.
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Lead photo courtesy Ken Blaze—USA Today Sports.