Joe Kelly made his final appearance of the 2019 regular season yesterday, and it did the season justice, quieting those doubting his health while inducing two routine outs in a victory.
No, his velocity wasn’t where we’d like it to be, sitting only at 96 mph. But, in his defense, it had been a while.
After the game, Kelly said he felt good after dealing with that unspecified ailment, and that he’ll be ready to go on Thursday as the Dodgers open the playoffs, adding that he’ll be able to handle pitching on back-to-back days, something likely necessary if the Dodgers want to do what they signed Joe Kelly to do and win a World Series.
Our hero’s final stat line for the 2019 regular season was basically one big fire emoji: a 4.56 ERA, a 3.78 FIP, 51.1 IP, 62 K’s (he had his highest K% ever), only 22 BB’s (it was his lowest BB% as a reliever), 0.4 fWAR. After Joe Kelly Bobblehead Night, his stat line was a whole tweet’s worth of fire emoji’s (140, since they count it as two characters due to its potency): a 2.40 ERA, a 2.98 FIP, 30 IP, 36 K’s, 11 BB’s, 0.6 fWAR.
A great year, which figures to only lead to another stellar postseason. Stay tuned for all the Joe Kelly playoff content your heart could ever want, beginning with the Joe Kelly Playoff Anthem sometime between now and Thursday evening. Those who have heard it say the kids would say it slaps.
