‘Proud’ Buehler delivers big in L.A’s Game 3 win
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David Schoenfield, ESPN Senior Writer
NEW YORK — Sometimes, one pitch in the second inning can save a baseball game. Sometimes, it can salvage an entire season for a player.
In the bottom of the second of Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday night, Walker Buehler faced Francisco Lindor, bases loaded, two outs, Buehler’s Los Angeles Dodgers leading Lindor’s New York Mets 2-0.
It’s been a trying season for Buehler, the one-time postseason star who returned after missing most of 2022 and all of 2023 following the second Tommy John surgery of his career. He made 16 starts in the regular season — and won once, posting a 5.38 ERA. This is a pitcher who won 16 games in 2021 with a 2.47 ERA, a pitcher who threw seven scoreless innings in a World Series game as a rookie, who allowed three runs over a 21-inning stretch in the 2020 postseason when the Dodgers won it all.
He’s in the playoff rotation now only because the Dodgers didn’t have any other healthy options. In his start against the Padres in the NL Division Series, he allowed six runs in one inning.
Wednesday night, the count ran full to Lindor, as Buehler stuck with his four-seam fastball and knuckle-curve. With the count 3-2, catcher Will Smith called for the curve. Buehler threw it, it dived wonderfully below Lindor’s knees, and the Mets star swung and missed.
It’s not the pitch Buehler would have turned to when he was at his peak as one of the hardest-throwing young right-handers in the game.
“Oh, in 2018, 2019, 2020, I would have thrown a fastball. Yeah,” he said after the game.
The Dodgers rolled from there to an 8-0 victory and 2-1 series lead — their remarkable fourth shutout in five playoff games, going back to blanking the Padres in the final two games of the NLDS. Buehler and four relievers combined for the shutout this time as the Dodgers matched the 1905 New York Giants and 2020 Atlanta Braves in throwing four shutouts over a five-game postseason span.
While Buehler’s final line of four scoreless innings may not enter Dodgers lore, he’ll take it at this point of his season.
“Honestly, the only point of pride I’ve had in the past couple of months has been trying to get deep in the games and be efficient,” he said. “To only throw four innings is like the complete opposite of that. But I’m proud just for a different reason in terms of being able to get through some big spots and tough spots.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke to Buehler’s season and agreed that the game turned with the Lindor strikeout.
“I think it’s been a lot of lessons that he’s had to learn, and appreciating, understanding the pitcher he is today,” Roberts said. “And also appreciating the fact that you just can’t give in to Lindor in that moment. Right there, that was the pitch of the game. Obviously, the crowd was into it. They were gaining momentum. To get the breaking ball down below the zone and get a great hitter out was huge. And I think that just kind of speaks to experience.”
On a cold — 56 degrees at game time — and windy night at Citi Field, the weather may have helped Buehler record a season-best 18 swings and misses, matching his career playoff high. He had reached double figures just three times all season, and in his five-inning outing against the Padres in the NLDS had just eight.
“I think the cold really affects the ball weirdly,” he said. “The ball moves really well here, or kind of always has. I think the cold just makes the ball act a little bit funky.”
Facing a Mets lineup that featured seven right-handed batters, Buehler also relied more heavily on his sweeper than he has of late, throwing it a season-high 21 times out of his 90 pitches. He escaped a two-on jam in the third inning by getting J.D. Martinez to wave helplessly at a 2-2 sweeper.
“I guess it was the colder weather,” Smith said. “It was moving a lot. It was just consistent-count situations where he just kind of needed to lean on it. I felt like it was working, and it was, so lean on it a little more than normal.”
The Mets agreed with the cold-weather assessment, as well.
“From the last time I faced him, yeah, his ball was moving more,” Lindor said. “I feel like he executed his pitches. He made me chase when he wanted me to chase, and he threw strikes when he wanted to throw strikes. Bottom line, it came down to who executed the most, and he did that.”
After Buehler’s departure, the bullpen took over — Michael Kopech, Ryan Brasier, Blake Treinen and then rookie Ben Casparius for the final two innings. Maybe they, too, benefited from the weather.
“Our relievers that came in, I was looking at their big-boy metrics,” Buehler said. “I don’t know the crosswinds and what happens, but all five of my pitches were kind of a little bit bigger or weirder or acted different than normal. I don’t think it was just a curveball. Yeah, it’s just an interesting environment to pitch in here in the cold.”
The Dodgers will take it.
Kiké Hernández‘s two-run home run and then Shohei Ohtani‘s towering three-run blast allowed Roberts not to use Evan Phillips and Daniel Hudson, two of his other top relievers. No doubt, we’ll see plenty of that bullpen again in Game 4 on Thursday night, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto starting and not expected to go very deep into the game.
Until then, Buehler can enjoy playing a key role in an important Dodgers victory.
“I try not to give into in the playoffs especially and sometimes that leads to a pitch count problem or walking more guys than you typically would,” he said. “But this game in October is about having zeros, and I’m proud of the fact that I was able to do that four times.”
Former Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George was named the next head coach at Bowling Green on Sunday.
George agreed to a five-year deal, sources told ESPN.
His hiring came two days after George, who spent the past four seasons as the head coach at Tennessee State, was one of three finalists to interview for the position.
“Today, we add another transformative leader to this campus in Eddie George,” Derek van der Merwe, Bowling Green’s vice president for athletics strategy, said in a news release. “Our students are getting someone who has chased success in sports, art, business, and leadership. As our head football coach, he will pursue excellence in all aspects of competition in the arena. More importantly, beyond the arena, he will exemplify what excellence looks like in the classroom, in life, in business, and in relationships with people.”
George emerged as a successful head coach in the FCS at Tennessee State. This past season, he led the program to the FCS playoffs and a share of the OVC-Big South title, the school’s first league title in football since 1999.
“I am truly excited to be the head coach at Bowling Green State University,” George said in the news release. “Bowling Green is a wonderful community that has embraced the school and the athletics department. We are eager to immerse ourselves in the community and help build this program to the greatness it deserves. I am overwhelmed with excitement and joy for the possibilities this opportunity holds.”
George returns to the state where he rushed for 3,768 yards over four seasons as a running back for Ohio State, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1995.
George went on to star in the NFL for nine seasons, rushing for more than 10,000 yards. He was a 1996 first-round pick of the Houston Oilers and made his name by playing seven seasons in Nashville for the Titans, becoming the franchise’s all-time leading rusher. The Titans retired his jersey in 2019.
Tennessee State hired George despite his lack of traditional coaching experience, with the school president at the time calling the move “the right choice and investment” for the future of TSU. George has worked as an actor and entrepreneur and earned an MBA from Northwestern.
George paid back the administration’s faith by building Tennessee State into a winner, including a 9-4 season in 2024 that culminated in its first FCS playoff appearance since 2013. Tennessee State lost to Montana in the first round.
George’s hire at TSU continued the trend of former star players being hired at historically Black colleges and universities. Jackson State made the biggest splash in hiring Deion Sanders, who went on to a successful stint at Colorado. Michael Vick’s hire at Norfolk State and DeSean Jackson’s hire at Delaware State continued that trend in the current hiring cycle.
George will replace Scot Loeffler, who left the school to become the quarterbacks coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Bowling Green has become one of the top coaching springboards of this generation, with Urban Meyer, Dave Clawson and Dino Babers all advancing from the school to power conference jobs. Loeffler went 27-41 over six seasons, a run that included bowl appearances in each of the past three seasons.
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Eli Lederman
Defensive end prospect Richard Wesley, one of the nation’s top recruits in the 2027 high school class, has reclassified into the 2026 cycle and will sign with a college program later this year, he told ESPN on Friday.
A 6-foot-5, 245-pound pass rusher from Chatsworth, California, Wesley completed his sophomore season at Sierra Canyon (California) High School this past fall. His move marks the latest high-profile reclassification in the current cycle, following wide receiver Ethan “Boobie” Feaster (No. 21 in the ESPN Junior 300), tight end Mark Bowman (No. 23), running back Ezavier Crowell (No. 29) and cornerback Havon Finney Jr. (not ranked) in the line of the elite former 2027 prospects to reclassify into the 2026 class since the start of the new year.
ESPN has not yet released its prospect rankings for the 2027 class, but Wesley is expected to slot in among the nation’s top five defensive line recruits in 2026. He took unofficial visits to Oregon and Texas A&M in January and holds a long list of offers across the SEC, Big Ten and ACC.
Following his reclassification, Wesley told ESPN he will take trips to Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, Miami, Oregon, USC, Ole Miss and Texas A&M across March and April before finalizing a slate of official visits for later this spring.
“I really can’t say what the future holds for me,” Wesley said. “I’m excited for more opportunities to go talk with these coaches and see what they’re about. I’m really open to everyone that’s offered me and who really wants me in their program.”
Wesley emerged as one of the nation’s most coveted high school defenders after he totaled 55 tackles and 10 sacks in his freshman season at Sierra Canyon in 2023. He followed this past fall 44 tackles (16 for loss) with nine sacks and four forced fumbles as a sophomore.
The rash of reclassifications into the 2026 class comes after a series of top prospects opted to reclassify during the 2025 recruiting cycle, headlined by five-star recruits Julian Lewis (Colorado) and Jahkeem Stewart (USC) and Texas A&M quarterback signee Brady Hart. Wesley told ESPN that his decision to enter college early was motivated by conversations with college coaches and his belief that he will be physically ready to compete at the next level by the time his junior season ends later this year.
“All the colleges I talk to have shown me their recruiting boards and told me I’m at the top of their list at the position regardless of class,” Wesley said. “They’ve told me good things and they’ve told me the things I need to work on. I need to work on my violence. I’ve been grinding at that every single day.”
Wesley now joins a talented 2026 defensive end class that features 11 prospects ranked inside the top 100 in the ESPN Junior 300.
Five-star edge rusher Zion Elee, ESPN’s No. 1 defender in the class, has been committed to Maryland since this past December and closed his recruitment last month. JaReylan McCoy, a five-star prospect who decommitted from LSU in February, and four-stars Jake Kreul (No. 19 overall) and Nolan Wilson (No. 54 overall) stand among the cycle’s top uncommitted defensive ends.
IRVING, Texas — The Big 12 has moved six of its conference football games to Friday nights next fall, along with another matchup of league teams that won’t count in the standings.
Those were among the 10 games involving Big 12 teams selected Friday by the league’s television partners, ESPN and Fox, for Friday night broadcasts. There will be two games on three of those nights.
On the opening weekend of the season, Baylor will host SEC team Auburn and Colorado will be home against ACC team Georgia Tech on Aug. 29. Arizona plays at Arizona State and Utah is at Kansas on Nov. 28, the day after Thanksgiving.
There will also be two games Sept. 12, with Colorado at Houston and Kansas State at Arizona. That matchup of Wildcats won’t count in the Big 12 standings since it was part of a preexisting schedule agreement between the two teams before the league expanded to 16 teams last year.
The other four Friday night games are Tulsa at Oklahoma State (Sept. 19), TCU at Arizona State (Sept. 26), West Virginia at BYU (Oct. 3) and Houston at UCF (Nov. 7).
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