Baker curious to see if epic Game 5 affects Jansen, Kershaw in NLCS

The Los Angeles Dodgers pulled out all the stops to win Game 5 over the Washington Nationals, and it could come back to haunt them.

With the Dodgers up 4-3 in the ninth inning and two outs remaining, manager Dave Roberts elected to go to staff ace Clayton Kershaw for the save, even though the dominant left-hander pitched 6 2/3 innings in Game 4 on Tuesday.

On one day's rest, however, Kershaw retired both Daniel Murphy and Wilmer Difo to set up an ALCS showdown against the Chicago Cubs, leaving Nationals manager Dusty Baker wondering if the bold move will hurt the Dodgers in the long run.

"You know, they were doing everything they could to close that game out, including bringing (Kenley) Jansen in in the seventh," Baker told reporters postgame Thursday. "Wish they would have brought somebody else in, but they brought in one of their other horses.

"And so I'd be interested to see, you know, they won the war, but see the effects of Jansen and Kershaw when they get to Chicago."

Jansen threw a career-high 51 pitches before Kershaw entered the game.

Baker had said earlier that his bags were packed and ready for Chicago, hoping to rally his troops in the deciding contest. Now the veteran manager's been forced into an early vacation, but his destination won't be the Windy City.

"Well, it's not going to be very pleasant, because I'm not ready to go home," Baker said. "I haven't been home since February, but I would have gladly stayed a couple more weeks."

The Cubs and Dodgers kick off Game 1 of the NLCS on Saturday at 8:08 p.m. ET.