Plenty of October remembrances from the Dodgers, who you might remember won the World Series.
Dodgers manager Dsve Roberts was part of a town hall with actor Bryan Cranston for SiriusXM in Los Angeles on Thursday night.
Roberts touched on a number of topics, and Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times was there to chronicle the event. I enjoyed this from Roberts, about challenging Walker Buehler in September, as he was one of only three starting pitchers the Dodgers had left on the roster:
“Walker was scuffling, but I told him, ‘You’ve pitched some of the most meaningful games in Dodgers history and succeeded. We need you to step up tonight and go on a heater, because if we don’t have you, we’re not gonna win the World Series.’ It was a challenge to raise the bar for all of us, and he answered the bell.”
Buehler allowed six runs in a defense-addled second inning in his NLDS start in San Diego, but recovered to throw 13 scoreless innings the rest of the postseason, including closing out the World Series with a save in Game 5, only two days after winning his Game 3 start.
Throughout the year, Buehler was a regular guest on the Just Baseball podcast. He joined the show this week and talked about the Dodgers playoff run.
Fat Joe’s pregame performance before Game 3 at Yankee Stadium, which was roundly panned (famously by Kiké Hernández) and even celebrated by Dodgers fans during the parade in Los Angeles, happened while Buehler was warming up for his start.
Buehler explained that the lights were off in the stadium for 11 minutes, during which time in the bullpen Buehler couldn’t throw to catcher Will Smith, who couldn’t see him. Buehler during that time threw six balls in the general direction of the Trackman set up in the dugout, but that was about it. Naturally, Buehler worked up a bit of a lather while waiting for his start, which he explained on the podcast.
“I walked up to the umpires, I go, ‘They gotta fix this shit for tomorrow,’” Buehler said. “We walked into the dugout and everyone was like, ‘You good?’ because I was pissed off. I said, ‘Yeah, they fucked up.’”
Buehler pitched five scoreless innings with five strikeouts that night.
Buehler didn’t touch on his free agency in that podcast interview. Another free agent, outfielder Teoscar Hernández, is still on the market as well. So while Hernández hasn’t yet re-signed with the Dodgers, he also hasn’t signed anywhere else, either.
Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic on Friday addressed the Dodgers’ pursuit of Hernández, which seems like more of the same from the last two weeks:
There has been plenty written about Hernández but seemingly little has tangibly changed. Los Angeles still appears to be the most likely landing spot. Hernández is still seeking a three-year deal with an average annual value between $22 million and $24 million, according to a person briefed on negotiations. The Dodgers have often talked about the idea of using deferrals as a means of bridging a gap in negotiations in the past — and it worked last year, with Hernández deferring money in his one-year deal. But so far, the gap hasn’t been bridged with whatever offers have gone back and forth.