The $1.2 billion winter, the roster stocked with perhaps the most impressive collection of talent ever assembled, the dream season for the most superlative player who ever graced a baseball field—all of it came down, in the end, to the 30-year-old, twice-repaired, still-swollen right arm of Walker Buehler.
As one of the most preposterous games this sport has ever seen thundered into the ninth inning, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts considered his options. His starter had collected four outs. He had already used all six of the relievers he trusted. The Dodgers were three outs away from their seventh championship, their second this decade and first in a full season since 1988.
