NEW YORK — Walker Buehler lives for October.
That time came Wednesday in a pivotal Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, where it was up to Buehler to set the tone against the New York Mets. With the series tied at one game apiece and the Mets holding home-field advantage, it took a gutsy outing from Buehler to give Los Angeles’ lineup enough breathing room to do its job.
Not only did Buehler deliver, he put on a show not seen from the 30-year-old in recent years.
“It’s so overused, but pressure is a privilege,” Buehler said. “Talking about how many starts I’ve gotten to make, that’s the privilege part of it, right? I’ve gotten to do this a lot of times, and these games certainly get me excited, but they don’t overwhelm me like they used to when I was young in my first couple of [playoff] starts. I’m just fortunate to be a part of this organization and a part of this team, specifically.”
Buehler allowed just three hits and struck out six across four scoreless frames in the Dodgers’ 8-0 rout over the Mets at Citi Field. He finished his outing by retiring seven straight batters, but no moment encapsulated his spunky performance better than his drama-fueled second-inning matchup against Francisco Lindor.
With two outs and the bases loaded, the Mets were threatening to erase Los Angeles’ 2-0 lead when their MVP shortstop dug into the box. However, Buehler had a game plan and wasn’t going to let New York’s best hitter disrupt it. He peppered his best offspeed pitch of the night, a 78 mph knuckle curveball, in between his 95 mph fastball enough times to keep Lindor off balance. Finally, with the count full and 43,883 fans on their feet, Buehler got Lindor to swing and miss at yet another curveball to end the inning and the threat. He walked off the mound screaming into the frigid October air, daring the Mets to try to hit him.
“For me, personally, it’s huge,” Buehler said of striking out Lindor. “I think the last time I really made a pitch like that, in the playoffs, that kind of got it through was 2020 [NLCS] against Atlanta.”
Buehler said he channeled “the fear of pitching the way I pitched all year” to escape the bases-loaded jam. He struggled to find his new identity after returning from Tommy John surgery this season, posting a 5.84 ERA across his first eight starts of 2024 before landing on the injured list with hip inflammation in June. Once he started trusting his mechanics again, Buehler identified throwing a significant pitch in a crucial moment as a key step in proving he was back to his pre-surgery form.
Buehler faced a similar situation in Game 3 of the NLDS against the Padres, who tagged him for six runs in the second inning of a Dodgers defeat. Confronting another high-pressure second inning Wednesday, after surrendering two walks and an infield single to load the bases, Buehler prevailed with back-to-back strikeouts — capped by the curve to Lindor.
“I don’t think anyone over there would’ve expected Walker to throw that pitch in that situation,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “That’s why Walker did it.”
As much as the Dodgers needed the win, this was a game the Mets had to take. With Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Jack Flaherty lined up for Games 4 and 5, Wednesday represented New York’s best opportunity to place Los Angeles at a disadvantage. Jose Quintana was set to pitch for the Mets on Thursday, so they hoped to charge ahead to a 3-1 series lead by the time Friday’s Game 5 rolled around. But Buehler had other plans.
That wasn’t a problem for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who prepared for a situation like Game 3 — where several innings needed to be covered by his high-leverage relief arms. After Buehler’s night ended somewhat early, Michael Kopech, Ryan Brasier, and Blake Treinen combined to throw three shutout innings, registering four strikeouts while allowing just one hit from the bullpen. Catcher Will Smith noted that Brasier’s double-play ball to Jose Iglesias that ended the sixth inning completely eradicated any chance for the Mets to build momentum.
He was right. Dodgers bats continued to pile on — including home runs from Shohei Ohtani, Kiké Hernández, and Muncy — while the Mets’ slim hopes for a comeback, no matter how resilient they had been this postseason, fully slipped away. The belief that New York could seize a series lead faded with every inning Buehler put up a zero.
“In my career here as a Dodger, Walker’s probably been one of the most big-time playoff pitchers that I’ve seen,” Treinen said. “I think for him, coming back from the surgery, there’s been a lot of learning on the fly. What he’s been able to do recently, the results haven’t always matched how well he’s pitched. Today was nice to see the results match the hard work he’s putting in.”
Buehler’s 17 playoff starts rank second only to Clayton Kershaw in Dodgers franchise history. Before undergoing a second UCL reconstruction in August 2022, he held an impressive 2.94 career ERA in October. Though that mark took a hit in the NLDS, Buehler rebounded with three clean frames against the Padres — after they initially rocked him — to jumpstart the Dodgers’ record-tying 33 scoreless innings in the postseason.
On Wednesday, as he traversed the long and winding road that has forced the two-time All-Star to reinvent himself, Buehler reminded baseball of one thing as he led the Dodgers to an enormous win: He is still Walker Buehler.
