Dodgers vs. Mets: Walker Buehler delivers top-notch performance as Shohei Ohtani leads Dodgers offense in NLCS Game 3 loss

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 conjured up 18 swing-and-misses from Mets hitters in just four innings, his highest raw total in a single game since his last start of 2021. More importantly, he also didn't The Los Angeles bullpen still gave up a run. The Dodgers won 8-0 in a rout, helped by three home runs, including a sonic blast from Shohei Ohtani.

It was a brilliant return to form for Buehler on a chilly evening in the Big Apple.

Once the impenetrable ace of a perennial contender, Buehler is now a different pitcher. Arm injuries robbed him of most of his three seasons and sapped his once-unwavering confidence. In 2024, he experienced a stint where he was away from the team for a month to recover from a hip injury at a private training facility.

Buehler steadied the ship somewhat down the stretch, but his selection as the starter for Los Angeles' Game 3 of the playoffs had as much to do with the team's pitchers' infirmary as it did with the obvious right-side rebound. In his first postseason start last week against San Diego in the NLDS, he gave up six runs in a loss at LA. With the NLCS tied at a tumultuous Citi Field on Wednesday, the Dodgers needed their beleaguered former ace to turn back the clock.

And Buehler delivered.

“I trust no one more than Walker,” longtime Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes told Yahoo Sports after the game. “His ability to be alive in those moments. Many people can't do that. Since I've been here he's made a lot of big plays for us. And no matter what happens at the start of the season or how he feels, I trust he will go out and compete.”

The competition came early in Game 3. In the bottom of the second, the Mets loaded the bases with one out behind two walks and an infield single. With two runs in the top half of the pitch, Bühler played with enthusiasm and gave the hosts the opportunity to counterattack. But the brash right-hander prevailed and struck out Francisco Álvarez and Francisco Lindor to end the danger.

His strikeout pitch against Lindor — a full-count knuckle curveball that ducked under a monstrous hack from the Mets' superstar shortstop — was real Buehler. He bounced off the mound in a cloud of swagger, simultaneously screaming to himself and no one and everyone.

Buehler has always walked the fine line between confidence and cockiness and sometimes went beyond it.

This is a man who prefers to open twist-off beer bottles with his teeth because “it's fun and makes him feel cool.” At his best, Buehler is arrogant, boastful and uncompromising. A Rottweiler with a high 90s breed. An F-bomb geyser on the hill and on the plate. Better than you and aware of it. That confidence bred success, which only bred more confidence.

It was a powerful, almost unstoppable cycle that propelled Bühler to the top of his field.

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

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

Then the injuries occurred, as they so often happen in this industry. In August 2022, he underwent a second Tommy John surgery (he had one immediately after being drafted in 2015), coupled with additional surgery on his flexor tendon. Buehler's rehab was a sobering reminder that the road back from elbow surgery isn't always linear. There were 23 months between starts in the major leagues – from June 2022 to May 2024.

Buehler was strikingly honest about the difficulties of that process, even if he didn't want to describe his Game 3 performance as redemption. For him, at least publicly, it was just another playoff win.

“It doesn’t mean much more to me than winning Game 3 of the NLCS,” he said in his postgame interview. “I think it might mean a lot to me later, but for now I'm going to enjoy tonight and then get ready for when we have to play Game 7.”

After Buehler only pitched four innings on Wednesday due to a high pitch count, the bullpen quartet of Michael Kopech, Ryan Brasier, Blake Treinen and Ben Casparius took no time, combining to pitch five scoreless innings. The Mets only managed three baserunners against the Dodgers relievers. Postseason prophet Enrique Hernández added a two-run poke, his 15th career playoff home run, to provide some cushion in the sixth inning.

From then on, the game seemed to be heading towards an unforgettable ending. But Ohtani wouldn't let that happen. In the eighth inning, with two runners on base, the two-time MVP silenced the already quiet crowd with a stunning moonshot from the upper deck. The home run brought Ohtani's playoff line with runners on base to an absurd 7-for-9 with two home runs.

Ohtani's hit also sent angry Mets fans streaming through the hallways. By the end of the eighth, Citi Field's lower bowl was littered with empty seats that reflected the stadium lights. It was a strange picture. Since the now-infamous team meeting that precipitated a historic turnaround on May 30, the Mets have gone 27-5 in night games at home. The sight of this team losing in this situation felt rare in itself. The stakes only added to the disappointment.

But as bad as things have been for the hosts, there are still plenty of series left. New York will send skilled left guard Jose Quintana, a two-month standout, to the mound in Game 4. Los Angeles will counter with Japanese thrill-seeker Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

On Wednesday, however, it was all about Buehler, who now ranks second in Dodgers history in playoff starts, behind only Clayton Kershaw. There's still a slim chance Game 3 was his last. Buehler is a free agent this winter and a return to Chavez Ravine is far from guaranteed.

On the other hand, three Mets wins in a row seem unlikely, qualifying Buehler for either NLCS Game 7 or a World Series berth. Both would be another chance to continue rewriting his history.