Fact: The Dodgers fell to the Giancarlo Stanton-less Marlins on Saturday, and reigning NL MVP Clayton Kershaw took the loss. This is also a fact ... 

That's notable, but it's not particularly illuminating. Most of us know by now that wins and losses are not useful ways in which to evaluate pitchers. Wins and losses are team stats. The question, though, is raised: Is something wrong with Clayton Kershaw?

No, there's not. He's fine, and he'll almost certainly be fine going forward. After Saturday's outing, in which, despite being undermined at turns by the defense behind him, Kershaw allowed one earned over 7.0 innings and struck out nine while walking none, his 2015 ERA stands at 3.20. That's good, certainly, but it's not typical Kershaw.

On the other hand, there's a lot of noise baked into ERA -- batted-ball luck, unsustainable results on home runs and base-runner strand rates, and defensive performance (no, ERA does not correct for defense). To drill down to see how a pitcher is faring when it comes to his core skills, Fielding-Indepent Pitching (FIP) is a better measure. FIP is scaled to look like ERA, but it concentrates on strikeouts, walks, hit batsmen, and home runs allowed. The bottom line is that FIP, since it homes in on those fundamental pitching skills, does a better job of predicting future ERA than ERA itself does. On that point ... 

Yes, Kershaw tops the loop in FIP. He's had some back luck on batted balls (his batting average on balls in play this season is .297 versus a career mark of .273), and he's had some bad luck when it comes to balls leaving the park (18.0 percent of his fly balls have left the park versus a career mark of 7.2). That's all. Kershaw this season is striking out a career-best 32.8 percent of batters faced, and his swinging strike percentage of 15.4 is also a career high. That's underlying dominance right there. 

Velocity? It's doing just fine (chart via Brooks Baseball) ... 

Nothing wrong with those numbers. There's also nothing wrong with Clayton Kershaw, 5-6 record notwithstanding. 

Underneath it all, Clayton Kershaw is still pitching like Clayton Kershaw. (USATSI)
Underneath it all, Clayton Kershaw is still pitching like Clayton Kershaw. (USATSI)

Elsewhere ... 

At one point this month, the Rangers were able to climb to within 1 1/2 games of the AL West leading Astros. Now, less than two weeks later, Texas came into Saturday five games back in the division after losing six straight and seven of their last eight games overall.

The Rangers did snap the losing streak on Saturday afternoon (TEX 4, TOR 0) thanks largely to Yovani Gallardo, who held the high-powered Blue Jays to three hits in 8 1/3 scoreless innings. Texas is now 38-37, a half-game up on the Angels for second place in the AL West (pending the outcome of the Halos' game on Saturday night).

The Blue Jays, meanwhile, still have the American League's best run differential at plus-88 following the loss, but they're only 40-36 overall and in fourth place in the AL East. That's a bit of a misnomer, however. Look at the AL East standings coming into Saturday:

Four teams within one game of the top spot just mere hours ago! That's crazy. The other five division leaders had at least a two-game lead coming into Saturday. At some point a team in the AL East will get scorching hot and run away with the division, right? I'm not so sure. This might go right down to the wire. After Saturday's results, we've got four teams within two games of first, so it's still highly, highly compressed.

Now, welcome to Eye on MLB. Here we'll keep track of everything that happens in the world of baseball on Saturday. Game recaps, milestone updates, important highlights, news, notes, rumors and lots more. Check back throughout the day for updates or come back for the finished product Sunday morning. Your call.

Today's MLB action (all times ET) (Full scoreboard)

Postponed: Indians at Orioles: Saturday night's game was postponed due to rain, the O's announced. They'll make this game up as part of a split-admission doubleheader on Sunday.

Postponed: White Sox at Tigers: Saturday afternoon's game was postponed due to rain, both teams announced. The game will be made up as part of a split-admission doubleheader on Monday, September 21.

Suspended: Reds at Mets: Saturday's game was suspended because of rain in the top of the seventh with the score tied 1-1. It will be picked up on Sunday at 1:10 pm ET prior to the scheduled contest. 

Cancelled: Nationals at Phillies: The Nats and Phils played an inning and a half before the rain came on Saturday afternoon. The game was cancelled and will be made up as part of a single-admission doubleheader on Sunday, the teams announced. The score was 0-0 at the time of the cancellation and the stats don't count. Here's the box score anyway.

Rangers 4, Blue Jays 0 (BOX SCORE | RECAP)

Twins 5, Brewers 2 (BOX SCORE | RECAP)

Marlins 3, Dodgers 2 (BOX SCORE | RECAP)

Royals 3, Athletics 2 (BOX SCORE | RECAP)

Rays 4, Red Sox 1 (BOX SCORE | RECAP)

Giants 7, Rockies 5 (BOX SCORE | RECAP)

Yankees 9, Astros 6 (BOX SCORE | RECAP)

Pirates 8, Braves 4 (BOX SCORE | RECAP)

Cardinals 8, Cubs 1 (BOX SCORE | RECAP)

Of note ... 

Angels 4, Mariners 2 (BOX SCORE | RECAP)

Padres 7, Diamondbacks 2 (BOX SCORE| RECAP)

Milestone Watch

Longest active hit streak: It's still Jason Kipnis of the Indians. He came into Saturday riding a 20-game hit streak but the team's game was rained out. Kipnis will try to get hits in both ends of Sunday's doubleheader to extend his hitting streak. He's only 36 games short of tying Joe DiMaggio!

Pujols watch: Angels first baseman Albert Pujols is sitting on 1,650 RBI for his career. He's two shy of tying Tony Perez for 28th place all-time.

Cardinals watch: They're good, you know ... 

Daily Awards

Position change of the day: Joey Gallo is playing center field for the Rangers on Saturday. He's played 13 career games in the outfield, all in left field.

Nameplate of the day: Mr. Met has his own dressing room at Citi Field:

Stat of the day: The Astros lead MLB in three-true outcome percentage, meaning the number of plate appearance that end in a walk, strikeout or home run:

Force out of the day: Here is your standard, everyday 1-4-6 force out at second base:

Meeting of the day: Yankees righty Nathan Eovaldi and Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, the only two MLB players from Alvin, Texas, finally met on Saturday.

Double play of the day/broadcast booth reaction of the day: Yes, two awards for one turn of events. Take it away, Marlins ... 

Wowwwwwwww!

Double-steal of the day: Not exactly how the Pirates drew it up, but here's a great job by Starling Marte when it comes to picking his spot ... 

Slide of the day: We're not done passing out hardware to Mr. Marte ... 

Excelsior!

Bunt of the day: It's a BP bunt, but it remains the bunt of the day ... 

Grand slam of the day: It's Brian McCann, and it happens to be the 11th of his career ... 

More to come throughout the day and night.

Injuries, News & Rumors

Giancarlo Stanton has broken bone in left hand | Marlins should sell

Johan Santana shuts down for year, gets release from Blue Jays

Bryce Harper to miss third straight for Nationals

Rays activate Tim Beckham from DL, send him to Triple-A

Red Sox LF Hanley Ramirez remains sidelined by wrist injury

Padres' Cory Luebke throws perfect inning in rehab game

Aaron Sanchez to throw off mound for Blue Jays

Athletics C Stephen Vogt avoids serious injury after HBP

Padres SP Josh Johnson (elbow) to resume throwing program

Click here for more MLB player updates.

Looking Ahead to Tomorrow's MLB action (all times ET)

Full slate of games on Sunday, as always. The big story of the day will be the MLB debut of Mets southpaw Steven Matz. Baseball America ranked Matz as the 33rd best prospect in baseball coming into the season. He has a 2.19 ERA and a 94/31 K/BB in 90 1/3 Triple-A innings this year.

Away Home Time Away Starter Home Starter Natl TV
Texas Toronto 1:07 pm Gonzalez (2-2) - 2.27 ERA Hutchison (7-1) - 5.33 ERA  
Chi. White Sox Detroit 1:08 pm Samardzija (5-4) - 4.53 ERA Price (7-2) - 2.42 ERA  
Cincinnati N.Y. Mets 1:10 pm Smith (0-0) - 12.00 ERA Matz (0-0) - 0.00 ERA  
Boston Tampa Bay 1:10 pm Masterson (2-2) - 6.37 ERA Archer (9-4) - 2.01 ERA  
L.A. Dodgers Miami 1:10 pm Greinke (5-2) - 1.70 ERA Urena (1-3) - 4.34 ERA  
Cleveland Baltimore 1:35 pm Bauer (6-4) - 3.86 ERA Jimenez (6-3) - 3.40 ERA  
Washington Philadelphia 1:35 pm Strasburg (4-5) - 5.90 ERA Correia (0-1) - 4.30 ERA  
Washington Philadelphia TBD TBA Gonzalez (2-2) - 8.69 ERA  
Atlanta Pittsburgh 1:35 pm Wood (4-5) - 3.44 ERA Locke (4-3) - 4.73 ERA  
N.Y. Yankees Houston 2:10 pm Pineda (8-4) - 4.25 ERA McHugh (8-3) - 4.80 ERA  
Minnesota Milwaukee 2:10 pm Milone (4-1) - 3.59 ERA Fiers (3-7) - 4.39 ERA  
Seattle L.A. Angels 3:35 pm Hernandez (10-4) - 3.24 ERA Santiago (4-4) - 2.68 ERA  
Colorado San Francisco 4:05 pm Kendrick (3-9) - 5.96 ERA Bumgarner (7-4) - 3.04 ERA  
Kansas City Oakland 4:05 pm Guthrie (5-5) - 5.90 ERA Chavez (4-6) - 2.90 ERA  
Arizona San Diego 4:10 pm Anderson (3-2) - 3.54 ERA Despaigne (3-5) - 4.83 ERA  
Cleveland Baltimore 7:05 pm Murata (0-0) Tillman (5-7) - 6.22 ERA FOX
Chi. Cubs St. Louis 8:15 pm Hammel (5-2) - 2.65 ERA Martinez (8-3) - 2.89 ERA ESPN