Dodgers reportedly working on reunion with fan-favorite pitcher and World Series hero

At the outset of the postseason, Walker Buehler seemed to be on the precipice of leaving the Dodgers in free agency with little hope of returning, set adrift to find — at best — a two-year deal somewhere else. He had, by far, the worst regular season of his career in 2024 and an awful start in the NLDS, but then something clicked on from the LCS forward.

His next 10 innings in the LCS and World Series were scoreless, he racked up 13 strikeouts, and he pitched the final inning of World Series Game 5 to clinch it for LA. It took just a few innings, but suddenly Buehler had endeared himself to LA again and fans started to call for his re-signing.

It's not that easy, though. Buehler still has multiple injuries and poor performance to contend with from this season, and the Dodgers' rotation is looking stacked next season. When the qualifying offer deadline came and went, the Dodgers declined to give one to Buehler.

However, Jon Heyman reported last week that the Dodgers had considered extending the QO, and they're currently in communication about a potential return contract.

Dodgers reportedly in talks with Walker Buehler about a new contract

If the Dodgers do re-sign Buehler, it feels likely that it'd be on a one-year "prove it" deal, maybe with a club option for 2026. He made $8.025 million in his last season of arbitration eligibility and didn't exactly earn a huge pay hike for his regular season work, but an $11 million contract with incentives built in doesn't seem too farfetched.

With Buehler, the Dodgers' rotation would include him, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, and Clayton Kershaw (the latter two after they've recovered from their respective surgeries). The Dodgers have said they plan to go back to a six-man rotation to give all of their starters an extra day of rest, so they would still have some flexibility to chase after one more top free agent starter — Corbin Burnes and Max Fried have both been linked to LA already, and Roki Sasaki will be the big ticket of the offseason.

Dodgers fans would most certainly love to see Buehler come back to LA, but it's also understandable if the team either ends up letting him go or taking a while to decide on terms. He'll always have his postseason heroics, but he has a lot to prove going forward.