Dodgers Rumors: Walker Buehler has 'mutual interest' in the ultimate betrayal

Ever since that disastrous fifth inning of World Series Game 5, the Dodgers have been absolutely delighting in rubbing the Yankees' failures in their faces. You've got basically everything Joe Kelly has said since the season ended, Max Muncy commenting on the "weird" energy at Yankee Stadium, and more recently, Chris Taylor saying, "[The Yankees] kinda s— down their leg."

New York's collapse was a spectacular trash fire, and it's unlikely that anyone but the Yankees are going to forget about it anytime soon.

Besides that, the Dodgers-Yankees rivalry is over 80 years old. They've seen more of each other in the World Series than any other two teams in baseball, and even though they occupy different coasts now instead of the same city, there are still Brooklynites who root for the now-LA Dodgers. The rivalry might have simmered since the Dodgers left New York, but they're still an old enemy.

That's what makes the newest rumors from Jon Morosi so disquieting. He reported "mutual interest" between the Yankees and Walker Buehler, none other than the Dodgers' closer during that fateful World Series Game 5.

Per Jon Morosi, Dodgers' Walker Buehler and Yankees have "mutual interest"

Given the way things have been trending, it looks like the Dodgers might be more inclined to let Buehler go than to keep him. Still, seeing him wearing pinstripes next season would be way too much for a Dodgers fan to bear. This guy — the guy who got the ball for last three outs of the World Series after the worst season of his career, who was a first-round draft pick for the Dodgers and is a multi-time postseason hero — as a Yankee? Excuse us while we hold our noses for a second at just the idea.

Of course, Buehler is well within his right to go anywhere that'll give him a fair contract and will help him keep developing as a pitcher. Those pinstripes do carry a huge amount of cultural weight.

But, other than maybe the Padres or Giants, watching Buehler go to the Yankees is a worst-case scenario. The Dodgers have reportedly already had re-signing discussions with him, but it'd be hard to see how they wouldn't let him go if they can get a pitcher like Corbin Burnes or Max Fried out of free agency instead.

But we're practically begging Buehler not to go to the Yankees (or the Padres or Giants or even Diamondbacks, for that matter).