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.

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.