Angels fans delight in Walker Buehler's playoff flub but would take him on their team

Angels fans hate the Dodgers. They revel in their playoff failures, but especially when one of their starting pitchers took an unveiled shot at them earlier in the season.

On September 3rd, the Angels played the Dodgers in Anaheim. The Dodgers led 3-2 in the 10th inning, and Ron Washington decided to intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani. Mookie Betts subsequently hit a home run to ice the game. After the game, Walker Buehler (who started the game) was quoted as saying, "I think there were a little more people and more enthusiasm than typical down here. ... But Shohei's playing for us now, I think is really cool. ...Yeah it’s a tough situation to walk a guy that got 700 (million dollars) to get to the guy that got 350. He’s pretty good at baseball, too.”

As punishment for his comments, he might need to join the Angels' rotation now. A free agent after the season, Buehler will not be on the team with the $700 million MVP, the $350 million MVP, or the $162 million MVP next season. Who knows if Buehler will be able to turn his career around, but everybody knows the Dodgers would not touch him with a ten foot pole and will not extend a contract offer to him. Buehler made 16 starts in 2024 and allowed 16 home runs.

Buehler has lost himself a lot of money this season, and that's not even taking into account the $100,000 watch that was stolen from him recently. From a pitching perspective, the Dodgers relied heavily on a Buehler bounce-back season, but the returns were far from what they expected. Here are just a few of their starting pitchers who have either been unavailable in the playoffs due to injury, incredibly ineffective, or exiled from the league the past few seasons: Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, Clayton Kershaw, Gavin Stone, Bobby Miller, Emmett Sheehan, River Ryan, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Michael Grove, Julio Urías, Trevor Bauer. The Dodgers will deploy a bullpen day in a win or go home game 4. They started Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty, and Buehler in games 1-3.

Buehler made a critical start for the Dodgers in game 3 of the NLDS against their rivals, the Padres. While the stat line might be slightly misleading because of a couple of defensive miscues, Buehler did turn in a pretty unproductive start. He tossed 5 innings, allowed 7 hits, and 6 earned runs. He had a 0:1 K:BB. He allowed a home run to Fernando Tatís Jr. that capped off a 6-run second inning.

Angels fans might harbor resentment towards Buehler, but in all honesty, he would be a solid pickup for the Angels this winter. He will undoubtedly sign a 1 year "prove it" deal, and the Angels seem like a likely destination for his services. Buehler was an All-Star in 2021 and 2019, and finished fourth in Cy Young voting in 2021 and ninth in 2019. His career's been mired by injuries, and this season he looked terrible. However, at least he's pitching again instead of rehabbing and he should have a normal offseason of preparation. The Angels should keep their enemies close this winter and sign Buehler, as it's a no-risk, all-reward situation.