As the regular season came to a close and starting pitchers for the Los Angeles Dodgers continued succumbing to injury, Walker Buehler suddenly found himself in a crucial spot as one of the team’s three starters for the postseason.
Buehler had struggled during the regular season, and while he showed flashes, there was no guarantee he could turn it around for the playoffs. Buehler ended up having an excellent postseason for the Dodgers and was one of their best pitchers during the National League Championship Series and World Series.
Though, that was not initially the case as he was on the mound against the San Diego Padres in Game 3 of the NL Division Series.
The six runs allowed during a curious second inning defensively for the Dodgers turned out to be all he allowed in October.
During an appearance on “The Just Baseball Show,” Buehler said finishing the final three innings of that NLDS start was a watershed moment for him:
“Even the fact that I got the nine outs after the six-run inning in San Diego, I think was kind of the big turning point for me. I know in New York, I felt very, very comfortable in both of those in terms of who I was, where I was at and what I could do that day, and that kind of stuff.”
“But you go play San Diego in San Diego, the first road game in the playoffs for us, there’s some nerves. You look up and you’ve got a five and a half ERA for the year, it’s a different thing. But getting those nine outs in the third, fourth and fifth, was huge for me.”
It is easy to see Buehler was set up to fail because of the defense played behind him. Which is why it was not surprising to see him improve the rest of the way once the Dodgers cleaned up their mistakes in the field.
Buehler’s mental ability to overcome all of the adversity he faced in the 2024 season is why he was an attractive free agent option for the Dodgers and other contenders in MLB this offseason. His free agency saga has concluded with a one-year, $21.05 million contract with the Boston Red Sox.
Walker Buehler had to ‘re-establish my baseline’
Buehler took advantage of his time on the injured list in 2024 to work through mechanical and physical issues away from the team at a facility in Florida, which received support from manager Dave Roberts and the Dodgers organization.
Buehler’s hip injury, lack of clean mechanics and mental struggles contributed to feeling lost on the mound. In Florida, he focused on getting healthy and re-establishing his base mechanics and it paid off immensely.
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