From spectator to starter, Walker Buehler has gone from irrelevant to important.
A year ago, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler was watching the first two games of the World Series at Dodger Stadium with his sister.
He sat in the loge section at Dodger Stadium behind home plate as the Dodgers took Game 1 against the Astros, only to lose Game 2 in disastrous fashion after the Astros came-from-behind in the top of the ninth off closer Kenley Jansen.
On Friday night in front of a frantic and anxious sellout crowd, the 24-year-old rookie will take the ball and toe the rubber with the Dodgers hopes of a World Series title hanging steadily on his shoulders.
Buehler was in the visiting dugout at Fenway Park for the first game of the World Series, but he was on a flight home during the second game in order to rest and prepare for his crucial start in Game 3.
Buehler has been through it all during the arduous course of his rookie campaign. He started the season in the minor leagues, he broke a rib, he went back to the bullpen, only to return as starter and set the world on fire down the stretch.
Local
Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.
His astounding month of September led to the Dodgers pulling him from his scheduled start on the final game of the season so that he could pitch in a winner-take-all Game 163 for the National League West Division.
He was sensational in that start, but struggled in his first two appearances of the postseason: losses in Game 3 of both the NLDS and the NLCS against the Braves and Brewers.
Despite his struggles in those games, Buehler was handed the ball again in a must-win Game 7 in Milwaukee. After a first inning homer to future MVP Christian Yelich, Buehler settled in, and dominated the Brewers lineup over the next four innings.
"Any time you're in situations like that," said Buehler, "The more you can get there and live it yourself, it does nothing but help you."
Buehler will look to turn his Game 3 troubles around on Friday as he pitches for the first time in the World Series. The team has dug themselves an 0-2 hole, and now call upon their young ace to get them back into the Fall Classic.
"I don't think anybody wants to be there," Buehler said of being down two games. "But I think of the 30 teams that could be in a situation like this, we probably know how to handle it in that top echelon. It is what it is, and now it's time to get back to where we need to be."
The Red Sox will have counter with a Cy Young Award winner in right-hander Rick Porcello, their second consecutive Cy Young Award winner in a row, and potentially the third if Chris Sale wins the award this season.
Porcello appears on eight days rest, and gives the Dodgers an opportunity to stack their lineup with left-handed power hitters Joc Pederson, Max Muncy, and Cody Bellinger.
Yasmani Grandal, the much maligned catcher that lost his starting spot during the NLCS because of some defensive mishaps, will return to the starting lineup for Game 3 with the possibility of taking Porcello deep, and a stronger arm to throw out the speedy Red Sox runners.
When Buehler takes the mound on Friday, he will be the youngest pitcher to start a World Series game since Fernando Valenzuela in 1981. Ironically, the Dodgers lost the first two games of that series in New York to the Yankees, and then won Game 3 at home in Los Angeles with Valenzuela on the mound.
They would go on to win the next three games after that, and defeat the Yankees in six games, the last time the Dodgers dug themselves out of an 0-2 hole to win the World Series.
Once again, here's hoping history repeats itself.
Game Three of the World Series starts at 5:09PM PT from Dodger Stadium and can be seen on FOX.
