Walker Buehler, pitching on just one day of rest following his stellar Game 3 start, came out of the bullpen on Wednesday night to shut the door on the New York Yankees and clinch a World Series championship for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
For Buehler, who underwent Tommy John surgery halfway through the 2022 season and missed the entire 2023 campaign, the moment was vindication after a long road back to the mound.
"Obviously for me personally, huge," Buehler told Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal after the World Series win. "Two years off, two surgeries ... It's a lot."
Then, Buehler, who was on the 2020 Dodgers team that won the World Series, couldn't resist taking a jab at critics who discredit the title that came in the 60-game season shortened due to the pandemic.
"For our organization, we deserve this," Buehler said. "We've been playing really good baseball for a lot of years. Everybody talks s**t about 2020, but they can't say a whole lot about it now."
"Everybody talks s*** about 2020, but there's not much they can say about it now." 🔥@Dodgers P @buehlersdayoff joins @Ken_Rosenthal after getting the final 3 outs in the World Series! pic.twitter.com/wss5nmkIh9
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 31, 2024
Fans and pundits have, at tims, been hesitant to give Los Angeles full credit for the 2020 title, given that it came in a shortened season. Even Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo, who was dealt from the Dodgers to the Boston Red Sox in February of 2020, gave the Dodgers credit for winning the World Series that year but claimed it was "still a 60-gamer."
Buehler seemingly wasn't referring to anyone in particular with his comment to Rosenthal—just taking aim at the general consensus from critics of the 2020 team—but it was somewhat fitting that the Dodgers starter struck out Verdugo for the series-clinching out.
And Buehler wasn't the only player who referenced critics of the club's championship win four years ago.
Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux, part of the club's taxi squad in 2020, on Tuesday told reporters the lack of respect for that year's title "bugs everybody."
Blake Treinen, who pitched on the 2020 team, told Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci that it was good to see the club "silence the critics."
"I've been very blessed to be a part of this organization for my fifth year now," Treinen said. "For my first year, we were very blessed to have a World Series in Texas. And there's been a lot of people that want to discredit 2020."
"And I don't want to harp on this a lot but it's so great to see the guys that are still here from then, Doc [Dave Roberts], the players, front office being able to finally silence the critics on this because every year has its challenges. Everybody has the same playing field."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Walker Buehler Fired Shot at Critics of Dodgers' 2020 Title After World Series Win.
