Craig Kimbrel and Kenley Jansen can find redemption in the World Series

The Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers both feature elite closers who each showed they were mortal in 2018. But for Craig Kimbrel and Kenley Jansen, the World Series offers a stage for redemption.

On some level when you look at the years Kimbrel and Jansen had this season, it’s laughable to think there are concerns:

Those are perfectly fine years for most closers. But these two aren’t normal closers, with the standards they set. Kimbrel and Jansen both debuted in 2010, and since then have been the best relief pitchers in baseball, maybe with a sprinkle of Aroldis Chapman mixed in.

Each had their own issues in 2018.

Jansen never gave up more than six home runs in a single season, but this year he allowed 13 dingers, including seven in the final six weeks of the season after he returned from missing 10 days with an irregular heartbeat. It’s a condition Jansen has been through twice before — in 2012 and 2015 — and has Jansen taking medication now and will require a surgical procedure after the season.

“It was a tough thing to deal with this year, especially when I came back. I feel like I have two different personalities in me right now,” Jansen said. “One that wants to do the surgery already and then another one who wants to go out there and compete to help your team.

“I feel like I’m so, you know, so numb to it now. It’s like I keep telling myself it’s maybe one more week of taking this medication.”

Jansen allowed a home run in three straight appearances at one point in August, the first time in his career. Kimbrel only allowed a run in three straight games once before 2018, but then he did it in August, then started his postseason with four straight games allowing a run.

The last of those precarious outings came in Game 4 of the ALCS, when it took a tremendous diving catch by Andrew Benintendi in left field with the bases loaded to finalize the win.

Kimbrel was said to have been tipping his pitches, something former Dodgers closer Eric Gagne noticed and told his former teammate, Red Sox manager Alex Cora. From Chris Cotillo of Mass Live:

Cora liked what Gagne had to offer and asked him to text Kimbrel. Soon, Kimbrel and Gagne were exchanging texts, giving Kimbrel something new to discuss with his coaches before Game 5 in Houston.

”We knew he was tipping his pitches yesterday and that he was gonna be fine,” Cora said. “We saw his hands today. Yesterday they were up, today they were down. He was tipping his pitches for two weeks.”

Kimbrel responded with two strikeouts in a scoreless inning in Game 5 to eliminate Houston, the day after he threw 35 pitches in his two-inning slog the night before, giving confidence to Boston heading into the Fall Classic.

The Dodgers kept their faith in Jansen through his struggles, and so far in October it has paid off. Six times he has taken the ball this postseason, and six times Jansen delivered a scoreless outing, with 10 strikeouts in 6⅓ innings.

And he’s not alone. The Dodgers bullpen has a 1.30 ERA this postseason, with 51 strikeouts in 41⅔ innings, including outdueling the heralded and deep Brewers bullpen in the NLCS. In the last 20 years only six teams have posted a bullpen ERA of 1.50 or better in at least 20 innings in the postseason.

The Dodgers are trying to be the seventh. Then again, we saw this in 2017 as well. Through the first two rounds the LA bullpen allowed only four runs (three earned) in 28⅔ innings, posting a minuscule 0.94 ERA. In the World Series the Dodgers bullpen had a respectable 3.57 ERA, but with no room for error it helped lose the series in seven games.

What will this World Series bring?