Unexpected Pitching Boost From Walker Buehler Put Dodgers Over The Top

As we’ve already discussed this week, it takes a lot more than mega-million contracts and star power to win a World Series. It takes a sudden resurgence from an injured Freddie Freeman, who was a non-factor earlier in the postseason. It takes major contributions from less heralded acquisitions farther down the roster, like Tommy Edman and Enrique Hernandez. And it takes every single hand remaining on deck from a broken-down pitching staff to record 27 outs in each of 11 October victories.

We also saw this with the 2023 Texas Rangers. They brought in a whole lot of pitching talent from both the free agent and trade markets in the years preceding their championship, and they needed every last one of them to eventually hoist the trophy. The likes of Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Andrew Heaney, Martin Perez and Jordan Montgomery were all brought aboard, and every bit of each player’s contribution was necessary to meet their end goal. In fact, it might not have been enough if not for yeoman work from relative non-entity Josh Sborz, who was lights out in high leverage work throughout the 2023 postseason.

As much depth as the Rangers had – and needed – they had an easy pitching ride compared to the 2024 Dodgers. The Rangers actually possessed an ERA title qualifier (Dane Dunning, of all people), and used a mere 10 starting pitchers in the 2023 season.

The Dodgers? Zero ERA qualifiers. Their innings leader was Gavin Stone with 140 1/3. Only he and Tyler Glasnow (134) cleared the 90 inning threshold. An amazing 17 pitchers started games for the Dodgers in 2024, and only three of them – Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Walker Buehler and Jack Flaherty – were A) actual starting pitchers, B) on the team, C) healthy, and D) actually started a game for them in the postseason.

That’s right:

Stone (25)

Glasnow (22)

Yamamoto (18)

James Paxton (18)

Buehler (16)

Bobby Miller (13)

Landon Knack (12)

Flaherty (10)

Clayton Kershaw (7)

Justin Wrobleski (6)

Ryan Brasier (4)

River Ryan (4)

Michael Grove (2)

Anthony Banda (2)

Brent Honeywell (1)

Elieser Hernandez (1)

Kyle Hurt (1)

All started games for the Dodgers this season.

They never got anything resembling length from any of their starters in the postseason, though both Flaherty and Yamamoto both had strong outings in the earlier playoff rounds. But despite getting an early jump on the Yankees in the World Series, they needed someone to “pull a Sborz” and give them a lift out of nowhere in the World Series.

Enter Walker Buehler. The Dodgers’ 2015 1st round pick underwent his second Tommy John surgery in August 2022, and didn’t return until well into the 2024 season. His on-field results were mediocre at best. He lugged a 1-6, 5.38, record in 75 1/3 IP over 16 starts into the postseason. There really wasn’t much for the club to hang their hat upon there – the stuff was just ok, and he wasn’t even giving them much length.

About the only positive was that he was finally healthy, and that gave him a leg up on the club’s other starting pitching alternatives. He only struck out 1 batter over 5 innings on September 26, his last outing of the regular season, and then did the same exact thing in the NLDS against the Padres. He battled and kept his team in the game, though he clearly labored.

The Dodgers’ lack of alternatives meant he would keep getting chances, and he clearly began to feel more comfortable on the mound against the Mets, whiffing 6 over 4 shutout innings in Game 3 of the NLCS. There were finally moments in that start when he looked to be overmatching hitters, resembling peak Walker Buehler in small snapshots.

He again was given the baseball in Game 3 of the World Series with the Dodgers up two games to none. He was exceptional, shutting out the Yankees on two hits over five innings as his club cruised to victory and a commanding 3-0 series lead. The likeliest scenario was that his work was done, and he already had a nice story to tell, entering free agency as a champion.

But fate had other plans. The Yankees turned the momentum with a Game 4 win, and got off to a big lead in Game 5. The top of the 5th inning happened, putting the Dodgers right back in it. After some late-inning jockeying back and forth, the Dodgers found themselves with a one-run lead and their bullpen bereft of remaining high-leverage relievers. The call for Buehler – on one day rest – rang out.

Buehler hadn’t relieved in a major league game since 2018, and had only been seen as a remotely reliable option for a matter of days. And here he was, closing out the World Series clincher. And he did so in dominant fashion, striking out two of the three batters he faced in a perfect inning.

Someone from that long list of 2024 Dodger starting pitchers needed to step up and deliver beyond reasonable expectation for them to win the championship everyone expected from them. That someone turned out to be Walker Buehler. Regardless of how his career progresses from here (he was not extended a qualifying offer by the Dodgers, and is a free agent) what looked to be a lost campaign will now go down as a career highlight.