Walker Buehler threw some serious shade at Alex Verdugo after Dodgers World Series
The Los Angeles Dodgers winning the World Series on Wednesday wasn't shocking, but the way they won certainly was. The New York Yankees essentially begged them to get back into the game with a comedy of errors in the fifth inning, and the Dodgers took full advantage. With a depleted bullpen, they turned to Walker Buehler - their Game 3 starter - on just one day of rest to try and shut the door. He did just that, retiring the Yankees in order and striking out former Dodger, Alex Verdugo, to end it.
After recording the series-clinching out, Buehler, overcome with emotion, spoke about what this World Series win means. His answer seemed to direct a shot at Verdugo.
"It's everything, man. Since I've been here we've played a lot of really good baseball and haven't gotten it done. 2020 everybody talked s---. Can't really say much about it now," Buehler said.
All MLB fans poke fun at the Dodgers winning in 2020 in the same way that NBA fans do that to the Los Angeles Lakers when they won their NBA Championship in the bubble, but Buehler seemed to throw serious shade at Verdugo in particular based on what the former Dodgers outfielder had to say a couple of years ago.
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Walker Buehler clapped back at Alex Verdugo following Dodgers World Series win
"A 60-game season, it's still hard to judge to this day," Verdugo said. "Like yeah, it's a World Series, right? Yeah, they got a ring. But they didn't play any games at their home field. They didn't. There weren't any fans there. It was 60 games. Anyone could ball out for 60 games. That extra 102 is a big difference. They won it, it's a true one, for what we call it. But I still call it as I see it, it's still a 60-gamer."
If we're being honest, Verdugo was right. A 60-game season is not the same one bit as a 162-game season. Just look at the team that the Dodgers just played in the NLCS - the New York Mets. Through the first 60 games of the season, they were 25-35 and well outside of postseason contention. They went 64-38 from that moment on, squeaking into the postseason as the No. 6 seed and playing a pretty competitive series against Buehler and the Dodgers.
The fact that the Dodgers only played 60 regular season games and then played most of their playoff games at a neutral site without having to deal with hostile crowds did make things easier in some ways for Los Angeles. The World Series that they won was absolutely legitimate, but it wasn't the same as a traditional World Series.
With that being said, though, Buehler has no reason to believe that the Dodgers win in 2020 should be invalidated in any way. They still had to play a normal amount of postseason games, and even came back from a 3-1 NLCS deficit to win the NL Pennant. They still had to defeat a really formidable Tampa Bay Rays team. He has reason to believe that Verdugo is just salty for missing out on a World Series when he was traded ahead of that season.
Now, with the Dodgers having pushed through a traditional 162-game season and a full postseason including road crowds, there's nothing that anyone can say. If Buehler used the 2020 haters as motivation - good for him. It worked. The right-hander was dominant in his starts in the NLCS and the World Series, and even on just one day of rest, he pitched a 1-2-3 inning with all of the pressure on his shoulders while dealing with a hostile Yankee Stadium crowd to close it out.
Buehler is on top of the world, and is clapping back at all of the haters. He certainly made Verdugo and the others who said they only won because of 2020 eat their words.