Walker Buhler delivers vintage performance as Shohei Ohtani leads Dodgers offense in NLCS Game 3 rout

NEW YORK — It's been 1,109 days since Walker Buehler looked this good.

In Game 3 of the NLCS on Wednesday, the Dodgers' starter struck out 18 swing-and-misses off Mets hitters in just four innings, his highest raw total in a single outing since his final start in 2021. Nor did the Los Angeles bullpen surrender a run. The Dodgers, buoyed by a trio of home runs, including a supersonic blast from Shohei Ohtani, won 8–0.

For Buhler, it was a sparkling return to form on a chilly evening in the Big Apple.

Once the perennial contender's impenetrable ace, Buehler is now a different pitcher. An arm injury robbed him of the better part of three seasons and chipped away at his once unwavering confidence. He endured a stop-start 2024 during which he spent a month away from the team rehabbing a bad hip at a private training facility.

Buehler steadied the ship a bit down the stretch, but his selection as Los Angeles' Game 3 playoff starter had as much to do with the team's infirmary of pitchers as any obvious rebound to the right. In his first postseason start last week against San Diego in the NLDS, he surrendered six runs in the loss to LA. Heading into a raucous Citi Field in an NLCS-tying Wednesday, the Dodgers need their embarrassing former ace to turn back the clock.

And Buehler delivered.

“I don't trust anybody more than Walker,” longtime Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes told Yahoo Sports after the game. “His ability to, you know, live in the moment. Many cannot. Since I've been here, he's made a lot of big plays for us. And no matter what happens at the beginning of the season or how he's feeling, I believe he's going to go out there and compete.”

The contest came early in Game 3. In the bottom of the second, the Mets loaded the bases with one behind two walks and an infield single. By scoring a pair of runs in the top half of the frame, Bueller was playing with fire, giving the hosts an opening to counterpunch. But the brash right-hander struck out Francisco Alvarez and Francisco Lindor to end the scare.

His strikeout pitch to Lindor — a full-count knuckle-curveball that fell under a monstrous hack from the Mets superstar shortstop — was vintage Buehler. He leapt from the mound in a cloud of arrogance, shouting at himself and anyone and everyone at the same time.

Buehler always straddling that fine line between confidence and cockiness, sometimes crossing it.

This is a guy who likes to open twist-off beer bottles with his teeth because “it's fun and it makes [him] Cold.” At his best, Bueller is arrogant, cocky, unapologetic. A rottweiler with high 90s heat. An F-bomb geyser on the mound and on the record. Better than you and knows better about it. That confidence begat success, which only bred more confidence. gives

It was a powerful, almost unstoppable cycle, that took Buehler to the top of his craft.

From 2018 to 2021, the swashbuckling right-hander posted the fourth-lowest ERA in Major League Baseball, behind luminaries like Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. During Los Angeles' championship run during the abbreviated 2020 season, Buehler was the club's unquestioned ace, the obvious choice to start Game 1 in each of the first three rounds. Across five starts that October, he surrendered a total of five runs.

The following season, he was even better, finishing fourth in the Cy Young with a 2.47 ERA in over 200 frames. He was, quite simply, one of the best pitchers in the world.

Then came the injuries, as they often do for this line of work. In August 2022, second Tommy John surgery (he had one right after being drafted in 2015) to go along with an additional procedure on his flexor tendon. Buehler's rehabilitation is a profound reminder that the road back from elbow surgery is not always linear. 23 months — June 2022 to May 2024 — elapsed between big-league starts.

Buehler was charmingly honest about the difficulty of that process, though he was reluctant to categorize his Game 3 performance as redemption. To him, at least publicly, it was just another playoff win.

“It doesn't mean a lot more to me than winning Game 3 of the NLCS,” he revealed in his postgame interview. “I think down the road, it could mean a lot to me, but right now, I'm going to enjoy tonight and then be ready if we have to play Game 7.”

After a high pitch count limited Buehler to just four innings Wednesday, the bullpen quartet of Michael Kopech, Ryan Brasier, Blake Treinen and Ben Kasparius didn't blink an eye, combining for a scoreless five. The Mets managed just three baserunners against Dodgers relievers. Postseason prophet Enrique Hernandez added a two-run poke, his 15th career playoff homer, in the sixth inning to provide some cushion.

From there, the game headed for a forgettable conclusion. But Ohtani didn't let that happen. In the eighth inning, with two runners on, the two-time MVP silenced an already quiet crowd with a jaw-dropping, upper-deck moon shot. The homer pushed Ohtani's playoff streak to 7-for-9 with two homers.

Ohtani's swing sent disgruntled Mets fans streaming into the aisles. In the bottom of the eighth, the lower bowl at Citi Field was speckled with empty seats reflecting the stadium lights. It was a strange image. Since the now-infamous team meeting that sparked a historic turnaround on May 30, the Mets are 27-5 in night games at home. The sight of this team losing in this setting felt rare in itself. Bets only add to the frustration.

But as bad as it was for the hosts, there is a lot of series left. New York will send crafty lefty Jose Quintana, who has been outstanding for two months, to the mound in Game 4. Los Angeles will counter with Japanese thrill ride Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Wednesday, though, was all about Buehler, who is now second in Dodgers history in career playoff starts, behind only Clayton Kershaw. There's a small chance Game 3 was his last. Buehler is a free agent this winter, and Chavez is not guaranteed to return to Ravine.

Then again, the Mets' three-game winning streak seems unlikely, setting Buehler up for either an NLCS Game 7 or a World Series start. Either will be another opportunity to continue rewriting his story.