Clayton Kershaw or Julio Urías: Who should start NLDS Game 1 for Dodgers?

Julio Urías capped off his regular season by taking home the National League ERA crown despite the Los Angeles Dodgers falling 5-2 to the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, Clayton Kershaw capped off his impressive campaign in Game 162 on Wednesday.

Following Tuesday’s game, manager Dave Roberts told the media that he’s unsure who will start Game 1 of the NLDS against either the New York Mets or San Diego Padres. Do Dodgers fans already know who they want, though?

Nonetheless, this is a great problem to have. Two ace-like lefties capable of handling whatever is put in front of them. But there is one difference here. Well, actually two. Could even say three, in fact.

The first is that Kershaw hasn’t pitched in the postseason since 2020. An elbow issue knocked him out of the playoffs last year, and the Dodgers more than likely lost because of it.

Then there’s the health factor. Urías has been a horse for pretty much four straight seasons, while Kershaw has had injury-shortened seasons from 2016-present day.

And finally, there’s the ability to shine against top competition in October. If Walker Buehler was higher in the pecking order than Kershaw the last few seasons, then why wouldn’t Urías, who closed out the 2020 World Series and has a 3.52 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in 22 postseason games, be?

Who should start NLDS Game 1 for the Dodgers between Clayton Kershaw and Julio Urías?

Kershaw, a Dodgers legend and unquestioned first-ballot Hall of Famer, despite his success in 15 MLB seasons, should be viewed more as a luxury to the Dodgers’ pitching staff at this point rather than a Game 1 ace.

Additionally, Kershaw has a concerning penchant for surrendering the long ball in the postseason (28 home runs in 189 innings, which is 1.3 HR/9 compared to his career mark of 0.7 HR/9). Though Urías’ figure of 1.5 HR/9 isn’t much better, he was victimized in the NLCS of last year after being overworked, and surrendered three homers and seven earned runs to the Atlanta Braves in his two appearances.

This time around, though the Dodgers have been crushed by injuries, their pitching approach seems to be more calculated and organized, not in disarray like it was in 2021 with Urías and Buehler on fumes and Max Scherzer all of a sudden suffering from dead arm.

Also, who would you prefer as your workhorse in the starting rotation? It’s a bit of a toss-up due to Urías’ lack of a lengthy resume, but Kershaw hasn’t pitched in more than 178.1 innings in a single season since 2015. Urías has thrown more than 100 innings than Kershaw over the last two seasons. Shouldn’t that factor into the decision-making? It’s safe to say the Dodgers would be hard-pressed to use Kershaw on short rest this postseason unless they absolutely had to. That responsibility would be reserved for Urías, who’s now made 31 or more starts in each of the past two seasons compared to Kershaw’s total of 44.

Kershaw has the pedigree, the resume and the name recognition to start Game 1 of any series. But there’s been a changing of the guard in LA for a few years now as Walker Buehler emerged. Now that he’s injured, Urías has proven to be the next best thing to come out of the Dodgers pitching factory.

The fact that he’s younger, has less mileage on his arm, and has already proven to be able to handle the biggest postseason moments should probably settle this “debate” — if we can even call it that.

Dodgers fans arguing for Julio Urías’ Cy Young candidacy are wasting their time

Los Angeles Dodgers fans are wasting their time arguing about Julio Urías' Cy Young candidacy ... because he's much more than that.