Walker Buehler, who is old, helps the Dodgers to a 3-0 World Series lead.

All year, Walker Buehler had difficulty understanding whether he would ever be able to recreate the persona wherein he was known for his fierce fastball and unrivaled self-belief. However, Game 3 of the World Series happened to be the moment that he had morphed from a state of seeking to that of seeking acceptance to that of surviving over the last six months. If he was to have any chance of helping his Los Angeles Dodgers in the most important games, Walker Buehler believed that he would need to change the player he was in October every time he stepped on the mound.

Somehow, on what could become his last outing in Dodger uniform, Buehler once again looked like his old self. 

Walker Buehler: World Series 2024

Tough questions came against Buehler, who was easy and steady over five innings, in an overpowering performance by a wary New York Yankees lineup. The crowd at Yankee Stadium was aggressive, although, on Monday night, Buehler demonstrated a quick fastball in a game of 4-2 and took charge against the Yankees. The Dodgers lead the series 3-0 and are just a win away from clinching their first title in the last 4 years and their first complete season title since 1988. The timing of Buehler’s best self was just perfect.

“I hear there’s a lot of questions about him. But when those lights turn on, I know that this is the real Walker Buehler,” said Mookie Betts, a right fielder for the Dodgers.

Freddie Freeman

Freddie Freeman, appearing in the best physical condition he has been in all month, wowed Dodger fans with a towering first-inning home run, his three-homer efficacy spanning six at-bats. Mookie Betts did not let the team down and continued to shine in October with an impressive nine-pitch at-bat in the third to record a run and then performed a remarkable diving catch in the fourth of the bottom inning. Overall, the Dodgers continued to play good defense and did not do much offensively.

However, it was Buehler who took control, giving up just four base runners – two by hits, two by walks – and fanning five. It was shocking but at the same time, it was encouraging. Buehler faced the Boston Red Sox in Game 3 of the 2018 World Series and shut them out over seven innings. In the 2020 World Series, Buehler only allowed the Tampa Bay Rays to score one run in six innings during game three. He left his first 3 World Series matches with a 0.50 Era which stands as the number six tie in the history of Major League Baseball for a pitcher’s first three World Series games after 1913 when earned runs were recognized as an official statistic in baseball. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence.

“As harsh as it may sound, it is the adrenaline and the like that I find stimulating and keeps me mentally active,” Buehler said. “I wish I felt like this all year round. Sure I can say I am looking forward to pitching in every game, but during the playoffs, the situation is not the same.”

Buehler said

“There is hope seeing how I’ve gone through the postseason over the years. I know there is more in me but I have to unleash it just a little. But that feeling of there is an organization that is looking up to me today to go out and win a playoff game. I think that is the pressure that provides me that extra boost that I need at all times and I do not think that is something that can be imitated.”

Buehler, who will be a free agent after the end of the season, had quite a while since he had six swing-and-misses on his fastball and it was in 2021. Back in that year, Buehler made it to fourth place in the National League Cy Young Award balloting, winning 16 with only four losses and an earned run average of 2.47. At 27, he was among the best in the sport. Then, he had more than 2.5 months of difficult times in 2022 and had a second surgery for Tommy John which further delayed his return to pitching in Major League Baseball and had him return this May.

Buehler’s first eight regular-season outings saw him have an ERA of 5.84 while the last eight had an ERA of 4.93. He was also placed on the IL due to a hip injury and later on took time off to a secluded training center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida to rehabilitate himself.

The Dodgers to a 3-0 World Series lead

Buehler’s selection in the postseason rotation for the Dodgers was circumstances created by the injuries to other players like Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, and Gavin Stone. But October has made him raise his game a notch. It began in Game 3 of the National League Division Series. Buehler allowed six runs in a second inning that featured a flurry of errors by the Dodgers defense but then came back and pitched three long relief innings without allowing a run. In Game 3 of the NL Championship Series, he consistently escaped trouble thanks to a very effective curveball and blanked the Mets for four innings. In Game 3 of the World Series, that fastball was back. So was everything else.

“His stuff was as good as it has been all year,” Davis Roberts, manager of the Dodgers stated. “Fastball was alive. The cutter came out good. The curveball was good. He pitched all quadrants and kept those guys in check. It was easy.”  

Buehler explained that stretching while pitching during his last game at Citi Field was comforting. It’s a lot more exhausting than pitching from the windup because he tosses with more effort to throw at his usual velocity. Buehler observed, but it ensures that his mechanics remain compact. It can also be a way to disrupt the timing of the hitters on the opposing team.

Walker Buehler

It began with a Buehler walk in the game’s 3rd round. However, he then retired Soto, Judge, and Stanton easily in that particular order. Right after that, he mowed down the first four batters by striking them out on four pitches – a fastball, curveball, sinker, and sweeper. The Yankees posed a threat in the fourth inning with a double from Stanton and an Anthony Volpe single. But Teoscar Hernandez threw out Stanton at the plate to finish the inning. Buehler then finished off the fifth, going through the bottom of the order and delivering the ball to the Dodgers’ high-leverage relievers.

One qualifier quite evidently remains the biggest headache for the Los Angeles Dodgers and it is nothing other than the starting pitching. It is still important to point out that Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Buehler have all combined to post a 1.62 ERA. Which’s devoid the Yankees of their strongest suit, and has placed LA a game shy of registering their first title in the aftermath of the pandemic-struck shortened 2020 season. In the last two starts of that playoff series Buehler was exceptional as he pitched against the Atlanta Braves to spread across with nothing behind and when they faced the Tampa Bay Rays in a close semi result two wins on the line he achieved that goal by conceding a lone run spanning across 6 innings pitched.

In which he was great, then awful, injured, recovered, ineffective, and finally unsure. That man reemerged exactly when it was needed the most during the Dodgers’ playoff run.