The Los Angeles Dodgers may have been eliminated early in the 2019 postseason by losing to the Washington Nationals in five games in the National League Division Series, but reasons behind the disappointing result did not involve Walker Buehler.
Buehler burst onto the scene for the Dodgers in 2018 when he had some big postseason performances, including beating the Colorado Rockies in Game 163 to win the NL West, and strong outings against the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Championship Series and Boston Red Sox in the World Series.
He followed that up with another strong showing in 2019, prompting Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to name Buehler Game 1 starter against the Nationals.
Buehler set the tone with six shutout innings in Game 1 of the series to earn a victory, but he was forced to take the mound again in Game 5 after his teammates could not seal the deal in Game 4.
With the Dodgers needing another strong outing from their young ace, he came up big for them once again in Game 5 by pitching 6.2 innings of one-run ball, leaving with a 3-1 lead.
The Dodgers, of course, couldn’t hold that lead as Clayton Kershaw gave up back-to-back home runs to Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto in the eighth inning and then Howie Kendrick hit a grand slam in extra innings to seal the deal for the Nationals.
Despite the Dodgers not winning the World Series, or even advancing one postseason round, Buehler’s performances throughout the year not lost on his teammates. Alex Verdugo was among those to heap his praise, as seen on SportsNet LA:
“I was like, ‘Dude, you’re unbelievable, bro. You’re like 120 lbs., just absolutely throwing chedd. This is ridiculous.’ The more you’re around him the more you understand his mindset, the person he is, what makes him tick and how he goes about his business.”
The Dodgers may not have a World Series championship to their name since 1988, but they can take solace in the fact that they will have one of the best pitchers in baseball in their organization for many years to come.
Washington went on to defeat the Houston Astros in seven games in the World Series. They were able to hand losses to many of the elite pitchers in baseball like Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander and Jack Flaherty throughout their postseason run, which makes Buehler shutting them down twice in one series even more impressive.
