The Josh Innes Show - Playoff Kershaw is the Best Kershaw

Episode Date: October 9, 2025

Playoff Clayton Kershaw strikes again. Is he really a bad playoff pitcher? Probably not. But, he's had so many bad moments that we will always believe he is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best tapas in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. So last night I went to sleep well before the end of the Phillies Dodgers game. Like last night felt like a good go-to-sleep early day because it was the one day without meaningful

football going on and the Tigers game was over earlier. So I was like, shit, I'm going to sleep at like nine something. I watched an episode, the newest episode of bailing out loud because I enjoy my uncensored version of the show of the girl with Tourette's who just says like, you know, wacky Tourette shit. Like, hey, he's, the funniest one from yesterday was, like, you know, he sucked George Washington's dick. That was one of her ticks, right? So, like, we watch this show and I enjoy it. But then what I hate is, like, so this girl, this girl, Baylon has these ticks because she's got, um, because she's got Tourette's.

So, like, her ticks are like she says wacky shit and makes wacky noises and says offensive shit. I don't know how this, you know, affliction began. I don't know how they did this or how it came to be that if you have Tourette's, you say fucked up shit. But if you have Tourette, she say fucked up shit. That's just the way it goes. So she says weird shit. But like some of her tics are like regular types of ticks and noises she makes. And sometimes these new ones just pop up.

So you watch it and you laugh. And like, you're not laughing at the chick. You're just laughing at the shit she says because it's wacky. That's why it's on TV. They know you're watching this because it's wacky. But then like she'll go to social media and be like, please don't mimic my tics. It's offensive and whatever. I'm like, then why the fuck are you on TV?

If you think it's offensive if someone like repeats one of your tics and thinks it's funny, like I feel bad for you that like you involuntarily say shit like, you know, George, you suck George Washington's dick. But it's funny. Like it is funny that you say this. Like I'm sorry if you didn't want us to know that you say shit like you suck George Washington's dick. Like one of my favorites is there was a line in this in an episode.

She's sitting there with her mom. And she's sitting next to her mom and she just goes, I have an 11 inch penis. and the mom goes, she doesn't. And it was hysterical. And they have to know it's hysterical. So why is it that if I laugh at the fact that this is hysterical and repeat it, I'm an asshole? But you put it on fucking TV. So don't sit there and try to paint me as some sort of bad guy, as some sort of scumbag.

Because I'm laughing at the fact that you have Tourette's, not at the fact that you have Tourette's. I'm laughing at what you do when you have Tourette's. I'm not like, ha, ha, it's funny that she involuntarily says offensive shit in Kroger. Like, no, that's not what I'm doing. But I'm laughing at the shit you do. do and you know it's funny and that's why they put it on TV. So don't come at me when I repeat one of your ticks

and be like, oh, that's not nice and I can't help that I do this. Like, then get the fuck off the internet and off of TV. Like, it's almost like saying like, well, you can't watch, hold on, let me play a couple commercials and we'll continue. I mean, it's almost like saying, oh, you can't watch love on the spectrum and repeat some of the

wacky shit that David and Abby say. Like, look, they're on the spectrum. They say some wacky shit sometimes and sometimes it's really adorable and you talk about it and you quote them. You're on TV. You've made the decision that you're seeking fame because of the fact you have this issue. Because of the fact you have Tourette's, it's made you someone that they want to put on TV. So stop judging me for quoting some of the shit you say. You say some fucked up shit and it's hysterical. Like when you're standing there in the grocery store and you're like, he sucks George

Washington's dick, you're like, yes, that's hysterical. So don't tell me that I'm evil for laughing at it because it's funny. Like one of her ticks is she punches her fiance in the balls. I'm like, that doesn't sound like a tick. That just sounds like dick shit there. And then they kind of laugh at it. I'm like, well, what if a dude had, what if a dude's tick? What if a dude had Tourette's, and one of his tics was just punching a woman?

Would that be like, ah, that's hysterical? No, but since, like, shit, it's one of her ticks to punch a dude in the balls. I don't know why that's a tick, but she'll just randomly punch him in the balls. And it's like, oh, that's funny. Like, but it wouldn't be funny if it were the other way around, right? The other way around, we'd be like, whoa, I turn her. You're like, well, wait a minute, I have Tourette's. That sounds like a solid way to just beat people up all the time.

Like, you can't punch somebody. I have Tourette's. I'm sorry. I have Tourette's. But anywho, I honest to God, forgot where the hell I was going with this. Oh, the Phillies. The Phillies game last night. So I wake up to see that the Phillies have stayed alive,

which means that I've been listening to Philly Radio, some in the car just to see the vibe and looking at social media. And, of course, they want to fire everyone, and Bryce Harper sucks, and this guy sucks, and everybody sucks. Now that it's two to one, I'm sure everybody's great again, and that they're going to win the World Series, and they're going to shock the world and no one likes us, we don't care. and all that shit.

And all it takes is one. You win one ball game and they're back. But they beat the shit out of the Dodgers yesterday at Dodgers Stadium. And a headline I see is, Kershaw roughed up in relief as Dodgers dropped game three. Are people shocked by this that Clayton Kershaw was roughed up? Clayton Kershaw sucks. So in the eighth inning of a two-run game Wednesday night,

Clayton Kershaw spilled back onto the field, hoping to keep the score manageable by providing his team with three additional outs. Well, actually, where did it start? Tanner Scott was absent for what was later described as a personal matter. Two other left-handed relievers had already been used, and the Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts, okay, so he comes in after some runs had already been given up late in the game. J.T. Real Muto let off with a home run.

Six other batters reached base, and by the end of it, the Phillies had tacked on an additional run, five additional runs, cruising to an 8-2 victory that saved their season. Kershaw, the future Hall of Fame left-hander, who will retire at season's end, was making his first postseason relief appearance since the decisive game five of the 2019 NLDS when he came back out for a second inning and surrendered back-to-back, score-tying home runs to Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto. His latest relief outing could have finished in a flourish after recording the final

out in a scoreless top of the seventh. Instead, it ended in despair. Quote, I just didn't make enough good pitches, Kershaw said. I was battling command. It's hard when you're trying to throw strikes as opposed to. to getting people out. Just wasn't a fun thing. A sold-out crowd of 53,000-689 roared when the left hand,

when the bullpen gate opened in left field. Kershaw's entrance song blared and number 22 himself jogged to the mound. He was tasked with taking down the top of the Phillies order immediately after fellow lefties Anthony Banda and Jack Dreher, pitch scoreless, standing, Jack Dreyer, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So then it goes down to tell you all the shit that went wrong for Clayton Kershaw. I bring this up because, like, why are people shocked by this?

Like, I saw one of the quotes that said, man, it was just really sad to watch. It was hard to watch, said Mookie Betts. But we can't use two innings to, he's going to have a statue on front of the stadium, kind of keep that in mind and understand that. And the grand scheme of things, Kershaw is a first ballot Hall of Famer, one of the best to ever do it. So if you let two innings kind of ruin that, you don't know baseball. No one's going to let two innings ruin that.

But Clayton Kershaw has had some really short. shitty playoff moments. Now, on one hand, there are fewer playoff moments, so it's easier to magnify the failures for dudes because, I mean, look, you have a smaller sample size in the playoffs. You're not starting 35 games like you do every regular season, so you're not starting 200, 300 games. You're starting a smaller number of games, obviously. But Clayton Kershaw is historically a shitty, at least comes up small in big moments

in the postseason. multiple times against the Cardinals, most notably. That moment right there. Game 5 against the Astros in 2017, when Kershaw has been spotted four runs in the first inning and can't get out of like the third inning in the game. Like Kershaw just bottoms out at times in the playoffs. It doesn't mean he's always terrible.

I'm sure he's had some moments. But most notably, he's had some really shitty postseason moments. so like no one's shocked by this right first of all the guy is retired you know he's retiring he's not very good he's not good anymore his regular season was fine but it's not like clayton kershaw is the clayton kershaw that you know so that's why he's in the bullpen and not starting but if you look at him historically in the postseason his postseason era is 4.63 i mean again it's a small sample size because you're only talking about a matter of 25, 26 games.

But there have been some bad postseason moments. If you look back at 2019, his ERA was 7-11. In 2017, it wasn't bad in 2017, but the Astros blew him up in Game 5. So, I mean, when you think of Clayton Kershaw, a lot of the moments you think of in the postseason, he might have been dynamite, but there were a couple of really bad pitches that make Kershaw look really bad in the postseason. So that's what people think of when they think of Clayton Kershaw, whether that's fair or unfair. People are going to think of that.

You know, I think of giving up the basis clearing double to Matt Carpenter. I think that was in the eighth, the seventh or eighth inning of a playoff game between the Cardinals and Dodgers in L.A. I think of Matt Adams hitting the home run to go ahead in the seventh inning, I guess it was. And St. Louis, I think that was in 2014, 2013, whatever year that was. I think of blowing the game to the Astros. I think of moments like this. So I understand you can come to me with, hey, let's be easy on the guy because he's going to have a statue one day.

And that's all well and good. But he got his ass kicked by the Phillies who were essentially on the brink of being eliminated. Now, granted, he didn't blow the lead, so whatever. But, like, I think people associate Clayton Kirshaw with postseason failure, whether it's fair or not. I guarantee if you really break it down, it's probably not even a fair narrative. But that's what people associate him with. People associate Clayton Kershaw with postseason moments that are negative.

Now, if you're a Dodger fan, then maybe you don't because you see more of the games and you watch them more intently. I associate Clayton Kershaw as a postseason pitcher with postseason failure. Fair or unfair, that's what I do. That might be because two of his most egregious postseason. and blunders happen against a team that I watch and a team I root for. And then another one of his egregious postseason blunders happened with the Astros, who I was a season ticket

holder for, and rooted for. So maybe that's why I feel that way. Maybe it's magnified for me. I mean, that's three games. I've mentioned three games out of Clayton Kershaw's postseason career. The guy I think has appeared in 25 or 26 playoff games. So my opinion

of Clayton Kershaw is judged by a very small percentage. Like one eighth of his postseason games. I'm judging him this on. I'm judging him. But I mean, that's the way the world works, right? Like Bill Buckner is an all-time great borderline Hall of Fame player, right? Bill Buckner is known for letting a ball go between his legs. Whether that's fair or unfair, that's what he's known for. There are a lot of great players who are more known for a blunder than they are for the 9,000 other great plays. Leon

Lett was a good player. Leon Lent was a good player. Leon Ler. is known for his blunder. It's whether, again, fair or unfair, Jackie Smith, it was an all-time great tight-in. Before they were really all-time great, you know, like tight-ins like you see now, like Tony Gonzalez and Gronk and guys like that, before those guys existed, there was Jackie Smith who spent a hundred years with the St. Louis football Cardinals and ended his career with the Dallas Cowboys, and he finally got to play in a Super Bowl, and he had a chance to be a hero and catch the pass in the end zone wide open, and he dropped it.

The famous call, oh, bless his heart. It's got to be the sickest man in America, a call by Vern Lundquist on the Cowboys Radio broadcast. But that's what you're known for. Like, it sucks because you've done, again, what was the old line? You build a thousand bridges. You suck one dick. You're not a bridge builder.

You're a dick sucker. What movie did I see that line in? It was in some boxing movie. but that's kind of how it is right like you can do something extremely well a million times but you do one bad thing or one you know perceived bad thing and that's what you're known for and i think that's what clayton kershaw whether it's fair or unfair it may not be fair like if you look at his actual numbers there's a lot of good numbers in his postseason numbers but there's also some really egregious moments that people look back on and remember that about clayton kershaw

they'll remember those bad moments. I don't know if Tom Needenfure was an all-time great reliever or not. Probably not. But Tom Neidenfure was a relief pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. And I honestly, to God, don't know anything about him other than the fact. Tom Neidenfure gave up two of the biggest home runs in baseball history. He gave up the home run to Ozzy Smith in game five of the LCS, the Go Crazy Folks home run. and he gave up the home run the next game in game six to Jack Clark that sent the Cardinals to the World Series when he had first base open.

I mean, if you look at Tom Needen, Fier's career, his career war was 10, career ERA 3.29, had a lengthy career. He pitched 10 years, most of which were with the Dodgers. When he was with the Dodgers, his ERA was 2.76. guy had a pretty good career. But if you know the name Tom Needenfeer, you only know the name Tom Neidenfeer because Tom Neidenfure gave up the home run to Ozzie, who never hit left-handed home runs. Tom Neenfueger gave up the left-handed home run, go crazy folks. Then he gave up the big bomb at Dodger Stadium to Jack Clark.

And that's what he's known for. Ignore the fact that his career ERA is 3.29. And at his best, the seven years with the Dodgers, his ERA was 2.4. And he was 30 and 28 in those ball games. Doesn't matter. Tom Needen, Fier, is known as the guy that gave up those two home runs. And whether it's fair or unfair, Clayton Kershaw will always be known. He will be associated with playoff failures.

And then, again, maybe fair, maybe not fair. But that's just how it goes. All right, more to come.