Clayton Kershaw postseason stats: Dodgers legend gets rocked in relief appearance vs. Phillies originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Clayton Kershaw already announced he will retire at the end of the year, but he is still competing for another World Series title.
The Los Angeles Dodgers legend isn't set to make a start for the team in the NLDS, but he was put on the roster to come out of the bullpen. Kershaw made his final playoff debut on Wednesday night against the Philadelphia Phillies, coming in with Los Angeles down 3-1 in the seventh inning.
When Kershaw came into the game, Dodgers Stadium erupted.
Unfortunately, Kershaw couldn't deliver the fans a strong outing. Here's a look at how Kershaw performed in his first playoff game of the season.
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Kershaw came out of the bullpen for the Dodgers in Game 3 as Los Angeles needed to get some innings out of their relievers. In his first inning of work, Kershaw allowed two baserunners with no outs, but he was able to get out of the inning unscathed.
He did get a gift, though, as some bad Phillies baserunning allowed Kershaw to get essentially a free out.
However, that success didn't continue into the second inning. J.T. Realmuto smoked a leadoff home run off Kershaw in the top of the eight, extending Philadelphia's lead to three runs.
From there, Kershaw walked Max Kepler, and a Max Muncy error put two on with no outs, allowing Trea Turner to bring both runners in.
Then, Philadelphia blew the game open when Kyle Schwarber hit his second home run on the night, as the Phillies scored five runs in the inning off Kershaw.
Overall, Kershaw threw two innings and allowed five runs on six hits and three walks, which included the two home runs.
Here's a look at Kershaw's playoff numbers entering the 2025 postseason.
Kershaw's playoff career doesn't match most of his regular season success, as he has had his fair share of struggles in October. The lefty pitcher has made 32 starts in the playoffs, and seven relief appearances before Wednesday night, pitching to a 4.49 ERA in that span. For comparison, he has a career 2.53 ERA in 455 career regular season games.