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Strasburg evokes Bob Gibson during Game 3 vs. Cardinals

Alex Trautwig / Major League Baseball / Getty

The legend of Stephen Strasburg in the postseason continues, as he's yet again being mentioned alongside legendary right-hander and two-time World Series MVP Bob Gibson.

By striking out Tommy Edman of the St. Louis Cardinals during the seventh inning of Game 3 of the NLCS, Strasburg became the third pitcher in MLB history to record double-digit punchouts in four of his first seven playoff starts.

In doing so, Strasburg joined Gibson - the Cardinals legend - as well as Cliff Lee in the exclusive club.

To date, the Washington Nationals right-hander has been essentially unbeatable in the playoffs:

Year Series Game IP K
2014 NLDS 1 5 2
2017 NLDS 1 7 10
2017 NLDS 4 7 12
2019 NLDS 1* 3 4
2019 NLDS 2 6 10
2019 NLDS 5 6 7
2019 NLCS 3 7 12

* - denotes relief appearance

Even further, Strasburg wound up closing out the seventh with two more strikeouts to join another impressive list: pitchers with more than one postseason start with at least 12 punchouts.

The only other pitchers to achieve that feat are Gibson, Tom Seaver, Jim Palmer, and Gerrit Cole, according to MLB Stats.

In addition, Gibson and Strasburg are the only pitchers to have allowed zero earned runs in their pair of 12-K outings. Incidentally, Strasburg allowed one unearned run during Game 3, while Gibson surrendered two unearned runs over the course of his 10-inning, 13-strikeout masterpiece during Game 5 of the 1964 World Series.

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