PEORIA, Ariz. — Yes, Walker Buehler is on his third team since closing out the 2024 World Series for the Dodgers with a flourish, striking out the final two batters he faced and punctuating the last out by spreading his arms wide in triumph.
But after signing with the San Diego Padres on a minor league deal last month and then breaking camp with them, will it be strange for Buehler to be in the same division as the team with which he won two World Series?
“We’ll see,” Buehler said earlier this month at the Padres’ spring training complex. “Obviously, once we get into the season, we’ll know more. But yeah, I mean, largely the guys that I came up with aren’t there anymore, but obviously I played with a lot of those guys and had a lot of fun in ’24 with a ton of them, so always happy to see them have success, but now it’s a little bit different situation.”
Coming off a disappointing 2025 in which he logged a 4.93 ERA between stints with the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies, the 31-year-old Buehler did enough to earn a place in a pitching rotation entering the season with several question marks.
Yu Darvish will miss the season after undergoing elbow surgery, and is on the restricted list while he contemplates his future. Dylan Cease signed a seven-year, $210-million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. Joe Musgrove is still working his way back from Tommy John surgery.
The Padres are hoping Buehler, who posted a 3.09 ERA across 11 2/3 innings in his first three Cactus League starts, can show a return to form as he slots in as the team’s fourth starter. (He did struggle in his final spring training start, giving up seven runs and 11 hits in 3 1/3 innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks last week.)
“Not my best,” Buehler said. “But at the end of the day, we’re trying to get out of here healthy and feeling good about yourself. … I feel like I’m in a better spot than I had been in a long time and a lot of trust in the process of how we do things around here.”
He is scheduled to pitch Monday against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park.
“Our hope is that he kind of returns to who he’s been in the past,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “And that we have somebody that was a former All-Star pitcher, someone that was a thorn in our side as the Padres, and becomes a thorn in the side for other people.”
The Padres weren’t the only team to reach out to Buehler. Returning to Philadelphia, where he rounded out the 2025 season, was also an option.
“Yeah, it just wasn’t as intriguing or kind of as good an option for me personally,” Buehler said. “Obviously, I enjoyed my time there, and I really respect a lot of those guys.”
For Buehler, a return to Southern California made the most sense.
“We felt in the conversations [that] there was an opportunity to come in and pitch well, and hopefully get a spot in the rotation, and I feel like I’ve done that for the most part,” Buehler said. “Obviously, we have a lot of talent and playoff expectations, and things like that, so kind of a good fit for me in both ways.”
Buehler, who still boasts a seven-pitch mix, has worked well with Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla, according to Stammen.
“He came in and was open to new ideas, open to Ruben’s coaching, and what we thought would make him the best pitcher he can be,” Stammen said. “And he’s taken some of those things, brought them into games and we’ve seen the success from that. And so, seeing the buy-in, and then the results on the back end of that, have kind of given us a pretty hopeful feeling of him having a successful season this year.”
As a Dodger, Buehler had his second Tommy John surgery in August 2022 and didn’t return to action until May 2024. After struggling in his comeback while navigating a hip injury, Buehler stepped up in the postseason and pitched five scoreless innings to get the win in Game 3 of the World Series before coming back on one day of rest to record his first career save in the clinching Game 5. Weeks later, he became a free agent, signing a one-year, $21.05-million contract with the Boston Red Sox. According to Buehler, he still felt elbow pain all of last season.
“[It wasn’t until] about early [this] spring,” Buehler said. “Kind of right before I signed, things were kind of trending in a good direction and it feels a lot better than in the past.”
As for goals this season?
“Try and be healthy,” Buehler said, “and make as many starts as they need me to, and just improve and kind of get back closer to what I used to be.”
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