Why Clayton Kershaw becomes TERRIBLE every Postseason

Another Postseason for the Dodgers, another absolute disaster at the hands of Future Hall of Famer, MVP, Cy Young Clayton Kershaw
Why is one of the greatest baseball players of ALL TIME, so bad in the playoffs?

[@Gnar_Dogg]

Nah I'm convinced he's got a doppelganger he has pitch for him during the postseason.

[@jakehutson9394]

Fatigue has to also be a big factor, the guy is riddled with injuries and its no coincidence that he pitched so well with only 58 innings under his belt in 2020. I'd love to see how he'd do if he just was on the IL and built up in like July. Mattingly over used him to hell early in his career as well, so many of those early outings he was cruising and then would get into trouble with 110 pitches and he'd leave him in to die.

[@Tabooza]

You just stated exactly why that BS Mickey Mouse Championship 🐭 🐁 means nothing compared to a full 162+ World Series. 2020 will always have an asterisk next to it

[@ParamoreFAV3]

So he’s been overused his whole career? You’re an ace on a contender; 30+ starts a year are expected. It could literally just be he just struggles in October.

[@iamhungey12345]

​@@ParamoreFAV3 Seriously there had been aces who held up better despite going over 220 innings in the regular season. Why is Kershaw any different when even Maddux held up better and the guy had flak for his struggles there as well?

[@ParamoreFAV3]

@@iamhungey12345 I think you’re agreeing? If you are, exactly. Kershaw gets no excuse from me. He’s a poor postseason pitcher.

[@iamhungey12345]

@@ParamoreFAV3 That's what I'm saying, plenty of pitchers had logged in as much innings as prime Kershaw has and more than his current form had and they still managed fine in the postseason. While Randy Johnson was no prize in the postseason in general but when he finally had his breakthrough in 2001 for his one title, that season he logged in nearly 250 innings. Plus he still posted better overall postseason ERA (3.50) than Kershaw had in his (4.49) which tells you enough.

[@eamonkelley3811]

I've always liked Kershaw but yea it's hard to defend his playoff resume

[@LaSlattance]

162 era got me cryin

[@Mr.NoName1972]

I have this urge to poke fun at Clayton Kershaw for his post season failures, but he has something I don't have; Major League talent, a future Hall of Famer, married to a beautiful wife and children who have a bright future I believe, and of course a multi-millionaire. What really counts, Clayton is not just one of the greatest Dodger pitchers if all time, he is a decent human being.

[@MaximusNV]

Good for you! What's your team?

[@Mr.NoName1972]

@@MaximusNV The Mets

[@MaximusNV]

@@Mr.NoName1972 2015 must seem like a long time ago- but talk about an epic series with prime, elite pitching…. I still remember when cowherd predicted correctly game 5

[@alejandroarvizu4112]

Good for you? We not talking about his life here we talking about his horrendous outings in October your point is irrelevant

[@growing.grounds4054]

@@alejandroarvizu4112COMPLETELY irrelevant 😂😂😂 this Mets fan is a JOKE

[@hoodiewaffles]

Tbh hes been pretty solid post season wise since 2020 aside from this year obviously. Then 2017 doesnt really count. Although hes had a handful of bad outings, hes also had a handful of good ones too that people tend to forget

[@Jobuwins92]

Taking 2017 WS out actually hurts his numbers

[@melissamcgillivray]

I’m not saying Kersh doesn’t have problems but including the Astros series is pure evil.

[@Jobuwins92]

Taking out 2017 WS actually hurts his numbers

[@bmac4]

I dunno about the other years but this year was definitely fatigue. That whole team was absolutely gassed for innings because guys just kept getting hurt (or were Urias). I think that was why he was good in 2020 too, less wear.

[@rangeldoesnotexist]

The Kardashian comment alone warrants a sub and like.

[@jonnuanez7183]

I think this playoff series against AZ would have been a bit different for him if Outman caught that ball. That drop was pretty huge.

[@SukunaIsHim]

Kershaw is not beating the fraud allegations

[@Cory-zn5mq]

Regular season goat not good on the playoffs at all

[@BKrystall]

Kershaw is my favorite dodger. I feel bad for him during the playoffs. He’s great during the regular season.

[@ViruszPlayz.5822]

Mine too

[@grahamstrouse1165]

Power pitchers just tend to be more effective in the post-season than guys who rely on breaking balls & off-speed stuff. Sample size can get wonky-prior to the wild card era a lot of great pitchers sometimes missed out on the chance to show their stuff in the post-season. Greg Maddux is probably the most similar pitcher to Kershaw as far as the post-season’s concerned. His numbers weren’t as bad (He didn’t give up nearly as many homers) but they were way down from his regular season numbers. And like Kershaw Maddux was almost always active in the post-season.

[@nomercyinc6783]

fact is he wasnt bad in EVERY postseason hes ever played

[@ticnatz]

Such a curious post season situation....

[@JaneGoodall-br1gv]

Playoff Kershaw exists because of the Dodgers

[@ghostofmoredishesmorebitch1507]

Matt Adams took his soul

[@joegonzales1932]

As a non-Dodger fan, would you want to see Kershaw perform at his best in October, or do you not really care if he performs well or not?

[@JohnLee-ip4ul]

Don't forget Roberts.

[@XaviRonaldo0]

Can we just appreciate Soto not admiring that homer despite him absolutely crushing it? He started running straight away

[@mickeyoakley4012]

I like when they watch them and bat flip/celebrations are cool too. You old heads need to learn maturity, crying over another grown man’s actions (that cannot affect you in any way) is bitch-made….

[@JG54206]

@@mickeyoakley4012Then you get salty when you’re given a free base on your next at bat because the pitcher drilled you somewhere no where near your head…. Yeah, but people who appreciate acting like you’ve been there before need to grow up.

[@_Heng_]

@@JG54206 you're right, sports should be played without emotion

[@JG54206]

@@_Heng_ emotion is one thing. No one cares when a hitter gestures towards his team mates in the dugout after a homer to signify “let’s go” nor does anyone care when a pitcher gets psyched up after getting out of a jam. My thing is that a pitcher will get warned or tossed for plunking a batter after making a big show of a homerun, but a batter never gets tossed for making a big show of it in the first place, and they usually don’t get tossed until they literally try to fight the pitcher on the field because they got plunked. Bob Gibson once broke a hitters shoulder because he dug in his back foot. Getting plunked well below head level is as much a part of the game as anything else.

[@_Heng_]

@@JG54206 sports are a form of entertainment, when a hitter bat flips, pumping up himself, his team, and the crowd, whether it be a big hit, showmanship, to rile up the crowd, all of it is fun. plunking a batter because of it makes it look like they can't handle an opposing player's success and subsequent celebration. it's like cleating a guy in soccer because they celebrated after scoring a goal or bulldozing a football player after a play is dead because he celebrated a touchdown earlier. sure, that's how it was in the old days, but considering how the sport has grown and how the fun of sports is in part experiencing intense emotion, it feels awfully petty and childish to intentionally cause harm to another player because you don't like how they're celebrating success and making the game more exciting. I don't believe there are many sports if at all where it is expected to not celebrate success and to be punished by an opposing team for it. while I agree that it isn't something I particularly look for or pay attention to, that's because I'm already a fan, and even so other fans still love it, in order to attract new fans, it's not easy to do so with just highlights of big moments where the players just put their heads down and run the bases. (I might have failed to address your point so if I did make sure to tell me if you reply)

[@benjihuynh2970]

I know I'm late, but he basically had 1 good post season and the dodgers won the whole thing the moment he performed in October

[@saemonno-suke9959]

my view of Kershaw is very skewed because of Rizzo, Bryant, and Baez's career numbers vs Kershaw. That being said hes still a first ballot HoF pitcher.

[@cmac7384]

He has a 90 mph fastball. Good teams just sit on the breaking ball. They can catch up to the fastball.

[@williamestrella6198]

Clearly Jesus doesn't appreciate him trying to play after September.

[@SO-if3yn]

So you’re clowning Kershaw but your BlueJays are on the longest movie pre-view I’ve ever seen. When’s the movie going to start?

[@bigbud8182]

Lmao!

[@U44ueie7sy]

It's the front office from stopping it

[@josemoreno85]

Now do Verlander because he does the same in the postseason. Dude is great or good enought all season just to crap the bed in the postseason. I'm an Astros fans and have NO faith in JV during the postseason. Image having JV and Kershaw in the same team.🤦🏽‍♂️

[@bmac4]

??? JV's ERA in the playoffs is 3.58. And that's skewed partly by how bad he was his rookie year.

[@iamhungey12345]

@@bmac4 The guy took tons of Ls in the WS though.

[@Nolimitsenju]

You can’t count 2017.

[@vaudou_]

Yeah you can. No evidence of cheating happened in the playoffs and the Dodgers cheated that same year in the regular season. The Dodgers just need every excuse for failure.

[@Zark_Moneybags69]

you cant count 2020

[@josemoreno85]

​@@Zark_Moneybags69Just goes to show that Kershaw needs Disney to help him win a Mickey Mouse 💍.

[@Moreorlesss996]

@@vaudou_ I always hear people claiming that the Dodgers cheated too, but where is the proof? Do you have proof?

[@christmeiss]

there's evidence in game 5 and astros players admitted to it@@vaudou_

[@Dodgers-sw2uk]

It’s well known that he becomes a nervous reck during the playoffs. Of course that’s gonna cause issues

[@jamalacuff4400]

Mostly cause of my stl cardnials

[@Mr.MikeBarksdale]

Most of it you can chalk up to just a small sample size or a standard statistical anomoly. I think a fair amount of it could also be chalked up to velocity because power pitchers tend to do better in the short series format. It's why the football style playoffs are stupid. I'd much rather have the NL decided by a 14 team, winner take all division and a pennant race, you know, like baseball had for 90 years than all these divisional rounds and wildcards.

[@ghostofmoredishesmorebitch1507]

Small sample size lmfao there's 16 years of failure

[@vaudou_]

​@@ghostofmoredishesmorebitch1507Dodgers fans always have a million excuses. They want everything changed to benefit them because spending billions to buy rings isn't enough to get it done.

[@Oracio13]

He has an entire regular season worth of playoff innings

[@ghostofmoredishesmorebitch1507]

@@Oracio13 dodgers fans will do anything to suck him off and make it sound like they aren't playoff failures

[@nopenope2550]

Your Dodgers are postseason chokers. Quit blaming the playoff format for your team's failures.

[@mmacwebb7306]

From Japan, anyway...some Dogers players and GM must pay back for T Bauer. Also, Ohtani never play your team. never!!

[@terryhesticles7753]

Plain and simple he’s dog water when the post season comes around

[@komickaze85]

Kershaw is baseball's Peyton Manning.

[@fudgenuggets405]

Kershaw is a great pitcher, but man... f the Dodgers.

[@jimnfl7134]

good thing they won it all in 2020.

[@fudgenuggets405]

@@jimnfl7134 *

[@josecarranza7555]

@@fudgenuggets405Giants fan?

[@fudgenuggets405]

@@josecarranza7555 they ok. not my favorites but in the top 5.

[@josecarranza7555]

@@fudgenuggets405 Rockies lol

[@Danjc4]

I havent seen an athlete + team choke bigger in the playoffs than kershaw and the dodgers. Every year they are favorites for the ws and then lose their footing. It’s like they just completely forgot how to play baseball. Whatever excuses there are, if you win +100 games just to get dropped in the first round you’re a god damn embarrassment

[@imhip510]

Kersh is done as far as I'm concern.....go home kersh

[@deannafarber274]

Krapshaw... Just a bunch of accolades.!

[@panchito9016]

Dont disrespect Kersh you mutt