Stephen Strasburg Proved He's the Nationals' Most Reliable Postseason Starter With Huge Game 2

The Washington Nationals have used three starting pitchers in the postseason thus far, but only one has given them the results they were after. In fact, Stephen Strasburg has already pitched twice for the Nats in October and both time he's been nothing less than phenomenal.

His start on Friday night against the formidable Dodgers' lineup was just his fifth-ever appearance in the postseason. Yet he handled the pressure as if it was non-existent and twirled an absolute gem, becoming the first pitcher in league history with three 10+ strikeout outings in his first five postseason appearances.

Strasburg threw six innings, surrendering just one run on three hits and striking out 10 Dodgers batters. The team simply couldn't handle his mixture of heat and breaking stuff, and he cruised into the middle innings without having surrendered a run.

While Max Scherzer and Patrick Corbin both floundered in their outings, Strasburg starred. And he even starred in relief of Scherzer in the Wild Card game.

If there's a pattern emerging here, it's that maybe one of these guys has the clutch gene that the other two simply weren't born with.

When healthy, Strasburg is one of the deadliest dealers in the game, and it looks like he's ailment-free this October, and his pitching has been representative of that.

If Scherzer and Corbin can't find a grip it will becoming glaringly obvious who needs to be called upon for the biggest moments of the postseason. And if this series with the Dodgers is to be decided by a single game, there's no pitcher on that rotation I'd rather give the ball to in October than Stras.