Playoff Kershaw Does It Again and the Braves Are a Win Away From the World Series
All I heard all day Thursday was how awesome Clayton Kershaw was going to be, surely evening the series for the Dodgers and putting the already-crowned World Series champs right back on track. But then the game started and the most curious thing happened: Kershaw gave up four earned runs in five innings and got severely outpitched by Braves' rookie Bryse Wilson.
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For all of Kershaw's Postseason failures, he had been lights out against the Braves — both in the regular season and playoffs throughout his career. Kershaw had never lost any of his previous 14 career starts against Atlanta coming into Thursday and had a Postseason ERA of 0.31 in 21 innings in his three starts against the Braves.
And then all that went down the drain in a game in which rookie Bryse Wilson threw six innings of one-hit, one-run ball for the Braves en route to a 3-1 series lead to put the Braves a win away from their first World Series berth since 1999.
And to be totally fair to the guy, the Dodgers' offense didn't do much of anything a night after exploding for 15 runs, but when you've done this as many times as Kershaw has, the narrative is going to be what it's going to be.
I think it's a real shame that one of the greatest pitchers of my generation consistently chokes on the biggest stage and seems likely to end his career without a World Series ring. With that said, here are some memes and observations from people who do not think it is as much of a shame as I do.