In his first start back from the 15-day injured list, Red Sox right-hander Walker Buehler was ejected from his Tuesday start against the New York Mets in the third inning after arguing balls and strikes by plate umpire Mike Estabrook.

It all started after two balls to an open at-bat by Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor stole second. After the Lindor stolen base, Buehler yelled and pointed at Estabrook while approaching him. Buehler was quickly tossed out of the game, and moments later, Red Sox manager Alex Cora was ejected.

First-base umpire Laz Diaz had to step in to keep Cora and Estabrook apart as the Red Sox manager was shouting at the plate umpire’s face for a while. During the shouting, Cora made contact with Diaz while continuing to yell at Estabrook. The manager finally made his way to the clubhouse while the fans cheered for him.

“It was weird; they were going back and forth,” Cora said in a press conference. “I don’t know what the exchange was, but I’ve been at this for a few years, and I was just begging, ‘Just give me a break. I’ll go out and you can throw me out, and we can keep the pitcher in the game.’ But I guess he had enough. I don’t know why.”

It was the second straight game that the Red Sox played without their manager. He missed the series opener to attend his daughter’s graduation from Boston College. Ramon Vazquez replaced Cora both nights.

Relief pitcher Brennan Bernardino replaced Buehler and inherited the count on Soto. On four pitches, Bernardino walked Soto, but the bullpen held up the rest of the way as the Red Sox kept the Mets scoreless to a 2-0 win.

Buehler has started seven games so far in his first season with the Red Sox and entered Tuesday’s game with a 4-1 record and a 4.28 ERA.

“The pitch was in the strike zone,” said Red Sox catcher Carlos Narvaez on the postgame show on NESN. “He was fighting with the guy behind the plate. He was saying, ‘Hey, that was in the middle.’ And the guy was saying, ‘No.’ And it was back and forth. Buehler is an emotional guy, he’s a competitor. It was just the emotions of the game.”

Two-time All-Star right-handed pitcher Walker Buehler has agreed to a one-year, $21.05 million contract with the Boston Red Sox.

Buehler, 30, was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2015 MLB Draft and has played for them since 2017. He has struggled in recent seasons following his second Tommy John surgery – but has continued to uphold his big-game reputation.

Despite allowing a 5.38 ERA in 16 starts in the 2024 season, with a career-low 7.6 strikeouts per nine innings, Buehler returned to vintage form in the playoffs. He played an instrumental part in the NLCS and recorded the save that carried the Dodgers to their Game 5 World Series win. Over his ten playoff innings, he gave up just five hits and struck out 13.

The Red Sox, who scored the ninth-most runs in MLB last season, hope Buehler can follow up his playoff success with a return to pre-2022 form. He joins a still-forming lineup that includes Garrett Crochet, who the team acquired from the White Sox this offseason, and Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck, Lucas Giolito and Brayan Bello.

Buehler had his first Tommy John surgery in 2015 before he went on a run as one of baseball’s top starting pitchers from 2018 to 2021. After sitting out the entirety of the 2023 season while recovering from his second, he’s looking to recreate that magic.

Buehler’s willingness to sign a one-year deal speaks volumes. If he performs up to his expectations, pitching should become a strength for Boston as they look to return to the playoffs.

The New York Mets are on the back foot in the NLCS after a brutal Game 3 loss at home against the Dodgers. With two more games remaining at Citi Field, the team will have to find more ways to compete with their backs once again up against the wall.

The Los Angeles Dodgers received a lot of credit for their offensive performance in an 8-0 Game 3 victory, but the truth of it is New York took itself out of the game early. Los Angeles scored its first two runs on just one hit, as Mets starter Luis Severino lost control of the strike zone while the team suffered multiple fielding miscues in the cold.

New York had its chances to respond against Walker Buehler but squandered several opportunities to even the score. With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the second, Francisco Alvarez and Francisco Lindor both struck out to end the inning. The young catcher arguably had the better opportunity with just one out, but Lindor’s shortcoming had a greater impact. The presumptive N.L. MVP runner-up has been a rock for the team for months, and seeing him fall short in a big spot seemed to take the air out of fans and players alike.

After a two-run home run by Kike Hernandez in the top of the sixth inning, the Mets performed a tactical retreat, leaving in Tylor Megill to eat innings on the mound and finish off the game. The Dodgers capitalized and scored another four runs, including a titanic three-run shot by Shohei Ohtani, but the additional scoring was largely meaningless and the Mets did little to prevent it.

Entering Game 4, the problems for New York are clear. On the mound, they’re walking far too many batters, which is also leading to sloppy defense. Dodgers batters are not chasing pitches like the Phillies did in the NLDS. At the plate, they’re beginning to have trouble with runners in scoring position in a postseason defined by timely hitting. 

If the Mets lose to the Dodgers, it would conform to the general consensus entering the series. Many people who picked the Dodgers to win the series also picked them to win in overwhelming fashion. Box scores of Games 1 and 3 suggest that the Mets have been blown out twice, but they created and wasted chances in both games and gave in early to spare the bullpen. In Game 2, Mark Vientos capitalized with the bases loaded and the team won in commanding fashion. 

New York still has two games remaining at home, but to have a realistic chance of winning the series, the team likely has to win Game 4 on Thursday. Going down 3-1 with two of three games remaining in Los Angeles would effectively end it. At some point, the team will have to win two in a row to get back into winning position. The sooner it starts, the better.

Jose Quintana will face off against Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a pitchers’ duel that could decide the season. Quintana has been phenomenal for the better part of three months, though he does his best work while getting batters to chase pitches outside the zone. Yamamoto has been effective for the Dodgers since returning from injury in September but hasn’t gone longer than five innings. He also got rocked for five runs by the Padres in Game 1 of the NLDS, though he settled down to help put down San Diego for good in Game 5.

While the Dodgers’ story this season has revolved around billion-dollar expectations and dreams of another championship, the Mets’ story has been one of wildly unexpected and exciting success. This is the first time the Mets have trailed in a series this postseason, but the team is still on very familiar ground, fighting from behind. New York clawed its way back into contention for months during the regular season, and every player on the team has seemingly had a massive moment in recent weeks. If the story ends here, the season will still be an overwhelming success. But if this team has anything, it’s grit, and there’s still some road ahead.

Los Angeles is home to stars – the Dodgers fortified that reputation, acquiring both star pitcher Max Scherzer and all-star infielder Trea Turner from the Nationals.

The Dodgers are sending a lucrative package of prospects to Washington: pitcher Josiah Gray, catcher Keibert Ruiz, pitcher Gerardo Carrillo and outfielder Donovan Casey. Gray and Ruiz were the top two prospects from Los Angeles’s farm system.

Scherzer is having a stellar season, pitching to a 2.76 ERA in 19 starts. He is owed $35 million in this final year of his contract, although it will be paid off in deferrals through 2028. He will join a rotation of Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, David Price, Julio Urias and Tony Gonsolin. Recently added pitcher Trevor Bauer is out indefinitely after possible criminal offenses arose off the field.

Turner is currently batting .322 with 18 big flies and 49 runs batted in. He is just 28 years old and is under control through the 2022 season.

Los Angeles has a history of making big splashes at the trade deadline. Previous examples include acquiring Yu Darvish and Manny Machado.

On Wednesday, the 2020 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers and Walker Buehler avoided a salary arbitration hearing by agreeing to a two-year, $8-million contract. The arbitration hearing was scheduled for Thursday.

The Dodgers have already avoided arbitration with star outfielder Cody Bellinger, 2020 World Series MVP Corey Seager, lefty Julio Urias and reliever Dylan Florio. Bellinger agreed to a $16.1 million deal in 2021 and Seager agreed to $13.75 million for this season.

In Buehler’s case, if he makes regular starts this year and wins a Cy Young Award, his deal could escalate beyond $12.12 million. Not only that, Buehler gets a $2 million signing bonus and salaries of $2.75 million in 2021 and $3.25 million in 2022.

According to The Athletic‘s Ken Rosenthal, based on starts, his 2022 salary can increase by $3 million to $6.25 million and $500,000 for each 14, 16, 18, 20, 24 and 28.

Hypothetically, Buehler’s 2022 salary would increase by more than $1.2 million if he wins the 2021 Cy Young Award, or by $625,000 if he is second or third in the 2021 NL Cy Young voting.

Buehler, 26, was the Dodgers’ ace and helped them win their first World Series title since 1988 in 2020. In 2019, Buehler went 14-4 with a 3.26 ERA. During the 60-game abbreviated regular season, Buehler went 1-0 with a 3.44 ERA over eight starts. In the 2020 postseason, the right-hander went 2.0 and posted a 1.80 ERA over four starts.

Buehler was eligible for arbitration for the first time, after earning $233,518 in prorated pay in 2020 from a $603,500 salary. He has 2 years, 168 days of major league service, and will be eligible to hit the free-agent market after the 2024 season.