Former Walker Buehler helps the Dodgers take a 3-0 lead in the World Series

NEW YORK – Walker Buehler had spent the entire year wondering if he would ever be who he was again, when his fastball was overpowering and his confidence unmatched. By the time he took the mound for Game 3 of the World Series, he had gone from searching to accepting to surviving over the last six months. If he wanted to give his Los Angeles Dodgers a chance in the biggest games, Buehler figured, he would essentially have to reinvent himself every time he hit the ground in October.

And then, somehow, in perhaps his last game as a Dodger, the old Buehler showed up.

Before a hostile Yankee Stadium crowd and against a desperate but overpowering New York Yankees lineup, Buehler pitched five scoreless innings, fielding a suddenly lively fastball and setting the tone for a breakthrough 4-2 win Monday night. The Dodgers have now taken a commanding 3-0 lead in this World Series and are one win away from their first title in four years and their first full-season championship since 1988. Buehler's best self showed up just in time to get her there.

“There are a lot of questions about him,” Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts said. “But when those lights come on, that’s the real Walker Buehler.”

Freddie Freeman, looking healthier than he had all month, immediately gave the Dodgers a two-run lead with a home run in the first inning, his third in a series of six at-bats. Betts continued his rousing October by striking out a nine-pitch batter to score a run in the top of the third and making a long catch in the bottom of the fourth. Overall, the Dodgers continued to be solid on defense and stingy on offense.

But it was Buehler who set the tone, allowing just four baserunners — two on a hit, two on a walk — and throwing five strikeouts. It was surprising, but it also felt familiar. Buehler previously threw seven scoreless innings against the Boston Red Sox in Game 3 of the 2018 World Series and six innings of one-run ball against the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 3 of the 2020 World Series. His 0.50 ERA is the sixth lowest for a pitcher's first three World Series starts since earned runs became an official statistic in 1913. This may not be a coincidence.

“I think as brutal as it is, it takes adrenaline and stuff to really get me going mentally,” Buehler said. “I wish I had felt that way all year. I could tell you that every single game I’ve ever been in I can bring excitement to the field, but something is different in the playoffs.”

“At least in the long run, getting through the playoffs the way I did is really encouraging for me personally because I know it's in there and I just need to unlock it a little bit. But that feeling of there is. “An organization today that relies on me to win a playoff game – I think it's the weight that I like to feel and that gets me to a certain place mentally that I just difficult to reproduce.”

Buehler, a free agent at the end of the season, produced six swing-and-misses on his fastball, his most since 2021. This year, Buehler finished fourth in National League Cy Young Award voting with a 16-4 ERA of 2.47. He was 27 years old and appeared to be one of the game's best pitchers. He then struggled through the first two and a half months of 2022, undergoing a second Tommy John surgery that didn't return him to major league pitching until May of that season.

Buehler posted a 5.84 ERA in his first eight regular-season starts and a 4.93 ERA in his last eight regular-season starts. In between, he ended up in Illinois with a hip injury and took a break at a private performance venue in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, hoping to rediscover himself.

Buehler's inclusion in the Dodgers' postseason rotation was a result of injuries that prevented players like Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw and Gavin Stone from contributing. But October brought out something different in him. It started in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, in which Buehler gave up six runs in a second inning in which the Dodgers' defense made a multitude of errors, but then pitched three scoreless innings to save the bullpen. In Game 3 of the NL Championship Series, he threw a highly effective curveball to keep getting out of trouble and keeping the New York Mets scoreless for four innings. In Game 3 of the World Series, that fastball was back. So was everything else.

“I thought his stuff was as good as it’s been all year,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought the fastball had life. The cutter was good. The curveball was good. He threw all the quadrants and kept the guys honest, kept them in check. There was no stress.”

In his final start from Citi Field, Buehler found solace in throwing from the track. It's far more tiring than throwing from windup mode because he has to use more force to throw at his normal speed, Buehler explained, but it keeps his mechanics tight. It can also be a tool to mess up the timing of opposing batsmen.

“I think as brutal as it is, it takes that adrenaline and stuff to really get me going mentally. I wish I had felt this all year long. I can tell you I'm looking forward to pitching every single game. “I've been out there before, but there's something different in the playoffs.”

Dodgers Game 3 starter Walker Buehler

Buehler started Game 3 with a leadoff walk, but then retired Juan Soto, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in succession. Soon after, he struck out four batters in a row on four different pitches – a fastball, a curveball, a sweeper and a sinker. The Yankees threatened with a Stanton double and an Anthony Volpe single in the fourth, but Teoscar Hernandez ground out Stanton at home to end the inning. Buehler then singled in the fifth, handing the game to the Dodgers' powerful relievers.

Starting pitching was by far the Dodgers' biggest concern, both in this series and throughout the playoffs. And yet Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Buehler combined for a 1.62 ERA, erasing the Yankees' largest lead and moving LA one win away from its first title since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Buehler won his last two starts in these playoffs, shutting out the Atlanta Braves with the Dodgers' season on the line in Game 6 of the NLCS, and again in the following round, pitching six innings of one-run ball against the Rays threw.

Four years later – after a period in which he went from dominant to bad, injured, recovering, ineffective and finally insecure – this man resurfaced at the most important moment.

Buehler said, “The regular season is worth it for me.”