Clayton Kershaw wasn’t about to retire without producing one last vintage “Playoff Kershaw” moment.
The Los Angeles Dodgers veteran lefty Kershaw had an outing to forget during Tuesday’s Game 3 of the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies. Kershaw got the call in relief to pitch the seventh inning at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Calif.
With the Dodgers trailing 3-1 at the time, Kershaw managed to get three outs to keep the score right where it was. But it got infinitely worse for Kershaw once he came back out for the eighth inning.
The three-time Cy Young winner was touched up for five runs in just the eighth alone. JT Realmuto greeted him with a leadoff homer, and Kershaw proceeded to allow a walk and four more hits from there. The coup de grace was a two-run jack by Kyle Schwarber to give the Phillies an 8-1 lead.
KYLE SCHWARBER GOES YARD AGAIN
— MLB (@MLB) October 9, 2025
IT'S 8-1 @PHILLIES! pic.twitter.com/X16tQiyJTa
Kershaw quickly got the meme treatment online over his latest postseason disaster.
Phillies when Kershaw started pitching
— Le5-6 (@deepyy_) October 9, 2025
pic.twitter.com/iFUkK1Sjsh
The Phillies offense to Clayton Kershaw pic.twitter.com/npx2KxGLTW
—(@xJahstin) October 9, 2025
Welcome back October Kershaw! pic.twitter.com/zdBtNfQj9e
— @SFGiantsMemes (@SFGiantsMemer) October 9, 2025
Playoff Kershaw is back pic.twitter.com/YqyJYiQuMx
— Adolis Muse (@AdolisMuse) October 9, 2025
While Dodgers manager Dave Roberts probably deserved some of the blame there for trotting Kershaw out for a second inning, the 37-year-old pitcher and playoff struggles are virtually synonymous at this point. You can choose any year from 2014 all the way up to 2023 for a different and unique Kershaw postseason implosion.
The Dodgers ended up losing the game 8-2, adding 2025 to the ledger as well for Kershaw. Though Kershaw has recently received a lot of fanfare after announcing that this season would be his last, the Internet memers are also getting in one last shot in at the 11-time All-Star.
