Walker Buehler Proved Without a Doubt Thursday Night He Deserved Game 1 Start

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts turned some heads when he opted to start rising star Walker Buehler in Game 1 of the NLDS over the plethora of established veterans in his starting rotation, namely future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw and Cy Young candidate Hyun-Jin Ryu.

And yet, all of that insecurity and legacy-preserving melted away the second the 25-year-old took the mound and dazzled in his performance against the Washington Nationals. He completely dominated a potent Nationals offense, firing six innings of one-hit baseball, proving that he was more than deserving of the Game 1 nod.

Though he also walked three batters, he was rarely in any type of real trouble. The Nationals managed to get a couple of men into scoring position against him, but there wasn't any sense of real danger. He had them off-balance all night long, registering six of his eight strikeouts on whiffs.

And what little contact the Nationals did manage to make was hardly troublesome. They managed just four hard-hit balls against him across his six innings of work, and just two of them had exit velocities over 100 mph.

It was a clinical display from the 2019 All-Star. He handled himself with poise and did the brunt of the work for the pitching staff in what could prove to be a critical Game 1 shutout.

Initially, it was easy to suggest that tabbing him over Kershaw was an ill-advised decision, especially since the legendary southpaw ended the year with a 2.97 ERA over his last 19.1 innings of work. But Buehler was absolutely dominant in his place, seniority be damned.

In a best-of-five series, the first game always seems to have heightened importance. More than anything, it's the tone-setter for the rest of the series. After his gem of a start on Thursday night, it's safe to say that Buehler set the right kind of tone.