by Cary Osborne
There were a few times this season when Walker Buehler expressed self-doubt and frustration about not helping his team. Two years removed from Tommy John surgery, he has tinkered with his mechanics and fought off injury to find the best version of a new version of Walker Buehler.
At times, the 30-year-old would find his best.
His May 18 start against Cincinnati was one of the best this season by a Dodger starting pitcher — six innings, no runs, one hard-hit ball.
But there were others where he was laboring to keep traffic off the basepaths and many where he couldn’t find his footing until after the second inning.
This setting — Game 3 of the National League Division Series in the hostile environment of San Diego where emotions are expected to be high — might be best suited for Buehler.
That’s because whatever version he is now, there’s the expectation that it will bring out the old version of the right-handed pitcher — Buehtane; the pitcher with the snarl; the craftsman on the mound; “Big-Game Buehler.”
“He’ll be the first to tell you he loves the big moment, the big game,” said manager Dave Roberts. “And this is just an opportunity for him to basically wash away and make right or right this season that he’s had.”
If there is any comparison for a big-magnitude Buehler game this year, one doesn’t need to look far.
Buehler stood on the mound at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 26 against these Padres with the Dodgers needing a win to clinch the National League West title.
Before he fired his first pitch of the game, he made warmup pitches while a heavy metal song called “Hail to the King” played. His body language throughout the contest looked like that of the familiar figure who dominated 2020 postseason games and was the staff ace in 2021.
His lone strikeout of the game was in the third inning. Three pitches after he went high and tight on Fernando Tatis Jr., he broke off a sweeper for a called third strike on a full count.
He walked off the hill with the self-assurance that had rarely been seen in 2024.
“This (recently) is the most confidence I’ve seen Walker in a couple of years,” Roberts said.
Buehler allowed one run over five innings in the Dodgers’ 7–2 win.
But on Monday, Buehler wasn’t ready to declare that the outing was without issue. But he acknowledges that his recent outings are progress.
“I don’t know if I’d say everything came together. Obviously, a successful outing, but some of the other stuff that we look at outside of just innings and runs and stuff like that wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be,” he said. “But the past month and a half or so I felt pretty good and kind of got into more of a routine. I think being able to go on regular rest helped. At least mentally knowing you can do that, I think, is a step forward for me.”
Buehler allowed one earned run over six innings against Atlanta on Sept. 15, but he walked five batters. He struck out nine Rockies over 5 1/3 innings on Sept. 21, but allowed four runs. However, the 3.31 ERA and 3.60 FIP over his last three starts look much better than the 5.95 ERA and 6.08 FIP of the previous 13 starts this season.
“Now all that stuff is kind of behind us,” Buehler said. “And now all that really matters is innings and the runs and trying to keep us in the game. This time of year is just a little bit different and kind of, at least for me, time to kind of leave what happened in the regular season behind.”
It’s the postseason, and Buehler’s postseason body of work is special. His 2.95 ERA in 15 starts ranks 10th among the 30 pitchers who have started at least 15 postseason games.
That’s the old version of Buehler. The Dodgers hope is he can channel it.
When asked Monday how much pride he takes in the label of being a big-game pitcher, Buehler said: “It’s kind of the only thing I care about.”
NLDS: Big-game Buehler is in the right setting was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.