Walker Buehler had his best performance of the year, bringing the Dodgers one win shy of a championship (Video)

NEW YORK — The last two years have been full of uncertainty for Walker Buehler.

When he tore his UCL for the second time in the 2022 season, there were immediate questions about whether the guy who was once one of baseball’s best young starting pitchers could come back again. And if the team is looking for reinforcements so quickly, will there be room for him on the Dodgers when he returns?

But in the big games, there is a way to find the Los Angeles right-hander. And with everything on the table and the Dodgers putting their chips in the middle, Buehler is the man to bet on.

“That feeling of the organization counting on me today to win a playoff game, I think that’s the weight I like to feel,” Buehler said after his team’s 4-2 victory in Game 3 of the World Series. “It kind of takes me mentally to a certain place that is difficult to replicate.”

For the second time in as many starts, Buehler silenced the New York crowd. This time it was in the Bronx, and his performance Monday against the Yankees put Los Angeles on the brink of winning the World Series.

Buehler’s first season after his second Tommy John surgery was filled with ups and downs. Between struggling to find the strike zone, opponents throwing baseballs and difficulty lining up his arsenal, the Dodgers right-hander sometimes wondered if he still had what it took to compete.

But in Game 3 against New York, Buehler not only had something to compete with, but he may have shown his best performance, especially when it came to his fastball. He crushed the Yankees with his four-seamer, getting six hits and nine called hits and staying ahead of hitters all night.

“It felt the same as before, at least a little closer,” Buehler said with a smile about his fastball. “I had a few swings and misses early in the game. It forces you to mentally reset and think, “I have a good movie today.”

On Monday, Buehler didn’t allow a hit until Giancarlo Stanton’s double in the fourth inning. And when he needed it, his defense came through, with some defensive gems from Mookie Betts and a laser from Teoscar Hernandez, who drove Stanton home to end the fourth. Getting early support – in the form of a first inning and Freddie Freeman’s two-run hit – allowed the seven-year veteran to be aggressive all night.

“Tonight I thought his performance was as good as he’s had all year,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the game. “I thought there was life in the fastball. The cutter was good. The curveball was good. He pitched the ball to all four quadrants. Kept these guys honest, kept them at a distance. … I couldn’t ask for more from Walker tonight.”

Buehler, who will be a free agent at season’s end, has struck out 11 batters over his last two starts, including five on Monday, and has excelled on the road in hostile conditions this October. This continues a trend of Buehler shining in the postseason. After his five shutout innings against the Yankees in Game 3, he is 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA in three career World Series starts.

“I think if you took out that second inning (in San Diego in the NLDS) where we didn’t play good defense behind him, he would have put up nothing but zeroes in the postseason,” Roberts said.

Buehler admitted there is something about the postseason that helps him find a little more.

“As harsh as it sounds, I need the adrenaline and everything to really get me going,” he said. “I wish I could feel that all year long… but there’s something different in the playoffs. And I think, at least in the long term for me, to go through these playoffs the way I did, it’s very encouraging for me personally. Just because I know it’s there and I just need to unblock it a little bit.”

Perhaps the biggest story of this World Series for the Dodgers has been the performance of their starting rotation. The trio of Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Buehler seemed to be the team’s biggest question mark in this series, but they deliver perhaps their best games in the team’s biggest moments.

In three World Series contests, the Dodgers’ three starters combined to pitch 16 2/3 innings while allowing just three earned runs on eight hits. Flaherty, Yamamoto and Buehler also went at least five innings in their starts.

“I think there’s been a lot of talk about rotation given the injuries we’ve had in the postseason,” Roberts said. “But I think we just kind of gelled together, feeling like the 13 guys on our roster, including the pitchers, were going to do a good job of preventing runs.”

After Monday, Dodgers pitchers will need just 27 strikeouts.