As the sun rose over the City of Angels on Sunday morning, with it came the cold hard realization that there would be no Game-7 of the 2016 National League Championship Series for the Dodgers. Instead, Dodger fans awoke to the painful truth that the ridiculously lofty expectations that they (and everyone else) had placed on the shoulders of Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw was simply too great, especially with virtually zero offense (two hits) and some less-than-stellar defense which led to an ugly 5-0 loss for the Dodgers and a very long awaited trip to the World Series for the Cubs.

In reality, it became very apparent very quickly that the Dodgers were doomed. In fact, it took all of seven pitches from Kershaw for the Cubs to get on the board in the bottom of the first inning and 30 pitches for him to finally get out of the inning with his team down 2-0. And though Dodger fans would still have to endure eight more agonizing innings of the insufferable Cubs-biased Joe Buck before the “W” flag would finally be hoisted above 102-year-old Wrigley Field, the team that deserved a trip to the 2016 World Series is going there.

“The better team won,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said succinctly during his postgame interview.

Indeed they did, this in spite of having been shut out twice by the Dodgers in the series – a series that the Cubs won rather handily four games to two.

But the Dodgers’ half of the NLCS wasn’t without its moments of greatness, albeit not many. In addition to the Game-2 and Game-3 shutouts by Kershaw and fellow left-hander Rich Hill respectively, Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen was absolutely brilliant. I mean, we’re talking series MVP brilliant, if they gave such a thing to the losing team.

Although there weren’t many positive takeaways from the 2016 National League Championship Series for the Dodgers, the performance of Kenley Jansen was definitely one of them.
(Photo credit – Jon Durr

In the three NLCS games in which the 29-year-old Willemstad, Curacao native appeared, Jansen did not allow a run and gave up only one hit. But what makes what Jansen did even more spectacular is that he did it over 6.1 innings pitched while striking out 10 of the 20 total batters that he faced. Equally incredible is the fact that he pitched multiple innings in all three of his NLCS appearances, including two full innings in Game-2 and three full innings in Game-6. (he pitched 1.1 innings in Game-3). This goes way beyond the role of the average MLB closer.

In Jansen’s three NLCS appearances he recorded the longest save of his seven-year MLB career (two innings in Game-2) and had the longest outing of his career (three innings in Game-6). He was so dominant that his 10 NLCS strikeouts tied those of Kershaw. The glowing difference is that Jansen’s came in 6.1 innings of relief and Kershaw’s came in 12.1 innings over two starts.

Like I said, MVP brilliant.

“I’m really proud of Kenley’s growth and just really solidifying as an elite closer in the game,” Roberts said. “There just should be no mistake now and on the biggest stage to go out there and throw three innings and to be so unselfish and to be dominant, says a lot about his character and obviously his skill set.”

Jansen fully realizes that what he accomplished during the Division Series and Championship Series was indeed special.

“It gave me more confidence knowing I can pitch two, three innings – it will help me grow,” Jansen told SportsNet LA’s Alanna Rizzo after the game. “I’m proud of myself. I’m just going to stay hungrier and hungrier. Now it’s the off-season. I just have to go take care of my body, get stronger, and try to do better next year.”

This, of course, brings up the million dollar question … or multi-million dollar question in this case – Where will Kenley Jansen’s next year be?

As every Dodger fan knows by now, the 6′-5”- 270-pound hard-throwing right-hander became a free agent with his final pitch (a strike) on Saturday evening. And when you consider that with his incredible postseason performance and the fact that he is considered among the best closers (if not the best) in the game today, Jansen is going to get PAID … but by whom?

The short answer is that of course it will be by the Dodgers; I mean, why on earth would they let the best closer in the game today go, right? But the long answer is that Jansen’s remarkable talents are seriously needed by nearly every team in the MLB and, as such, his free agency asking price is going to be absolutely insane; perhaps too insane for Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi. But you can be absolutely positively assured that someone will pay him, say… like… the San Francisco Giants who – in all likelihood – would have made a very strong run at their fourth World Series appearance in seven years had they had a closer of Jansen’s talent.

But the Hated Ones won’t be the only team throwing their hat into the Kenley Jansen sweepstakes this off-season. Although there has been a lot of speculation that flame-throwing left-hander Aroldis Chapman, who the Cubs ‘rented’ at the August 1 trade deadline, may elect to return to the Yankees (from whom he was rented) after the World Series, the Cubs may choose to re-sign him – especially if they were to win their first World Series since 1908.

Of note is that Chapman’s one-year deal with the Yankees was worth a cool $11.325 million (of which the Cubs inherited $4.33 million), which means that Jansen could be looking at a free agency contract that could carry an average annual value (AAV) of somewhere in the $15 to $20 million range, depending on the length of his new contract. And while the Dodgers have several young potential closers down on the farm, it will be virtually impossible for any of them to fill Jansen’s (enormous) shoes – at least initially.

And Jansen isn’t the only Dodger facing free agency. Extremely popular Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner is also entering free agency this off-season and he, like Jansen, will command a very high asking price. Once again, the Dodgers would be absolutely foolish to let the soon-to-be 32-year-old Long Beach, California native and lifelong Dodger fan get away, but he too could command an AAV contract in the $15-$20 million range.

But alas, worrying about such things only hours after the Dodgers were (yet again) eliminated from postseason play is just too much to bear right now and Dodger fans will undoubtedly need to decompress for a few days before setting their sights on next season.

The good news is that pitchers and catcher report for spring training in only 116 days.

Ugggh!