Walker Buehler's NL West-clinching start for Dodgers invalidated by postgame comments

Walker Buehler was on the mound for the Dodgers' series finale against the Padres, with the opportunity to lead LA to their 11th division win in 12 years. Given Buehler's track record this season, fans wouldn't be blamed for being nervous about the Dodgers' chances with him pitching. Although Buehler hasn't been nearly as bad as Bobby Miller this year, he's barely even shown flashes of the pitcher he used to be.

However, Buehler actually managed to look pretty good through four innings on Thursday. He gave up singles to Fernando Tatis and Manny Machado in the first, but got away unscathed. The second, third, and fourth were also mostly clean, with Buehler even taking the Padres down in order in the third with a strikeout on Tatis. He wasn't getting much swing-and-miss, but he was inducing a lot of soft contact for easy groundouts.

In the fifth, he gave up a walk to David Peralta and a ground-rule double to Kyle Higashioka, then Luis Arraez hit an RBI groundout before Tatis also grounded out to end the inning. Buehler was replaced by Evan Phillips in the sixth, but it was a very good outing for a struggling pitcher, right when his team needed him to be good.

During the Dodgers' clubhouse celebration, Kirsten Watson asked what Buehler what was working. He shrugged, saying, "Nothing, really."

Walker Buehler was self-deprecating about his five-inning, one-run outing against Padres as Dodgers clinched NL West

Alright!

Buehler was being pretty modest. He wasn't getting the strikeouts he's been used to throughout his career, but an out is an out, and the Padres could hardly get the ball in the air until Phillips came in to take over. This might be the key with Buehler. He hasn't looked like the pitcher he used to be, and maybe he'll never get back to that place, but if he can adjust to accommodate the fact that he might just be a better ground ball pitcher now, he could get back to some measure of success.

And the thing is ... he can still strike out a lot of guys. In his preceding start against the Rockies on Sept. 21, he got nine Ks through 5 1/3 innings. He and the Dodgers must figure out some way for him to embrace the ground ball efficiency when the control isn't quite there.

Regardless, it was a high note to end Buehler's regular season and give some hope to fans that he'll be effective in the postseason. After all, the Dodgers have very few options here; they need to take what they can get. An out is an out.